UN security council to discuss US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital
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The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on Friday to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognise as the capital of Israel.
The request for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to publicly brief the Security Council meeting was made by France, Bolivia, Egypt, Italy, Senegal, Sweden, Britain and Uruguay.
Trump abruptly reversed decades of U.S. policy on Wednesday, generating outrage from Palestinians and defying warnings of Middle East unrest. Trump also plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
"It is time to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel..... I've judged this course of action to be in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians." said Mr Trump.
Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there.
Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city's eastern sector, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.
After Trump spoke on Wednesday, Antonio Guterres said: "I have consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardise the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians."
"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. I will do everything in my power to support the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return to meaningful negotiations."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley praised Trump's decision as "the just and right thing to do."