Boiling point
ISRAEL is braced for bloodshed today as America opens its controversial embassy in Jerusalem.
Donald Trump, who broke with other nations by moving the US HQ from Tel Aviv, will make a speech via video from 5,000 miles away in the White House.
Despite the US President staying away, there is a massive security operation in place amid fears of a terror attack.
More than 100,000 Palestinians are expected to demonstrate inside Gaza.
The Israeli Defence Force is preparing for violence and hundreds of troops have been drafted in amid fears protesters will storm the border fence.
Palestinians are also commemorating Nakba
Day (Catastrophe Day) which marks the time they were displaced from their homes in 1948.
Mr Trump’s decision to move the embassy has been described by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as the “slap of the century”.
The US will be the first nation in the world to have its embassy in the disputed city, a move which has sparked anger across the Middle East. Mr Trump, 71, will be represented by his daughter Ivanka, 36, and her husband Jared Kushner, 37, who arrived in Jerusalem yesterday to a city plastered with tributes to the President.
One massive banner proclaims: God Bless Donald Trump. Hundreds of official signs say “Trump is a friend of Zion” and “Trump – make Israel great again”. Buses have had pro-trump slogans pasted on and thousands of American and Israeli flags have been flying.
At a huge reception last night, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu told guests: “This is a momentous time.
“President Trump is making history and our people will be eternally grateful.”
But Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, 55, earlier hit out at the deaths of some 150 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in the latest protests.
He said: “We won’t give up on our principles, even at the price of millions of martyrs. We won’t consent to die oppressed.”
This is a momentous time, our people will be eternally grateful PRESIDENT NETANYAHU
ON THE EMBASSY SWITCH