start of a "new approach" to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "It is time to officially recognise al-Quds as the capital of Israel," he said in a speech from the White House on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday during a visit to Vienna that Trump was "simply carrying out the will of the American people". But his willingness to part with international consensus on such a sensitive issue drew increasingly urgent warnings from around the world.
EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the decision could take the region "backwards to even darker times". Russia said it viewed the move with "serious concern" and Saudi Arabia called it "unjustified and irresponsible".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it would put the region in a "ring of fire". Palestinian leaders were outraged, with president Mahmud Abbas saying Trump had disqualified the United States from its traditional role as peace broker in the Middle East conflict.
Abbas visited Amman on Thursday to discuss the issue with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. In a joint statement, the two leaders said "any measure tampering with the legal and historical status of Jerusalem is invalid" and warned that Trump’s decision "will have dangerous repercussions".
Angry protests were also staged in Amman and Tunis. Palestinian shops in east Jerusalem, including the Old City, as well as in the West Bank were largely shuttered and schools closed on Thursday in answer to a general strike call.
"By this decision, America became a very small country, like any small country in the world, like Micronesia," Salah Zuhikeh, 55, told AFP in Jerusalem’s Old City. Trump’s move left many angry US allies struggling to find a diplomatic response.
Through gritted teeth, Britain described the move as "unhelpful" and France called it "regrettable". German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "we... disagree with the decision last evening".
Eight countries including Britain, France and Italy pressed for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in response, which was set for Friday. Trump also kicked off the process of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to al-Quds.
In doing so, he begins to make good on a campaign promise dear to US evangelical Christian and right-wing Jewish voters -- as well as donors. Trump’s predecessors, from Bill Clinton to George Bush, had made the same promise, but quickly reneged upon taking office.