US Embassy

The UN Security Council is expected to meet to investigate the high number of Palestinian casualties in Gaza on Monday
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday a historic great day of peace in acknowledgement of the US embassy formally opening in Jerusalem as scores of Palestinian protesters were killed and injured in Gaza.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that the Israeli military killed 52 Palestinians during demonstrations protesting the inauguration of the embassy in Jerusalem. Another 2,400 were injured it added.

There will be a confluence of trigger events this week that could lead to an escalation of conflict. At the same time that the US has reneged on the nuclear agreement and Israeli missiles are attacking Iranians in Syria, the US embassy will be moved to Jerusalem and Palestinians will protest the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, capping six weeks of actions.
 

Above: Protest against US war in the Middle East in Los Angeles from DreamsTime.com.

President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and intent to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is sure to harm the United States. A product of decades of pressure by Israel and its US lobby, the move is an incremental step toward pressuring the US to confer legitimacy on all of Israel’s territorial acquisitions accomplished through war.

(ZHE) — Shortly after midnight local time on Thursday, an unknown attacker threw a device in the U.S. embassy compound in Ukraine’s capital Kiev which exploded. Nobody was injured, according to Reuters. Authorities have called the incident a terrorist act.

President Donald Trump welcomes Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the White House in Washington, Monday, May 15, 2017. (AP/Susan Walsh)
Numerous Gulf states have offered to a deal to normalize relations with Israel if Tel Aviv takes steps to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, according to reports.
The offer to normalize relations come a week before Donald Trump visits Saudi Arabia and Israel on his first foreign trip as US president.

A sign hangs on a building under construction in Jerusalem congratulating U.S. President Donald Trump, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
Israel has dismissed concerns in the United States over plans to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, saying the contentious issue would advance the peace process with the Palestinians, not harm it.
US President Donald Trump had promised during his campaign to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
But there has been no concrete movement on that pledge so far.

FY 2018 Notice of Funding Opportunity for Proposals for Resettlement Support Centers (RSC) Africa in Nairobi, Kenya; Turkey and the Middle East (TuME) in Istanbul, Turkey; and Eurasia in Moscow,

David Friedman, nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.(AP/Susan Walsh)
(REPORT) — A US congressional delegation will visit Israel on Saturday to study proposals for transferring the US embassy to Jerusalem, according to Israeli radio.

President Donald Trump waves as he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leave their joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
The Trump administration is in discussions about the formation of a regional Arab security alliance with Israel as a counterbalance to Iran’s influence in the Middle East, according to Arab officials.