(Washington, D.C., 12/07/2017)The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) vehemently opposes President Donald Trump’s unilateral and reckless declaration that the United States will recognize the Holy City of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and denounces his order to relocate the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem as an unwise deviation from long-standing U.S. policy. This move is a violation of the international status of the Holy City of Jerusalem and is considered by most U.S. allies and the international community as counterproductive to future peace settlement between Palestinians and Israelis.
USCMO believes that President Trump’s declaration is offensive and provocative not only to the 12 million Palestinian Christians and Muslims but also to the 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
The sacrosanct status of the city as holy to the world’s 4 billion Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and its central status to Palestinian aspirations to achieve basic human rights in their own land, is recognized by all countries of the world, including the United States.
This declaration rings the death knell of any hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
- It harms American interests worldwide and puts beyond the pale the role of the United States as an honest broker of peace in the Middle East.
- It is the match lighting the fuse of explosive conflagration in the already combusting Middle East, afire with war, slaughter, and suffering.
- It is an incendiary that will reap its inflammatory intent among Muslim populations across the world for generations.
- It is the further turning of America, the once-global leader and model republic, into a pariah among the nations of the world.
The US Council of Muslim Organizations calls upon the American people and our political leadership to reject this dangerous declaration and to begin the process of walking it back before it plunges the world deeper into intractable conflict.
