Israel, Palestine can co-exist
Jan 15, 2004
UGANDA has reassured the Arab world of its commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian question
UGANDA has reassured the Arab world of its commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian question.
Acting foreign minister Tom Butime told ambassadors of Arab countries resident in Kampala that Uganda still stood by Palestine despite opposing two United Nations resolutions condemning Israel last month.
Uganda joined the United States and six other countries in voting against a resolution condemning countries that set up diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, and another that condemned illegitimate Israeli actions on Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is at the centre of the Israeli-Arab conflict. As a holy city held in reverence by three of the world’s great religions — Christianity, Judaism and Islam — and its historical links to the Jewish and Arab nations, its political and administrative status is still under dispute following its complete annexing by Israel.
Having gone back and forth between different peoples and powers over the centuries, Jerusalem was Palestine’s capital from 1922 to 1948, when Israel, the Jewish state was declared, though the city was divided between Israel and Jordan.
Israel annexed the Arab half of the city in 1967, then declared the united Jerusalem its capital in 1980, though this was not recognised by the UN. It is against this background that Uganda cast its votes on December 4. Both the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs have a legitimate historical claim to the land in the Middle East’s most protracted conflict.
The only tenable solution will be a two-state arrangement, in which Israel and Palestine exist side by side; before this is (peacefully) attained, the status of Jerusalem cannot be settled conclusively.
Acting foreign minister Tom Butime told ambassadors of Arab countries resident in Kampala that Uganda still stood by Palestine despite opposing two United Nations resolutions condemning Israel last month.
Uganda joined the United States and six other countries in voting against a resolution condemning countries that set up diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, and another that condemned illegitimate Israeli actions on Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is at the centre of the Israeli-Arab conflict. As a holy city held in reverence by three of the world’s great religions — Christianity, Judaism and Islam — and its historical links to the Jewish and Arab nations, its political and administrative status is still under dispute following its complete annexing by Israel.
Having gone back and forth between different peoples and powers over the centuries, Jerusalem was Palestine’s capital from 1922 to 1948, when Israel, the Jewish state was declared, though the city was divided between Israel and Jordan.
Israel annexed the Arab half of the city in 1967, then declared the united Jerusalem its capital in 1980, though this was not recognised by the UN. It is against this background that Uganda cast its votes on December 4. Both the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs have a legitimate historical claim to the land in the Middle East’s most protracted conflict.
The only tenable solution will be a two-state arrangement, in which Israel and Palestine exist side by side; before this is (peacefully) attained, the status of Jerusalem cannot be settled conclusively.