The Palestinian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Nasir Abujaish who is furious about the recent shift of the American Embassy to Jerusalem asked for support from other countries in opposing the recent move.
“We saw that some countries who were opposed to moving the US Embassy to the occupied Jerusalem  territory  attended the celebration  in Jerusalem and witness the move of the US  embassy. This is unfair” he said in a briefing on Tuesday, May 15.
The move on Monday followed a December 2017 decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the US mission there from Tel Aviv. Representatives from countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Angola, and Albania attended the celebration despite recently stating opposition to the move. Reports also said that Ethiopia was among those that attended the ceremony. Ethiopia’s ministry of foreign Affairs said despite media reports, its delegates did not participate in the opening celebrations of the US embassy in Jerusalem. In a statement Meles Alem, MoFA spokesperson, clarified that media reports indicating Ethiopia as one of the African countries which were planning to participate in the event were not true. The news was first reported by Haaretz, a leading Israeli daily newspaper. Nigeria and Thailand, which were included in the report by Haaretz, have also issued statements saying their delegates were not part of the opening ceremony.
Capital asked the Ambassador if shifting the US embassy to Jerusalem will motivate others to do the same thing.
“I don’t think so, but if they will do that we will oppose it because we will not accept Jerusalem without Palestine.”
He said that the ongoing massacre in the Gaza Strip which happened last week was planned in advance, since the protests began on March 30.
“The Israeli officials and the American president and his advisor are accountable for committing war crimes against the defenseless Palestine people. Many times we warned that President Trump’s decision will have repercussions on the stability of the region in particular and the world in general. It will also expand the cycle of violence in the world and in the  Middle East region, especially its impact on the spiritual, cultural and historical status of the Holy City in the Islamic and Christian conscience .’’
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to forging a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, who with broad international backing want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as their capital.
Israel regards the entire city, including the eastern sector it annexed after the 1967 conflict, as its capital. The Trump administration has said the city’s final borders should be decided by the parties.
Palestinians have been demonstrating on the Gaza frontier for the past six weeks, demanding a return to family land or homes lost to Israel when it was founded in the 1948 Middle East war.