ICJ: Palestinians file complaint over US Embassy in Jerusalem
World Court says Palestinian Authority's suit requests the UN judicial organ to order United States to 'withdraw its diplomatic mission' from Israeli capital because it violates an international treaty; complaint comes following Mahmoud Abbas's speech at UNGA, where he urged President Trump to rescind embassy decision.
The ICJ, known as the World Court, said in a statement that the Palestinians argue the 1961 Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations requires a country to locate its embassy on the territory of a host state. While Israel controls Jerusalem militarily, its ownership is disputed.
In December, US President Donald Trump ordered the American embassy in Israel relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the new embassy opened in May.
The Palestinian suit requests the court to order the United States of America "to withdraw (its) diplomatic mission from the Holy City of Jerusalem."
The ICJ is the United Nations' venue for resolving disputes between nations. Palestine was recognized by the UN General Assembly in 2012 as a non-member observer state, though its statehood is not recognized by either Israel or the United States.
On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United States to reverse its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and cuts in aid to the Palestinians, saying these had undermined the two-state solution to the conflict.
“With all of these decisions, this administration has reneged on all previous US commitments, and has undermined the two-state solution,” Abbas said in his address to the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.
“I renew my call to President Trump to rescind his decisions and decrees regarding Jerusalem, refugees and settlements,” he exclaimed.
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital, while Israel regards all of the city as its indivisible capital.
Trump has equivocated on whether he supports the idea of a two-state solution, with one for the Israelis and one for the Palestinians, a plank of US policy for decades.
On Wednesday, in his administration’s clearest support for the idea, he said “I like a two-state solution. That’s what I think works best,” but later in the day backed off, saying he would also support a one-state solution if both sides wanted it.
Abbas said the United States could no longer be the sole mediator.
“The US acts as a mediator; however now we view the US with new eyes. The US cannot be a mediator single-handedly,” Abbas said.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized Abbas’ speech, saying: “Instead of responding to the outstretched hand of Israel and the United States, the only thing that interests (him) is to settle scores and drive the region toward confrontation.”
Hamas on Thursday dismissed Trump’s remarks on a two-state solution. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, said the current White House administration had adopted the “rightist vision” of Israel’s government.
Speaking in Gaza, Qassem said that Trump’s decisions to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the US Embassy to the city “shows that he underestimates the Palestinian stance, and that is caused by the weakness of the official Palestinian stance represented by President Abbas.”
