Bogor (ANTARA News) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has denounced a unilateral plan by the United States to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The move to relocate the embassy to the city of Jerusalem on the border of Israel and the West Bank has been denounced by several allies of the United States since it was announced last December.

"Indonesia strongly denounces the decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, as it violates various Security Council resolutions and the UN General Assembly," President Jokowi stated while opening a meeting of trilateral Muslim scholars of Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan at the Bogor Palace in West Java on Friday.

To this end, the head of state has urged the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to discuss the issue and to take further steps.

President Jokowi said he had also urged other countries to not comply with the plan to transfer the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to Jokowi, this move also disrupts the peace process and threatens peace itself.

"With the people of Indonesia, we will continue to fight for the Palestinians, who are always there in every breath of diplomacy of Indonesia," President Jokowi noted.

A Palestinian Defense Action (Action 115) rally will be held in Jakarta on Friday in response to the plan to transfer the Israeli capital to Jerusalem.

Israel and the Palestinians are currently embroiled in a decades-long conflict over a region called the West Bank, which is currently under Israeli control.

Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank, thereby denying the rights of Palestinians.

During the 1967 war, Israel had taken control of East Jerusalem and annexed the region, though it had been divided between Israelis and Palestinians for the first two decades of its existence.

Reporter: antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
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