Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of "Palestine", on Sunday warned the U.S. administration against recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"If there is recognition (in Jerusalem as the capital of Israel) or the American embassy is moved to Jerusalem, it would be an attack not only against the Palestinians but against the Muslim Arabs around the world," Hussein said.

He said that moving the American embassy to Jerusalem would be illegal and against international law, which views Al-Quds as "occupied land", and would not help peace and security in the region but would rather cause disasters, wars and instability.

He stressed that the residents of Jerusalem, Palestinian Arabs and all the Muslims would not accept the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would do anything to thwart it.

Trump is to decide by Monday whether he will sign the waiver delaying the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and it has been speculated that he may prefer to declare American recognition of Jerusalem first and wait before moving the embassy.

Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have expressed anger over reports that Trump could recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Mahmoud Al-Habbash, a senior adviser to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on Saturday declared that an American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will destroy the peace process.

“Any American declaration of recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – if there is one – would mean total destruction of the peace process," said Al-Habbash.

“The whole world will pay a price for any change or harm to the political reality of Jerusalem,” he warned.

Saeb Erekat, Executive Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warned on Friday that American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would be “playing with fire."