Bosnian Serbs Urge Support for Trump over Jerusalem

The president of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Milorad Dodik, sent a letter to the Serb member of the Bosnian presidency, Mladen Ivanic, calling for Bosnia to support Israel and US President Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

The UN General Assembly is holding an emergency session on Thursday to vote on a draft resolution rejecting Trump's controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"In the light of the delicacy of the years-long problem between Israel and Palestine, and in the light of President Donald Trump's decision to move the US diplomatic mission to Jerusalem, I urge you… to do all that is necessary that the head of the Bosnia and Herzegovina mission to the UN does not support the resolution," Dodik wrote to Ivanic.

Earlier this month, in a move that caused public outrage, Trump announced the decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The UN General Assembly maintains that the Jerusalem issue should be resolved between Israel and the Palestinians, who also claim the city as their capital.

Dodik's letter to Ivanic says that Republika Srpska and Israel have friendly relations and that any diplomatic action by Bosnia that could endanger this friendship should be prevented.

"We fully understand the complexity of the situation in the Middle East and advocate a peaceful solution to the problem between Israel and Palestine," the letter added.

However, the Bosnian presidency has made a decision to refrain from voting on the resolution at the General Assembly, according to Ivanic's office.

The Bosnian presidency is in charge of the foreign policy of the country and everything is decided...