US Embassy to Occupied Al-Quds in May

Local Editor

The United States said Friday it will open its embassy in occupied Palestine in May, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of "Israeli" occupation to Palestine.

The occupation of the apartheid Zionist entity to Palestine was seven decades ago on May 14, 1948.

"The American administration's decisions to recognize al-Quds as "Israel's" capital and choose the Palestinian people's Nakba as the date for this step is a blatant violation of international law," Palestine Liberation Organization No. 2 Saeb Erekat said.

He said the result would be "the destruction of the two-state option, as well as a blatant provocation to all Arabs and Muslims."

US President Donald Trump announced last December that Occupied Al-Quds is the capital of the apartheid entity.

"We are excited about taking this historic step, and look forward with anticipation to the May opening," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, noting that it will coincide with "Israel's" 70th anniversary.

The embassy will be gradually expanded in existing consular facilities in the Arnona neighborhood, while the search for a permanent site has already begun for what Nauert referred to as a "longer-term undertaking."

The interim embassy will have office space for the ambassador and a small staff and, by the end of 2019, a new embassy annex on the Arnona compound will be opened, Nauert said in a statement.

"This is an unacceptable step. Any unilateral move will not give legitimacy to anyone and will be an obstacle to any effort to create peace in the region," said Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is in the United States until Saturday.

"Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to visit the White House on March 5, hailed the US announcement as "a great day for "Israel"."

In a speech Friday to a gathering of conservatives in suburban Washington, Trump recalled his decision. "I put the word out that I may do it. I was hit by more countries and more pressure and more people calling, begging me ‘Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it,'" Trump said.

"I said we have to do it. It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do, we have to do it. And I did it."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team