The Trump administration is all set to open the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday. The new US Embassy in Jerusalem will open with an initial staff of at least 50.
The embassy is moving from Tel Aviv in line with President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Roughly 800 guests will attend the ceremony.
The ceremony is expected to be attended by members of a delegation led by President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.
Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will skip it.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and view the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the US as a Mideast peace broker.
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Initial embassy staff will include Ambassador David Friedman's aides and US consular officers already working at the site. The embassy is opening in part of a pre-existing American visa-and-passport facility with a fraction of the total US personnel in Israel.
The opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem in Israel will make it easier for peace in the Middle East, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Sunday.
I think it will make it easier (to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine). It's a recognition of reality, Bolton said.
If you're not prepared to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that's where the American embassy should be, then you're operating on a completely different wavelength. I think recognising reality always enhances the chances for peace, Bolton said.
Meanwhile, speaking on the eve of the embassy opening, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was hopeful of success in efforts to end the decades-old conflict while National Security Advisor John Bolton said it should make peace "easier."
President Donald Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv broke with generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to gather along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday to protest the embassy opening.
The Palestinian Authority's leadership has effectively refused to speak to Trump's team since the move was announced, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is supposed to be spearheading a new drive for peace.
Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's delegation in Washington described the move as another step toward "a full-fledged apartheid." "Tragically, the US administration has chosen to side with Israel's exclusivist claims over a city that has for centuries been sacred to all faiths," he said in a statement. "Today's move of the US embassy gives life to a religious conflict instead of a dignified peace."