The U.S. Israel embassy

The U.S. Senate vote to transfer the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has raised several questions in Arab countries.

First, the vote was unanimously approved by U.S. senators. Second, it came amid the effective -- though feverish -- attempts to continue the peace process in the Middle East, particularly after the Palestinians and Israelis took a further step toward settling their deep-rooted disputes.

Third, the U.S. Senate vote seemed to have been designed only to give more ground to the anti-peace activists in the restive region. These activists, who had left no stone unturned in trying to hinder the peace process, are now being handed "the unimaginable" by the U.S. senators.

Worse, the vote stirred up the outrage of those Palestinians hardly known for their good offices toward peace.

Bitterly criticizing the vote, Egypt warned that it seriously affects the current climate of peace. Egypt also insists that the vote indicates a stance incompatible with the spirit of peaceful negotiations.

Actually, the miscalculated and outrageous Senate vote is a bold challenge to resolutions previously made by the United Nations, which stress that the status of Jerusalem should be settled through negotiations among the parties concerned.

Regrettably, the worst is yet to come, as no Arab country will agree to hold the vote as a binding resolution.

Egypt's foreign minister, Amr Moussa, quite rightly emphasized that the "outrageous" vote does not change the status of the Holy City, which is subject to negotiations next year.

-- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo