WEEKLY LISTENING - Week 5

THE WORLD SHOULD RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL’S CAPITAL

Many of Israel's supporters, including Donald Trump, claim Jerusalem should be recognized as Israel's capital city and so this debate was held by intelligence squared in order to discuss the fact the world should recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city. The debate is about “ does it seem that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel or an unnecessary and illegal provocation at a time when peace process in flat lining?”  

SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION

Natasha Hausdorff

Barrister and director of UK Lawyers for Israel

Natasha Hausdorff debunks the myths and moreover says that Palestine has no state actually there never was a state, there one day may be a state but that depends on negotiations which she did not discuss more about due to the time factor.

Ehud Olmert

Former Prime Minister of Israel, 2006-2009

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the Arab countries surrounding Jerusalem are not a part of it. He says that they are prepared to recognize the status of Palestinians and the issues could be resolved if they got a positive answer from Palestine.

SPEAKERS AGAINST THE MOTION:

Ghada Karmi

Palestinian activist, academic and author

She is against the idea, as she believes If the world recongnize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city it’s also recognizing illegal occupation, land theft and discrimination against the natives living in Jerusalem. Israel has no legal title to Jerusalem

Jack straw 

Former foreign secretary

He want people to understand that to Palestine Jerusalem is its capital too. Israel kept on breaking basics humans right of Palestinians, forcing them to evacuate their houses to make way for Israeli’s settlements. He believes The capital should be decided after a settlement is reached between the two states

Jerusalem is home to Israel’s Parliament and Supreme Court. It’s where both the Israeli Prime Minister and the President reside. But more than that, Jerusalem has been the spiritual and cultural capital of the Jewish people for thousands of years. Sure, there might be some disputes over a few neighbourhoods and holy sites. But every other country across the globe has the right to choose their own capital. Why not the world’s only Jewish state? Others warn, however, that symbolic recognition of Jerusalem would be a mortal blow for the currently frozen Israeli-Palestinian peace process.The Palestinians insist that any two-state peace agreement must also include East Jerusalem as their own capital. So not only would it be a bad move for peace and stability,recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would be a denial of the fundamental right of the Palestinian people to their own homeland.

The debate ends with a win for all those who were against the idea of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital city.