DHAKA: The US has vetoed, as expected, a UN Security Council draft resolution rejecting President Donald Trump's recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and his plans to move the American embassy in Israel to the city, reports Al Jazeera. 

However, the proposed measure was backed on Monday (December 19) by the 14 other Security Council members, including many US allies, highlighting Washington's increasing isolation over an issue that has triggered mass rallies in support of the Palestinians in major international cities.

"What is troublesome to some people […] is that the United States had the courage and honesty to recognise a fundamental reality," Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said. 

"Jerusalem has been the political, cultural, and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people for thousands of years - they have had no other capital city," she continued.

"The United States has the sovereignty to determine where and whether we establish an embassy," said Haley, describing the vote as an "insult" that "won't be forgotten".

Along with the UK, France, Russia, and China, the US is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, with the power to block any resolution from passing with the use of a veto. 

The US and the international community have long maintained that the solution to the Middle East conflict would be the formation of a Palestinian state - alongside the Israeli one - with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

Trump's declaration unleashed widespread anger and rallies within Palestine and in major cities across the world. 

Since the decision, at least nine Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,900 injured in protests in the occupied territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

BDST: 1006 HRS, DEC 19, 2017
SI