{"id":25718,"date":"2018-12-15T23:23:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-15T23:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=25718"},"modified":"2018-12-15T23:23:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-15T23:23:31","slug":"australia-move-on-jerusalem-slammed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=25718","title":{"rendered":"Australia move on Jerusalem slammed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nRAMALLAH, SYDNEY: The Palestinian leadership on Saturday described as \u201cirresponsible\u201d Australia\u2019s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, saying it violated international law.<\/p>\n

\nCanberra earlier recognized West Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, but a contentious embassy shift from Tel Aviv will not occur until a peace settlement is achieved, said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical, in support of and after final status of determination,\u201d Morrison said, adding that work on a new site for the embassy was under way.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAll of Jerusalem remains a final status issue for negotiations, while East Jerusalem, under international law, is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFurthermore, recognizing our commitment to a two-state solution, the Australian government is also resolved to acknowledge the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nThe country became one of just a few to follow US President Donald Trump\u2019s lead and recognize the contested city as Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\nAustralia said it would open a defense and trade office in the west of the holy city and also committed to recognizing a future state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.<\/p>\n

\nBoth Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital.<\/p>\n

\nMost foreign nations avoided moving embassies there to prevent inflaming peace talks on the city\u2019s final status \u2014 until Trump unilaterally moved the US Embassy there earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\nSenior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said in a statement that the Australian decision to open a trade office in the city violated a UN resolution.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFrom the beginning, we\u2019ve perceived the Australian government\u2019s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital as one wherein petty domestic politics steer irresponsible policies that contradict world peace and security,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\nMorrison first floated the shift in foreign policy in October, the move angered Australia\u2019s immediate neighbor Indonesia \u2014 the world\u2019s most populous Muslim nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe issue has put a halt on years-long negotiations on a bilateral trade deal.<\/p>\n

\nCanberra on Friday told its citizens traveling to Indonesia to \u201cexercise a high degree of caution,\u201d warning of protests in the capital Jakarta and popular holiday hotspots, including Bali.<\/p>\n

\nMorrison pointed to Australia\u2019s military history in the region, and the country\u2019s interest in a \u201crules-based\u201d order in the Middle East, to support the shift in foreign policy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAMALLAH, SYDNEY: The Palestinian leadership on Saturday described as \u201cirresponsible\u201d Australia\u2019s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, saying it violated international law. Canberra earlier recognized West Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, but a contentious embassy shift from Tel Aviv will not occur until a peace settlement is achieved, said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.\u00a0 \u201cWe look…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}