The NBA’s site originally listed “occupied Palestine territories” and at time of writing had deleted the word “occupied” at the instance of two Israeli ministers, one of whom suggested they were in fact part of Israel. Q&A Why is recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital so contentious? For their part, the Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future independent Palestinian state. Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital puts the US out of step with the rest of the world, and legitimises Israeli settlement-building in the east – considered illegal under international law. Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 six-day war, as the capital of their future state.

Source: The Guardian December 29, 2017 12:44 UTC