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Under its former president, Donald Trump, in December 2017, the United States launched a path to transfer embassies from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem, but the path faltered and only 4 countries followed suit: Guatemala, Kosovo, and Honduras, the most recent of which was Argentina last month.

In July 1980, the Israeli Knesset approved a decision to annex Jerusalem, both its eastern and western parts, and consider it the eternal and unified capital of Israel, but a month later the Security Council issued Resolution No. 478 and considered all Israeli measures to change the status of Jerusalem invalid, and it was mentioned again in 2017.

In this context, the expert on Israeli affairs, Ismail Moslemani, says that Jerusalem was and remains the central link in the Arab-Israeli conflict, indicating that Israel divided the city into two parts, the western and eastern parts, and occupied them in 1948 and 1967, respectively, and seeks to unify them based on the Knesset’s decision.

Maslamani confirmed during his speech to “Al Jazeera Window from Jerusalem” that Trump gave full Israeli legitimacy to the city of Jerusalem, explaining that the beginning was in the US Congress in 1945, but the US presidents refused to recognize it until 1999.

He pointed out that Trump gave legitimacy under the name of the Deal of the Century, and Jerusalem would have become completely under Israeli sovereignty, after which Tel Aviv would begin to change the features of the city, including infrastructure, the educational and cultural aspects, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, churches, and others.

Maslamani pointed out that there are 163 countries that recognize Israel out of 194 in the United Nations, but this recognition remains rhetorical and not practical, as only 4 countries moved their embassies to Jerusalem, while 14 countries opened commercial and cultural offices and do not provide representation.

He warned that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is seeking to put pressure on violating international law, but there is a matter of disagreement between Western countries because East Jerusalem is considered the capital of the future State of Palestine.

Source: Al Jazeera