US embassy in Israel moving to Jerusalem

RAMALLAH/GAZA — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by phone that he intends to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Palestinians have strongly condemned and rejected Trump’s decision, and called for days of rage all over the Palestinian territories against the move. He also informed the leaders of Israel, Jordan and Egypt of his intentions.

Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in an official statement that President Abbas warned of the dangers of such a decision on the peace process, security and stability in the region and the world.

“The president reaffirms our firm and strict position that (there is) no Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative,” said Rudeineh.

He added that Abbas will continue his contact with regional and world leaders to prevent such an unacceptable action.

“We can’t accept moving the US embassy to Jerusalem because this means that it is an official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel,” Rudeineh said.

The Palestinians want to declare the eastern part of Jerusalem the capital of their future state, while Israel insists that all Jerusalem is its eternal capital. Israel has occupied the eastern part of the holy city since 1967, but Jerusalem hasn’t been recognized by the international community as the capital of Israel.

Jerusalem is one of the finalstatus issues for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations which had stalled in 2014 after nine months of US-sponsored talks without progress to resolve the decades-old conflict.

Trump pledged to move the US embassy to Jerusalem during his election campaign, but last June he signed an extraordinary six-month order to keep it in Tel Aviv in a move taken by all his predecessors to avoid increasing tensions in the Middle East.

After taking office, Trump pledged to continue his country’s sponsorship of a peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, but he has yet to announce any practical mechanisms for such a move, and has also avoided sticking to the traditional position on a two-state solution.

The Palestinians have repeatedly warned that any US attack on the status quo in Jerusalem would mean destroying the peace process and ending the US role in sponsoring the negotiations.