Palestinian protesters: 'Jerusalem is not Trump's city to give'
Palestinian protesters: 'Jerusalem is not Trump's city to give'
US embassy ceremony takes place after Israeli security forces killed at least 55 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,400.
by Linah Alsaafin
Jerusalem - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the US embassy move to Jerusalem as a "glorious" day in Israel's history to a crowd of about 800 officials and dignitaries.
The ceremony took place on Monday after at least 55 Palestinian protesters were killed and more than 2,400 wounded as Israeli forces opened live fire on them in Gaza.
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Outside the American embassy, several hundred Palestinian and Jewish Israeli activists gathered to protest the move, which was not recognised by the international community.
Palestine flags were held up by demonstrators, most of whom had to walk to get to the area because of road closures and security barricades. Posters saying "Make Jerusalem free again" and "No to Trump's illegal decision" were raised before being torn to pieces by Israeli policemen gathered on opposite sides of the barriers.
Rania Muhareb, a legal researcher at the Palestinian rights group Al Haq, told Al Jazeera the US embassy move had given Israel the "green light to continue its forcible transfer of Palestinians" from occupied East Jerusalem to keep the demographics in favour of Jewish Israelis.
"This forcible transfer has been ongoing since the beginning of the occupation," Muhareb said. "But what we've seen over the past few months is that Israel has accelerated and escalated these measures to remove Palestinians from the city, and has adopted legislation that allows settlements from the East Jerusalem periphery to be annexed to Jerusalem.
"These are all grave violations of international law and must be prohibited," she added. "The US embassy move is legitimising these illegal measures Israel has undertaken, and is encouraging other states to move their embassies to the city against international law."
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/palestinian-protesters-jerusalem-trump-city-give-180514185328560.html