Palestinian Government Calls for Declaring East Jerusalem as Capital ahead of US Embassy Relocation

Rasa - The official Spokesman of the Palestinian government Yousef Al-Mahmoud called on the countries around the world that believe in freedom, peace and stability as well as those who do care of upholding the resolutions of international legitimacy to declare East Jerusalem the capital of the State of Palestine.

News ID: 437679

Date: 14 May 2018 - 22:53

RNA - “This call came in the face of blatant ignorance of the legitimacy and international laws that has been made by the continuation of the occupation and US President Donald Trump’s decision regarding moving the US embassy to Jerusalem,” Mahmoud said in a statement Sunday.

He called for the rejection and condemnation of the US President’s decision to transfer his country’s embassy to the occupied Jerusalem on the 70th tragic anniversary of the Nakba of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation.

He slammed the US move as “the most bizarre act undertaken by world leaders throughout history”.

The Spokesman urged the international community to counter the US decision, stressing that the international community must address this disobedience and hostility carried out against the principles of international law by the US President.

Washington is scheduled to move its diplomatic mission to Jerusalem on Monday, as the US Presidential Delegation - which consisted of President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan - arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon ahead of the ceremony.

Several other American politicians will be attending the ceremony, but are arriving separately, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The event will be boycotted by most European Union ambassadors in Israel, as some 32 of the 86 envoys accepted the invitation, Haaretz reported.

Also, several European states declined the invitation to relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem for technical reasons or due to their stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The entire Israeli cabinet will attend the reception, along with the chairpersons of the Knesset committees, all the members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the rest of the coalition lawmakers.

Palestinian activists and officials across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have called for coordinated demonstrations against the scheduled relocation of the United States embassy in Jerusalem.

The Higher Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Community, which represents Palestinian citizens of Israel, stressed that it has coordinated with national and religious groups in occupied East Jerusalem to hold a protest on the day of the opening, under the motto: “Jerusalem is an Arab Islamic and Christian city”, and “No to moving the US embassy to Jerusalem”.

Tens of thousands are expected to protests the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, while another large-scale demonstrate is planned which marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe), in which over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes in 1948.

Thousands of Palestinians have launched the Great March of Return in the besieged Gaza Strip to demand their right of return to their villages and towns they were forcibly displaced. Nearly 50 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed and over 8,000 injured along the fence in Gaza sinec the peaceful protests began, with no reports of Israeli casualties, according to reports.

The US President announced early December that Washington would be recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital, stressing that the United States would relocate the embassy in the occupied lands from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds.

The move was hailed by Israel but condemned by the rest of the international community as one which undermines the peace talks.

Washington’s move has raised a chorus of outcry across the international community. The Muslim world, the UN, world leaders from Europe to the Middle East to Australia, and even US allies in the West have criticized the bid, saying it would plunge the already tumultuous region into new upheaval.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in a statement issued following an extraordinary summit in Turkey's Istanbul, declared East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine "under occupation" and urged the US to withdraw from the peace process and back down from its Jerusalem decision.

According to Fars News Agancy, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution condemning US President’s decision and called on states not to move their diplomatic missions to the sacred city. Only nine countries voted directly against the resolution, while 56 others either abstained or did not cast a ballot. The UN resolution passed overwhelmingly in the body's General Assembly with 128 countries voting in favor of it.

The UNGA vote followed the US veto of a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution. All other UNSC members voted in favor of a motion to rescind Donald Trump’s move.

In response to the US President’s announcement, European Council President Donald Tusk reaffirmed the EU’s “firm commitment” to the two-state solution, emphasizing that the bloc’s position on Jerusalem remained unchanged.

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