TheNewsGuru

Tag: Jerusalem

  • Massive protests rock Asia over Trump’s Jerusalem plan

    Thousands of protesters in Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia joined rallies on Friday to condemn Washington’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as authorities tightened security outside U.S. embassies.

    Leaders in both Asian countries have joined a global chorus of voices condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s move.

    Several thousand protesters, some shouting anti-U.S. slogans and burning an effigy of Trump, gathered in front of the American embassy in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

    In Indonesia, hundreds of protesters mostly clad in white were arriving outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, capital of the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country.

    Some wore checkered scarves and waved Palestinian flags, while others shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

    “We have prepared personnel and patrols to secure the U.S. embassy. We are expecting between 500 and 1,000 demonstrators,” said Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono.

    The U.S. embassy in Jakarta advised its citizens to avoid areas where there were demonstrations and said its consulate in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya had suspended public services on Friday.

    Indonesia has been a long-running supporter of the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and there have been public demonstrations in support of Palestine in recent years.

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday urged the United States to reconsider its decision and instructed his foreign minister to summon the U.S. ambassador for an explanation.

    In Malaysia, leaders from the ruling party United Malay National Organisation and the popular right wing Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, led the rally and representatives of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas are expected to join.

    Protests are also expected in South Asia.

    Pakistan’s major Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami has announced rallies in all major cities after Friday prayers.

    President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem in the coming years.

    Protests have already broken out in the West Bank and the Gaza strip as the Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians to launch a fresh uprising against Israel.

    The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.

    Its eastern sector was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of an independent state they seek.

     

  • Patriarchs, Heads of Jerusalem churches pen President Trump last-minute plea

    13 Patriarchs and Heads of the main churches in Jerusalem has on Wednesday delivered to U.S. President Donald Trump a last-minute plea, urging him not to change US policy toward Jerusalem for fear this could cause “irreparable harm”.

    “We have been following, with concern, the reports about the possibility of changing how the United States understands and deals with the status of Jerusalem,” a letter from them Wednesday said.

    “We are certain that such steps will yield increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper toward destructive division.

    “We ask from you, Mr President, to help us all walk towards more love and a definitive peace, which cannot be reached without Jerusalem being for all,” the letter further stated.

    The full letter to President Trump from the Christian leaders of Jerusalem:

     

  • Israel: Pope, UN, EU, others criticize Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as capital

    World leaders have criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the US President had on Wednesday declared that United States will henceforth deal with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directed the US Embassy in the country be moved Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

    However, a chorus of international leaders criticized the Trump administration’s decision on Wednesday to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a dangerous disruption that contravenes several United Nations resolutions and could inflame one of the world’s thorniest conflicts.

    Secretary General António Guterres and Pope Francis both expressed alarm that the announcement would provoke new tensions in the Holy City, which is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

    Within minutes of Mr. Trump’s speech, in which he said the American Embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Mr. Guterres delivered what amounted to a diplomatic rebuke.

    Reading a statement outside the Security Council chambers at United Nations headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres criticized “any unilateral measures that would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” underscoring the administration’s departure from decades of American policy.

    “Jerusalem is a final-status issue that must be resolved through direct negotiations between the two parties on the basis of the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, taking into account the legitimate concerns of both the Palestinian and the Israeli sides,” Mr. Guterres said.

    “In this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear: there is no alternative to the two-state solution,” he said. “There is no Plan B.”

    In Rome, Pope Francis prayed that Jerusalem’s status be preserved and needless conflict avoided.

    “I cannot remain silent about my deep concern for the situation that has developed in recent days,” Francis said at his weekly general audience at the Vatican. “And at the same time, I wish to make a heartfelt appeal to ensure that everyone is committed to respecting the status quo of the city, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.”

    “Jerusalem is a unique city,” he said, “sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, where the Holy Places for the respective religions are venerated, and it has a special vocation to peace.”

    In especially strong language, the pope added, “I pray to the Lord that such identity be preserved and strengthened for the benefit of the Holy Land, the Middle East and the entire world, and that wisdom and prudence prevail, to avoid adding new elements of tension in a world already shaken and scarred by many cruel conflicts.”

    The European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern about “the repercussions this may have on the prospect of peace.”

  • UN chief urges caution as Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israeli capital

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday stressed that there was no alternative to the two-state solution to the lingering conflict between Israel and Palestinian.

    Guterres made the remarks in the wake of the announcement by the U.S. President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

    The UN chief stressed that Jerusalem was an issue that must be resolved through direct negotiations between the parties.

    “In this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear: there is no alternative to the two-state solution.

    “There is no ‘Plan B’, Guterres said while speaking to the press at UN Headquarters in New York.

    The UN chief stressed the need to realise the vision of two states “living side-by-side in peace, security and mutual recognition, with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Palestine, and all final status issues resolved permanently through negotiations”.

    According to him, it is only through that realisation that the legitimate aspirations of both peoples would be achieved.

    “I understand the deep attachment that Jerusalem holds in the hearts of so many people. It has been so for centuries and it will always be,” he added.

    He also noted that since he took up his post as UN Secretary-General, he had consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardise the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

    “For my part as the UN Secretary-General, I will do everything in my power to support the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return to meaningful negotiations and to realise this vision of a lasting peace for both people,” he stated.

    Trump had while announcing his recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital, said his decision marked “the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians”.

    He recalled that in 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging “the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise that that city – and so importantly – is Israel’s capital”.

    According to him, the act was also passed in Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.

    For over 20 years, every previous American president has exercised the law’s waiver, refusing to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem or to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.

  • 2017 Pilgrims will pray for Buhari’s quick recovery in Jerusalem – Ujah

    The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, NCPC, Reverend Tor Uja has said the commission will pray for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

    This was revealed in a statement signed by Commission’s Head of Media, Mr Celestine Ogugua, on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The commission further said a Prayer Convocation for Nigeria would hold on March 5, 2017, during the 2016 Pilgrimage Completion Exercise.

    According to the statement, the focus of the Prayer Convocation was to pray for the President, the Acting President and Nigeria as a whole.

    “We will lead and mobilise the Church to pray for the recovery of Mr. President and for the Acting President to hold forth in dignity and strength.

    “We will also pray for Nigeria and Nigerians for the holistic recovery of our nation.’’

    The NCPC boss also announced that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal, would be the Special Guest of Honour at the prayer session.

    He said that the commission would push forward its idea of constructing a Heritage Conference Centre for the orientation of all intending pilgrims before airlift.

    Ujah explained that the second ojbective of the Heritage Conference centre is to work with Israeli Agricultural experts to build a farm centre to train farmers in addition to constructing a secondary school that would bring up young people with good Christian values.

    According to him, the current economic recession is an opportunity to build and reconstruct the nation.

    He blamed the recession on the failure of people to institute a proper structure to sustain the nation’s resources.

    He said that NCPC would contribute spiritually and socially toward the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country.

    “We owe this nation our service; remove sectional barriers and stand for what is right in our nation and in our service to God.’’

    Meanwhile, Ujah, while inaugurating a Committee on Land and Training, urged the committee members to work hard and make the necessary sacrifices to produce the desired results.

    In his response, the NCPC Head of Administration, Mr. Danjuma Elabi, who spoke on behalf of the members, thanked the Executive Secretary for the opportunity given to them to serve.

    He pledged that the committee would work hard to ensure that its objectives were achieved.