A senior Palestinian official warned on Friday that implementation of Donald Trump's pledge to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem would destroy any prospects for peace with Israel.
Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, issued the grim prediction just a day after Trump announced his decision to nominate as ambassador to Israel David Friedman, a pro-Israel hardliner who supports continued building of Jewish settlements and shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv.
Erekat said Jerusalem was a final-status issue to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians, who also want it as the capital of a future independent state.
Successive U.S. administrations have avoided formally recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
If Trump makes good on his campaign promise, it would up-end decades of US policy, enrage the Muslim world and draw international condemnation.
Jerusalem is home to sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
"No one should take any decisions which may preempt or prejudge (negotiations) because this will be the destruction of the peace process as a whole," Erekat said.
He further warned of dire consequences if Israel annexes settlements built on occupied land.
Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer and close friend of Trump who has no diplomatic experience, has advocated the idea of Israel annexing the West Bank, as it did with Arab East Jerusalem following its capture in the 1967 Middle East war in a move not recognised internationally.
Erekat said he would like to look Trump and Friedman in the eye and tell them "if you were to take these steps of moving the embassy and annexing settlements in the West Bank, you are sending this region to more chaos, lawlessness and extremism."
Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the president-elect "remains firmly committed" to relocating the embassy but that it was "premature" to present a timetable for such a move.
In Thursday's announcement of his appointment, Friedman said he looked forward to doing the job "from the US embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem."
