SHAFAQNA– The Muslims at the Annual hajj blamed Arab disunity for failing to block President Donald Trump’s decision to relocation of U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In December 2017, Trump called Jerusalem the capital of Israel and launched the process to relocate the embassy there.
The move, long-sought by Israel, broke with decades of US policy as well as the international consensus.
It prompted widespread condemnation and triggered a wave of protests in the occupied Palestinian territories and major international cities.
“This [embassy] move is not only illegal but will also thwart the achievement of a just and lasting peace between two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 borders, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement.
Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem, and his intention to move the U.S. Embassy there, triggered denunciations from around the world, with even close allies suggesting he had needlessly stirred more conflict in an already volatile region.
Jerusalem’s status lies at the core of the Israeli-Palestinians conflict, and Trump’s move was widely perceived as siding with Israel. Even small crises over Jerusalem’s status and that of the holy sites in its ancient Old City have sparked deadly bloodshed in the past, KRQE reported.
The embassy opened in May at a high-profile ceremony attended by Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
The status of Jerusalem – home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions – is one of the biggest obstacles to any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
The United Nations says the status of the ancient city – whose eastern sector was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war – can only be resolved by negotiations. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of an independent state they seek. Israel says Jerusalem is its eternal and indivisible capital.
“This happened with the complicity of the Arab leaders,” 53-year-old Saad Awad from Sudan said as he walked east of Mecca with more than 2 million fellow Muslims from around the world.
“If the Arab leaders were united and adhering to the Koran and the Sunna (Islamic practice based on words and deeds of the Prophet), it would be impossible for the Americans or anyone else to do something like this.”
Saudi Arabia, which stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites – Mecca and Medina – and organizing the haj, has urged pilgrims to put aside political concerns and focus on spirituality.
Few pilgrims openly censured the host country, but dismay among ordinary Arabs at the embassy move has been tinged with anger at regional governments – particularly those of the oil-rich [Persian] Gulf monarchies – for failing to stop, or even strongly protest against, Trump’s decision last December.
“The Arabs are weak and have not taken a stand on the issue of Jerusalem,” said Algerian pilgrim Hilal Issa, 70.
Some critics accuse Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, of surrendering Palestinian rights for the sake of its alliance with Trump and his tough stand on Iran.
While Saudi Arabia and its fellow monarchies have previously criticized the embassy decision, they have also welcomed Trump’s harder line against Iran, which has cast itself as the guardian of Palestinian rights.
King Salman has reassured Arab allies Riyadh would not endorse any peace plan that fails to address Jerusalem’s status or other key issues, , easing concerns that the kingdom might back a nascent U.S. deal which largely aligns with Israel.
“If the Arabs were united, nobody would have dared make such a move,” Yemeni pilgrim Amr Ahmed Ali said of the embassy transfer. “But God willing, the Arabs will unite, and this city will unite the Arabs and Muslims behind one cause which is the Palestinian cause.”, Reuters reported.
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