Thousands of Palestinians protested in the afternoon in 14 different locations across the West Bank. Hundreds also demonstrated near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, Haaretz daily reported. The embassy will initially be located in the Arno neighbourhood in a building that now houses consular operations of US Consulate General in Jerusalem, said the State Department Spokesperson Heather uert. A new embassy annexe on the Arno compound is expected to open by the end of 2019, uert added. Although Israeli Transportation and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz tweeted on Friday to congratulate US President Dold Trump on his decision, the voice was outnumbered by the overwhelming majority of critics, especially in the Arab and Muslim world. Additiolly, in Gaza, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem “is a declaration of war against the Arab and Muslim world”, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat slammed the Trump administration’s plan, saying that the White House showed its determition “to violate intertiol law, destroy the two-state solution and provoke the feelings of the Palestinian people”. (IANS)
