UN to hold emergency meeting, new vote on Trump’s Jerusalem decision: report

The United Nations General Assembly will reportedly hold an emergency session on Thursday to discuss President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

At that meeting, the General Assembly is set to vote on a resolution calling on the Trump administration to withdraw that decision, according to Reuters.

The vote comes on the heels of a U.N. Security Council vote seeking to nullify any move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The U.S., which wields veto power on the council, rejected that resolution, effectively killing it.

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Unlike on the Security Council, however, the U.S. does not have the power to veto resolutions put before the General Assembly. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy to the U.N., said he hoped the new resolution would have “overwhelming support” in the General Assembly, according to Reuters.

The General Assembly resolution is not legally binding, and the U.S. would not be obligated to abide by the measure. But, if it passed, the resolution would exert political pressure on the U.S. 

Trump’s decision earlier this month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel prompted swift criticism from world leaders, particularly in Arab and Muslim-majority countries, who warned that the move could undermine stability in the region.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said last week that Trump’s decision effectively disqualified the U.S. from brokering peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis. That declaration further complicates Trump’s vow to oversee Israel–Palestine peace negotiations, which he has called the “ultimate deal.”

Jerusalem is to many sites considered holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims, and Palestinians have long aspired to establish the city’s eastern sector as the capital of a future Palestinian state.