Arab and Islamic nations are demanding that the United Nations remove a panel from an Israeli exhibition that calls Jerusalem “the spiritual and physical capital of the Jewish people.”
A letter from the Palestinian U.N. mission to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, echoing protests by Arab nations and the 57—member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, expressed “vehement rejection” at the description.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. The letter said references “which purport to assert Israeli sovereignty on this land ... are legally, politically and morally incorrect and unacceptable.”
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Israeli Mission followed the rules for exhibitions, and while the U.N. tries to balance the wishes of a country seeking to exhibit without offending another country it “is not always easy.”
