BANGKOK — Jerusalem should remain as it is and it is not right for any other country to decide that it should become the capital of Israel or be divided, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Australia also wants to divide Jerusalem into West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, all these will only stir more anger,” he said after receiving an honorary doctorate degree in social leadership, business and politics from Rangsit University in Bangkok yesterday.
Dr Mahathir said this in reply to a question posed by Reuter’s correspondent in Bangkok on Australia’s decision to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
However, the country will not move its embassy there until a peace agreement between Palestine and Israel is achieved.
Last month, Dr Mahathir raised his concerns with his Australian counterpart Scott John Morrison over the country ‘s intention to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during the ASEAN summit in Singapore.
“We noticed that the words used are very carefully constructed. Nevertheless, in the eyes of many Arab countries, all these are not something that they can accept,” he said.
He said Jerusalem has always been under Palestine and questioned why were they taking the effort to divide the holy city.
“They have no right, it does not belong to them,” he said.
-BERNAMA
