Palestine Will Revoke Recognition of Israel If US Moves Embassy

Palestinian leaders called for prayers at mosques across the Middle East this week to protest plans by President-elect Donald Trump to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and also threatened to withdraw the Palestinian recognition of Israel if the move is realized.

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a senior Palestinian official and Fatah central committee member who spoke on behalf of the Palestinian leadership, said moving the U.S. embassy would mean an "end to the two-state solution."

"I think and we all think that moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a dangerous step that will have dangerous consequences for the political track for our people and for our future aspirations and for the Muslim, Arab, Christian countries and people all over the world," Shtayyeh told journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Recognizing the highly-contested city as the Israeli capital would be a controversial move given Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem since 1967 and its later annexation of East Jerusalem in a move never recognized by the international community.

The Palestinians regard Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel proclaims the entire city as its capital.

Jerusalem is home to sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians and the move would be a break from decades of U.S. policy. Successive administrations have refused calls to move the embassy, arguing that its status should be resolved as part of peace negotiations.