WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: In a much controversial move, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and announced to shift the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” the US leader said in a speech from the White House. US President Trump announced his decision amid severe global criticism and warnings that the move would jeopardise the regional peace and create unrest among the Muslim block of the world. Since 1995 it has been the US law that Washington’s embassy in Israel must be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as demanded by the Jewish state. But every six months since the law was passed a succession of US presidents have signed a waiver to hold off on a switch. Trump’s announcement plunges the United States into a decades-long dispute over a city considered holy by Jews, Muslims and Christians, and flies in the face of warnings from US allies and leaders across the Middle East. The US president was expected to stop short of moving the embassy to Jerusalem outright — a central campaign pledge which his administration has postponed once already. Trump was due to decide the matter on last Monday but his administration decided to delay the move till Wednesday, probably because of global criticism. So far, all foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv with consular representation in Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem is a key issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both Israelis and Palestinians claiming the city as their capital. Trump has based his decision on ancient history and current political realities that the Israeli legislature and many government offices are in Jerusalem. He also ordered the state department to start the process of planning and building a new US embassy in Jerusalem, but White House officials said that process would take at least three years. Until the new embassy is completed and opened, the official US mission will remain in Tel Aviv and the president will continue to sign a six-month waiver of congressional legislation that demands the embassy is moved, but only to spare the state department from budget penalties embedded in the 1995 act. Trump’s declaration marks the latest unilateral break from US allies on a major issue, after decisions to walk out of the Paris Climate accord, to abandon multilateral trade negotiations with partners in Europe and Asia, and to threaten to abrogate an international nuclear deal with Iran. Earlier, Pakistan called upon the United States to refrain from any move that alters the legal and historical status as well as character of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and fully comply with all applicable UN Security Council resolutions. “The people and Government of Pakistan have noted with grave concern the reported move by the United States to shift its embassy to the occupied city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, thereby altering the legal and historical status of the city,” a statement from the Prime Minister office earlier in the day said. Reaffirming full solidarity with the Palestinian people, Pakistan renewed its call for establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders, and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. It said the US step would constitute a clear violation of the international law and the UN Security Council resolutions particularly UNSCR 478 of 1980. “It would also sidestep decades of global consensus on this issue, undermine regional peace and security as well as derail any prospects for a lasting peace in the Middle East,” it added. The people and government of Pakistan were unequivocally opposed to the reported plan of shifting the US embassy to Al-Quds Al-Sharif and it fully endorsed the recently adopted final communiqué of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on this issue. On Monday, the OIC had said that its 57 member states should sever ties with any state that transfers its embassy to Jerusalem or recognises Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem. Published in Daily Times, December 7th 2017.