Vilnius Its Jewish influence has led to it being described as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" and Napoleon named it "the Jerusalem of the North" as he was passing through in 1812. In 2009, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture, together with the Austrian city of Linz. The name of the city originates from the Vilnia River. The city has also been known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history: "Vilna" was once common in English. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include: , , , , , , ("Vilne"). A Russian name from the time
United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel more than 50 Muslim majority countries rejected and condemned Trump's decision by passing the "Istanbul Declaration on Freedom for al Quds" ("Jerusalem" in Arabic) and calling for the worldwide recognition of "an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its occupied capital". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated at the summit that the United States is no longer fit to participate in the Middle East peace process because of its bias and cannot be accepted as a "fair negotiator". While the summit did not produce any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States, "The New York Times" called the declaration