Ramallah, October 4 (RHC)-- Palestine has filed an official complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the United States' relocation of its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying the highly controversial and provocative move must be reversed as it violates an international treaty.
The United Nations' principal judicial organ announced in a statement that the Palestinian suit had requested the court "to order the United States of America to withdraw (its) diplomatic mission from the Holy City of Jerusalem."
The World Court also said the complaint, sent from the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by President Mahmoud Abbas, argues that the 1961 Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations requires a country to locate its embassy on the territory of a host state. This is while the Israeli regime controls East Jerusalem militarily.
The U.S.-Palestine ties deteriorated last December, when U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced plans to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, triggering widespread anger both inside and outside the occupied territories.
The U.S. embassy relocation, however, took place on May 14th, the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), sparking deadly clashes in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israel lays claim to the whole of Jerusalem, but the international community views the city's eastern sector as an occupied territory and Palestinians consider it as the capital of their future state.
The contentious move led Abbas to formally declare that the Palestinians would no longer accept the U.S. as a mediator to resolve the conflict, because Washington was "completely biased" towards Tel Aviv.
Palestine files complaint with ICJ against U.S. relocation of embassy to Jerusalem
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