Signs up for US embassy move
Festive inauguration for mission in occupied Jerusalem on Monday
Workmen yesterday put up street signs to the US embassy due to open in occupied Jerusalem on May 14, a move hailed as historic by Israel but loathed by Palestinians.
Municipal workers erected signposts reading “US Embassy” in Hebrew, Arabic and English around the site, currently a US consular building, in the city’s Arnona neighbourhood. Breaking with decades of US diplomacy and international consensus President Donald Trump announced on December 6 the recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the embassy, located until now in Tel Aviv.
The embassy is to get a festive inauguration next Monday, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the state of Israel. Small in size, it will initially occupy part of the consular workspace pending planning and construction of a purpose-built embassy, a long-term project according to the US State Department.
Trump’s unilateral decision delighted the Israelis and enraged the Palestinians, who want to make the eastern, mainly Palestinian, part of the city the capital of their future state and who say Trump’s decision ignores their demands.
US embassy road signs went up in occupied Jerusalem yesterday ahead of next week’s opening of the mission in accordance with President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.
A Reuters witness saw workmen installing the signs, in English, Hebrew and Arabic, along roads leading to a US consulate building in occupied south Jerusalem that will be remodelled as the embassy when it is formally relocated from Tel Aviv on May 14.
Israel captured and occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 War and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.
The last round of peace talks on a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip collapsed in 2014.
“This (embassy) move is not only illegal but will also thwart the achievement of a just and lasting peace between two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 borders, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement. “By recognising [occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the seat of its government, we’re recognising reality,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a visit to Israel last week.
“I also stress, as President Trump has said in December, the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in [occupied] Jerusalem remain subject to negotiations between the parties, and we remain committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future for both Israel and the Palestinians.” Occupied Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called the embassy move a “historic event”, describing occupied Jerusalem as “the eternal capital of the Jewish people”.
At the consulate site, mechanical diggers cleared scrubland as workers posted embassy signs along city roads.
Street signs in the occupied city have sometimes fallen victim to political vandalism, with Jews erasing Arabic and Palestinians the Hebrew.