Palestinians strive to halt Brazil's embassy relocation to Jerusalem
Xinhua
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RAMALLAH, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is making an effort to prevent Brazil from moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

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A picture taken on October 28, 2018, shows the Israeli and Brazilian flags hanging outside the building housing the offices of the Brazilian Embassy, in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Brazil's far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro declared that he will move the embassy to Jerusalem if he is elected. (File photo: VCG)

Malki said in an interview with the official Palestinian radio station Voice of Palestine that the PA has drawn a plan to prevent such a move by Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro.

He explained that the contacts were held by Arab communities and businesspeople in Latin America.

Bolsonaro reiterated a campaign pledge to follow the lead of U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the Brazilian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last week.

Bolsonaro is due to take office on Jan. 1, 2019.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state, while Israel wants all Jerusalem to be its eternal capital.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and declared the whole city as its eternal indivisible capital in 1980, but the move has not been recognized by the international community.

Palestinians have boycotted the American administration since it recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December and moved its embassy in Israel to the holy city a few months later.