Turkey says US decision to open embassy in Jerusalem damaging peace
Ankara reacts with scathing condemnation of US announcement of inaugurating new Jerusalem embassy in May, says US ‘insistence on damaging peace, ignoring UN resolutions was worrying’; Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Friday decision showed ‘determination to violate international law, destroy two-state solution and provoke the feelings of Palestinians.’
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5129364,00.html
The Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry attacked the United States Saturday over its announcement the previous day of its intention to inaugurate the US Embassy in Jerusalem this coming May, to coincide with Israel’s 70th Independence Day celebrations.
The ministry’s message said the American decision insisted on damaging peace and disregarded decisions objecting to the move by the United Nations and Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
In a statement, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the decision was “very worrying”. The US State Department said on Friday it would open an embassy in Jerusalem in May to coincide with Israel’s 70th Independence Day and that the embassy will operate out of the current American consulate building in the capital’s Arnona neighborhood.
The consulate’s work will continue as usual, and the US will continue providing consular services at the premises of the existing building, including issuing visas and receiving American citizens.
In December, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted an OIC summit of more than 50 countries in Istanbul, where Muslim leaders condemned the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman will begin working at the Jerusalem complex and that a new embassy will open by the end of 2019, while the search for a permanent site for the embassy was ongoing.
“We are excited about taking this historic step, and look forward with anticipation to the May opening,” Nauert said.
Palestinians were irate upon learning of the American announcement, and said it could destroy the prospect of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian’s chief negotiator in peace talks that have been frozen since 2014, said the US move showed a “determination to violate international law, destroy the two-state solution and provoke the feelings of the Palestinian people as well as of all Arabs, Muslims and Christians around the globe.”
Erekat, who is also secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, went on to say that US President Donald Trump and his team “have disqualified the US from being part of the solution between Israelis and Palestinians; rather, the world now sees that they are part of the problem.”
He further lamented the fact the move would coincide with the Nakba Day—the 1948 Palestinian exodus, or how the Palestinians refer to the establishment of Israel.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also slammed the move, saying, “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.”
In Gaza, a Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that “Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem is a declaration of war against the Arab and Muslim nation, and the US administration must reconsider its move.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, praised the US decision, saying it “will turn Israel’s 70th Independence Day into a much greater celebration.”
“This is a great day for the people of Israel,” Netanyahu noted in a statement released Friday night. “Thank you, President Trump, for your leadership and your friendship.”
Elior Levy, Moran Azulay, Itamar Eichner, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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WarSclerotic 
February 24, 2018 at 4:09 PM
Isn´t Turkey leading war in Syria? So why is it concerned about peace?