UNGA to hold emergency session on Jerusalem status after US veto in council

An emergency meeting of the General Assembly on Thursday will take up President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel after the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution criticising it.

Assembly President Miroslav is convening the special session at the request of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab Group at the UN, his Spokesperson Brenden Varma told reporters on Tuesday.

On Monday US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley vetoed the Council resolution introduced by Egypt seeking to express "deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem" and ask other countries to not follow Washington and move their embassies to the city considered holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

All the other 14 members of the Council voted for the resolution.

Unlike in the Council there is no veto in the Assembly and a resolution criticising the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move it embassy there is expected to pass easily because even Washington's allies broke ranks with it and supported the Egyptian resolution.

Technically Thursday's meeting is a continuation of the emergency special session that last met in 2009, Varma said. Its theme is "Illegal Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory," and it first convened in 1997, he added.

Unlike the regular annual sessions of the Assembly which end after a year, an emergency special session can continue indefinitely and be reconvened periodically even after a gap of several years.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

al/sku/