TRUMP THREATENS US AID RECIPIENTS: UN VOTE ISSUE JERUSALEM
Earlier this month, Trump took that step amid international criticism.
"They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of
dollars, and then they vote against us," he told reporters at the White
House.
"Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot.
We don't care."
His comments come ahead of a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution
opposing any recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The draft resolution does not mention the US, but says any decisions on
Jerusalem should be cancelled.
Earlier, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley warned member states that
President Trump had asked her to report on "who voted against us" on
Thursday.
The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Israel occupied the east of the city, previously occupied by Jordan, in
the 1967 Middle East war and regards the entire city as its indivisible
capital.
The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state
and its final status is meant to be discussed in the latter stages of peace
talks.
Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognized
internationally, and all countries currently maintain their embassies in Tel
Aviv. However, President Trump has told the US state department to start work
on moving the US embassy.
The 193-member UN General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special
session on Thursday at the request of Arab and Muslim states, who condemned
Trump's decision to reverse decades of US policy earlier this month.
The Palestinians called for the meeting after the US vetoed a Security
Council resolution, which affirmed that any decisions on the status of
Jerusalem were "null and void and must be rescinded", and urged all
states to "refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the
holy city".
The other 14 members of the Security Council voted in favor of the
draft, but Haley described it as an "insult".
The non-binding resolution put forward by Turkey and Yemen for the
General Assembly vote mirrors the vetoed Security Council draft.
The Palestinian permanent observer at the UN, Riyad Mansour, said he
hoped there would be "overwhelming support" for the resolution.
But on Tuesday, Haley warned in a letter to dozens of member states
that encouraged them to "know that the president and the US take this vote
personally".
"The president will be watching this vote carefully and has
requested I report back on those countries who voted against us. We will take
note of each and every vote on this issue," she wrote, according to
journalists who were shown the letter.
"The president's announcement does not affect final status
negotiations in any way, including the specific boundaries of Israeli
sovereignty in Jerusalem," she added. "The president also made sure
to support the status quo of Jerusalem's holy sites."
Haley echoed the warning on Twitter, writing: "The US will be
taking names."
At the UN we're always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don't expect those we've helped to target us. On Thurs there'll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names. pic.twitter.com/ZsusB8Hqt4— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) December 19, 2017
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and his Turkish
counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused the US of intimidation.
"We see that the United States, which was left alone, is now
resorting to threats. No honorable, dignified country would bow down to this
pressure," Cavusoglu told a joint news conference in Ankara on Wednesday
before travelling to New York.
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