Greenblatt: Palestinian Capital in Jerusalem Is ‘Aspiration Not a Right’

Trump's Assistant and Special Envoy for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt. (Photo: File)

US Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, has said that the creation of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem is an “aspiration not a right”.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council yesterday, Greenblatt said that while

“It is true that the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] and the Palestinian Authority [PA] continue to assert that East Jerusalem must be a capital for the Palestinians, […] let’s remember, an aspiration is not a right.”

Greenblatt also shunned international law as the foundation of any future peace agreement:

“We have all heard cogent arguments claiming international law says one thing or another about this or that aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some of those arguments are persuasive, at least to certain audiences. But none of them are conclusive.”

He added:

“There is no judge, jury, or court in the world [to which] that the parties involved have agreed to give jurisdiction in order to decide whose interpretations are correct.”

International law considers East Jerusalem occupied territory after it was captured by Israel during the 1967 War; it likewise does not recognize Israel’s annexation of the city in 1980.

The top US envoy also appeared to rule out international consensus, which has long worked on the premise of dividing or sharing Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state.

He quipped:

“If a so-called international consensus had been able to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it would have done so decades ago. It didn’t.”

Greenblatt’s comments will be seen as yet more evidence that the administration of US President Donald Trump does not intend to fulfill Palestinian rights in Jerusalem.

Since President Trump announced his recognition of the Holy City as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and moved the US embassy there in May 2018, any such prospect has grown increasingly distant.

(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)

(The Palestine Chronicle is a registered 501(c)3 organization, thus, all donations are tax deductible.)
Our Vision For Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out

1 Comment

  1. Greenblatt is one more example of non-representative shadow authority above and beyond gov’t. Whether he secures a second income out of this, he’s also a beneficiary of the sided bias. Now it’s just in all our face; deep state coming out of the closet to let us know how much they’ve ever really cared what we thought at all … and ‘gotcha’ now if you maybe hadn’t seen it coming … too late to reconsider the total abandonment of social justice, completely committed to interests for the one ethno-religious “identity group” … ‘whatchagonnadoabowdit’?

Comments are closed.