Latin America urged not to move Israeli embassies

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has urged Latin American countries not to emulate the controversial US decision to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem.

The United States is pushing ahead with plans to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv on May 14, a move that has sparked major protests by Palestinians, who consider East Jerusalem the capital of their future state.

"We hope that some countries across Latin America won't go moving their embassies to Jerusalem, because that is against international law," Abbas said during a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.

The Palestinian leader thanked Maduro for rejecting Washington's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate its embassy, reversing decades of US policy in the region.

Guatemala has already announced it will relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, two days after the US shifts its mission.

In Jerusalem, the US Embassy road signs went up on Monday before next week's opening of the mission.

Trump said he was making good on US legislation and presidential pledges dating back decades. Other world powers have not done so, sidestepping one of the thorniest disputes between Israel and Palestine.

But he will not attend the opening. The US delegation will include Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as US Ambassador David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt, Trump's Middle East peace negotiator, the White House said on Monday. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will lead the delegation.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The last round of peace talks on a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip collapsed in 2014.

Relations between Palestine and the US reached an all-time low when Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv on Dec 6.

On Monday, Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, urged the international community to boycott the opening of the US embassy.

The PLO official said that "those who attend the ceremony will send an ominous message, a message that encourages flagrant violations of international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people".

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "This (embassy) move is not only illegal but will also thwart the achievement of a just and lasting peace between two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 borders, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security."

AFP, Reuters and Xinhua contributed to this story.