Can turmoil in Jerusalem affect Asia? US President Donald Trump's decision to fulfill a campaign promise to recognise the disputed holy city as Israel's capital, despite opposition from his top officials, has already prompted protests in Muslim-majority countries in Asia. There is even talk in Malaysia about being ready to go to war.
Mr Trump's claim that recognising Jerusalem -- the US is alone in the world in doing so -- will promote harmony is a slap in the face to anyone who cares about peace in the Middle East. The US is a party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not a neutral, so how should Mr Trump expect Muslims to respond? Burning of US and Israeli flags along with effigies of Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of US embassies hardly bodes well for harmony.
The wave of anger has spread from the Middle East to Asia and North Africa with tens of thousands taking to the streets in the past two weeks. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, around 1,800 people were injured in confrontations between protesters and authorities in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip and at least four protesters have been killed since the US declaration on Dec 6.
Clashes have erupted in Beirut and further protests took place in Cairo, Rabat and Istanbul. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Kabul, while some 10,000 people in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, rallied at the US embassy in Jakarta for five days. Thousands more marched in protest to the US embassy in Malaysia, while about 3,000 people in Bangladesh gathered at the main mosque in Dhaka last week.
The leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan have all joined the condemnation, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo summoning the US ambassador. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a controversial Islamist opposition party, has called on the Indonesian people and government to pressure Mr Trump to cancel his plan to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
Palestinians were among the first to recognise Indonesia's independence in 1945, Sohibul Iman, the PKS president, told protesters last week. He also pressed the Indonesian government to be more proactive in urging Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) members, the UN Security Council and the international community "to respond immediately with more decisive and concrete political and diplomatic actions in saving the Palestinians from the Israeli occupation and its collaborator, the United States of America".
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also called on Muslims worldwide to strongly oppose any recognition of Jerusalem. "If the world is united, there is hope in foiling the US proposal to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel," he said on Dec 8. "As an Islamic country, it is very important that we engage in any action to save Jerusalem."
His defence minister, Hishammuddin Hussein went further, saying his country was ready to send military forces to Jerusalem.
The 57-member OIC held an emergency meeting to declare East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine and called on the international community to do the same. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians would not accept any American role in the Middle East peace process "from now on" and asked the UN to take over.
Mr Najib told the meeting that the OIC's "collective voice cannot be ignored" and members "must work together as Muslim brothers, and with the international community, to ensure that the status of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) is negotiated within the framework of a two-state solution".
Street protests and the OIC meeting can be seen as an attempt by Muslims and their leaders to harden responses against "American bullying", as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put it. It remains to be seen whether the US president is listening.
The process of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will not begin for at least another six months. From now until June, you can expect various Muslim nations to build up pressure on Mr Trump with certain participation from Indonesia and Malaysia.
The world's reaction to the new split between the US and its Muslim friends has just begun. Which countries will show their support for Mr Trump and which ones will show their support for Palestine? All we can hope for is that the billionaire president does not create or reignite any more conflicts until then, as Asia now has another US-involved conflict to think about besides those in the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula.