PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad condemned US President Donald Trump’s move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital saying this was “done on purpose”.
Mahathir recalled that plans to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital were not new but were made during the tenures of presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.
“However, both Clinton and Bush realised that this decision would invite global criticism and disrupt peace process negotiations between Israel and Palestine, and therefore did not go on with it.
“But today, it looks as if Trump did this on purpose and is attempting to aggravate the situation in the Middle East, directly causing disruption to ongoing peace process negotiations and worsening the anger of the Muslims,” he said.
He added moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, thereby acknowledging it as Israel’s capital instead of Tel Aviv, will spark anger among Muslims and result in more acts of terror occurring all around the world.
“The terrorists have no other way to express their discontent or rage against the US, and the only way they know is through acts of terror.
“They don’t have organised military forces. The only way they know is what we recognise as terrorism.
“The context of terrorism need not be isolated to only suicide bombers. Those who drop bombs in public are also deemed terrorists. These acts are very terrifying and therefore are categorised as terrorism.
“We do not support terrorism; we are against terrorism,” he said in a video posting on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TunDrMahathir/.
Mahathir added that because Jerusalem is home to sites holy for the Jewish, Christians and Muslims, no one should try to take over Jerusalem.
“Israel definitely does not have the right to do so. I’m sure they will react as though Jerusalem is their capital and will no longer recognise Tel Aviv.
“This will discontinue peace process negotiations between Israel and Palestine and there will be more acts of terrorism compared with present times.
“This is Trump. He doesn’t care. He failed to handle the North Korean crisis but he has so easily put pressure on the Muslims in the Middle East,” he said.
Trump yesterday formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy, risking the occurrence of more acts of terror all over the world.
The US president was reported to have said that the move is in the best interests of America and peace in the Middle East. FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.