CAIRO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Arab League's (AL) Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, said on Monday that moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is extremely dangerous.
In a statement, Aboul-Gheit said it is shameful to see some countries joining the ceremony of transferring the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in blatant violation of the international law and the UN Security Council resolutions.
He urged the international community to adhere to the international law and abstain from taking measures that harm the Palestinian people and the chances for a just peace settlement.
The AL chief said the United States does not realize how dangerous moving its embassy to Jerusalem is, adding that the Palestinian side feels that the Trump administration has abandoned its role as an unbiased historic peace sponsor after Washington fully adopted a pro-Israel approach in violation of the international law.
The United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the disputed city as the capital of Israel in December last year.
In protest to the U.S. move, tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank organized mass protests during which more than 40 people have been killed so far.
The protests coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe," when thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their cities and towns to become refugees.
Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel drew widespread criticism and protests.
The Palestinians consider East Jerusalem, which was seized by the Israelis in the 1967 war, as the capital of their future independent state, while the Israelis insist that the entire city is their eternal capital.