RIYADH, MAY 14 (DNA) – The Arab League will hold emergency talks Wednesday to discuss Washington’s “illegal” decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a senior official said.

The meeting will focus on “ways of countering the illegal decision by the United States to move the embassy to Jerusalem”, the organisation’s deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Saeed Abu Ali, said.

He told reporters the permanent representatives of members of the Cairo-based Arab League would meet “at the request of the state of Palestine”.

The US embassy was set to open in the disputed city of Jerusalem on Monday afternoon despite a global outcry and Palestinian anger over the unilateral decision by US President Donald Trump.

Hours before the inauguration, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire along the Gaza border, the Gazan health ministry said, as protests and clashes intensified against the embassy transfer.

Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.