The Lebanese daily newspaper Al Akhbar is convinced that the outrage that has been accumulating in the region in the face of the increasingly dismissive policies pursued by the Trump administration has finally broken through. This outrage manifested itself in the reluctance of the UN General Assembly to recognize Washington’s decision of treating Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Such an assessment shows how this decision was received across the Arab world. The position was stressed even further by a number of comments provided by local authors and analysts featured in the newspaper. All commentators seem to agree that this resolution has marked a decisive victory of legality and rule of law over corrupted practices. Thus, the US attempt to openly blackmail those who do not want to bow their heads to Washington has been openly rejected.
Local analysts are convinced that the problem of Jerusalem remains a global concern, that is not limited to the Arab-Muslim world. The US administration was confronted by the international community rejecting its unilateral decision to review the status of Jerusalem.
This latest vote reflects an unprecedented political and diplomatic confrontation to ever occur in the corridors of the UN between the US administration and the majority of world’s states, as two-thirds of the UN member states supported the non-recognition of the US decision on the status of Jerusalem, says the Al Akhbar newspaper. It’s convinced that the international community is not afraid anymore to oppose unilateral Washington’s decisions, even though Trump failed to find a better way of addressing its members than to use the language of threats against those who supported this resolution, which constitutes a clear violation of the international law.
As for Washington’s warnings of reducing aid to foreign states, according to the Al Jazeera, for the year 2018 it rests at the level of 25.8 billion dollars.
Among largest receivers of this aid once find Israel (3.1 billion dollars), followed by Egypt (1.3 billion dollars), and Jordan (1 billion dollars dollars). At the same time, most of this assistance is allocated on the so-called “Foreign military financing” to facilitate the efforts of foreign clients to purchase American weapons or obtain military assistance.
Even though the UN General Assembly resolution bears no binding status, Washington found itself in a increasingly more difficult situation when its losing influence on the international stage on the daily basis. This is evidenced by the vote of the closest US allies that all chose to side with the Palestinians on this issue.
The once great power that is known for its militarily prowess has in fact turned out to be among the absolute minority, devoid of any moral authority, while losing its position as a mediator in Middle Eastern conflicts, the Jordanian newspaper Al-Gad notes.
According to the Ar Rai Al Youm, the threats to cut military assistance to the states that will vote in the UN for the resolution condemning America constitute a major insult to Washington’s allies, especially those in the Persian Gulf. The newspaper stresses that for the first time since his inauguration the master of the White House repeated his per-election rhetorics demanding the rich Arab countries to “pay the bills” for the military assistance and support provided by the United States.
This creates preconditions for future attempts to blackmail both Saudi Arabia and other rich countries of the Gulf. This policy is based on the obviously exaggerated danger of Iran and is played in such a way to frighten these countries, to force them to pay billions of dollars from their financial reserves or to borrow money from American banks to ensure security of their oil and gas reserves.
A number of Arab analysts voice hope that the ill-advised decision of Donald Trump and the resonant reaction that the UN shown will not just draw the attention of the international community towards the problem of Jerusalem and the Middle East settlement. They call for overcoming stagnation in the Palestinian institutions and organizations, for renewing their stuff in order to achieve the quickest resolution of the split in the ranks of the Palestinians.
Yury Zinin, Leading Research Fellow at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.
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