By: IBRAHIM Jaafar
Australia is set to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Australian public television station SBS reported on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in October said he was "open" to moving the embassy to Jerusalem, following the lead of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The United States opened a new embassy in Jerusalem in May, a move that delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the wider Muslim world and Western allies.
The Australian newspaper reported several senior cabinet members were leaning towards recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital while stopping short of moving the embassy due to the cost of the move, pegged at $200 million. Instead a consular office will be opened.
By recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Morrison would be hoping to keep his conservative backbench happy but it would likely anger neighbours, including Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority country. The Palestinian question is sensitive in Indonesia and it has declined to signing a free trade agreement with Australia until it confirms its plans towards Israel.
Only Guatemala has followed Washington’s lead and moved its embassy, although Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has indicated that he may do the same. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attempted to persuade other countries to move their embassies too to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is regarded as the lasting and indivisible capital of Israel by her government. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of the Palestinian state.
While the unjust policies of the west and its allies is killing the efforts and aspiration of the Palestinians, and the Arab world is looking the other way, while the taking over of the blessed land of Jerusalem by Israel is ongoing.