LOC12:34
09:34 GMT
KUWAIT, Dec 27 (KUNA) - The occupied city of Al-Quds, or Jerusalem, was the flash-point of key events in 2018.
Following are key events regarding Al-Quds throughout the year:
Jan. 2: The Israeli parliament approved a bill that would make it difficult for the government to relinquish any part of Al-Quds to the Palestinians in any peace agreement.
Jan. 7: An Arab six-member committee began diplomatic efforts to persuade UN to recognize the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Jan 16: The Palestinian Central Council suspended recognition of Israel until the latter recognized the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders.
Jan. 23: The West Bank and Gaza Strip witnessed a strike in protest of US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and transferring of embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.
Jan. 31: The US designated Ismail Hanniya, head of Hamas politburo, as a terrorist.
Feb. 20: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called, in a UN Security Council session, for holding an international peace conference by mid-2018.
Feb. 23: US State Department said transferring the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would take place by mid-May.
March 30: Israeli army forces shot dead 16 Palestinians who were protesting the Land Day in Gaza Strip.
April 1: Palestinian Ambassador to Cairo and Permanent Representative to Arab League Diyab Al-louh calls for an urgent Arab League council session to tackle Israeli crimes against Palestinian peaceful protesters.
April 6: Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza Strip says the number of martyrs increased to six people, in the second wave of Friday protests, calling for the right to return.
April 8: International Criminal Court General Prosecutor Fatou Bom Bensouda calls for an end to violence in Gaza, affirming on a preliminary investigation to the situation in Palestinian territories.
April 12: The final communique to Islamic Quds Conference, hosted in Ramallah, asserting on Jerusalem being the eternal capital of Palestine, and renewed rejection to US President Donald Trump declaration of transferring US embassy to Jerusalem.
April 8: International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor called for an end to violence in Gaza, and said a preliminary investigation would take place over developments in Palestinian lands.
April 15: The Arab summit said US decision over Jerusalem was void.
April 15: Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced USD 150 million donation for Muslim endowment in Al-Quds.
May 13: The United States opens officially its embassy in Jerusalem, which was attended by US President daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
May 14: Thousands of Palestinians organize huge protests and march in Gaza Strip, under the slogan "the right to return" along with the Nakba anniversary and defiance of transferring US embassy to Jerusalem.
May 15: More than 60 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and more than 2,771 injured during "right to return" march in Gaza Strip.
May 22: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki presents paper to International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.
July 15: Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza.
July 15: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes his Gaza attack as the biggest hardest to Hamas since 2014.
July 19: Israeli parliament, or Knesset, approved the Jewish nation law.
July 20: the UN warned Tel Aviv and Hamas against renewed wide-scale hostilities in Gaza.
Aug 25: The US cancelled USD 200 million in aid for Gaza Strip and the West Bank, diverting the sum to other projects elsewhere.
Sept. 26: The United States warns of increased tension in the West Bank and Gaza and the possibility of a new war between Hamas and Israel.
Sept. 26: US President Donald Trump said two-state solution was the best resolution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Oct. 1: Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip began a general strike in protest against the Israeli Jewish-nation law.
Oct. 7: Two Israelis were killed and another was injured when a Palestinian attacked them in the West Bank.
Oct. 12: Seven Palestinians were killed and 250 others wounded in Israeli forces' attack. The Palestinians were participating in "Al-Quds uprising" protests.
Oct. 29: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected a US peace proposal, dubbed deal of the century.
Nov. 5: Two Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli forces at Gaza's border fence.
Nov. 11: Nor Baraka, a Hamas leader, was killed while six others injured in an Israeli army attack on Khan Yunus town.
Nov. 11: An Israeli officer was killed and two soldiers injured in clashes with Hamas in eastern Gaza.
Nov. 12: Israeli army and Hamas exchange rocket attacks following the killing of Baraka.
Nov. 13: Palestinian factions in Gaza announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel.
Nov. 14: Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned in protest of the ceasefire, while the UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement to stop violence between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Nov. 14: The UN Security Council is failing to reach an agreement to stop violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.
Dec. 7: UN General Assembly rejected a US draft resolution that condemned Hamas for firing rockets at Israeli lands.
Dec. 10: Israeli forces stormed headquarters of Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) in Ramallah.
Dec. 10: The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) calls on the United Nations to shoulder its responsibilities towards the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinian people and their land for more than 70 years.
Dec. 11: UNRWA confirms its success in overcoming its financial crisis for the current year after the US administration stopped its financial assistance.
Dec. 13: Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta warns of the possibility of transferring her country's embassy to occupied Jerusalem, saying it will withdraw its troops from Iraq and will reduce the number of its troops in Afghanistan as part of the change in its participation in the international forces.
Dec. 13: The Israeli government decided to take a series of punitive measures against the Palestinians and expand settlement in the West Bank.
Dec. 13: Two Israeli soldiers were killed by a Palestinian attacker near a bus station in the occupied West Bank.
Dec. 15: Israeli army destroyed a house of a Palestinian family in Amaari refugee camp in Palestinian city of Beira, claiming one of the family members killed an Israeli soldier.
Dec. 15: Australian government recognized West Jerusalem as capital of Israel, but kept its embassy in Tel Aviv until peace achieved between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Dec. 16: Hamas is ready to hold general elections in Palestine to achieve national unity and end the division.
Dec. 16: Fatah considers the implementation of signed Palestinian reconciliation agreements to be the key to ending the Palestinian division and achieving national unity.
Dec. 19: Israeli Knesset's approved of first preliminary reading of bill to expel families of Palestinians involved in attacks.
Dec. 19: The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the number of Palestinian martyrs since the start of marches and break the siege reached 239, including 42 children.
Dec. 19: Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Emanuela del Rey confirms the centrality of the Palestinian issue to the stability of the Middle East and her Government's commitment to prioritizing peace processes on the international agenda.
Dec. 21: Russia renews call for a Palestinian-Israeli meeting at the highest level in Moscow.
Dec. 22: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Constitutional Court has decided to dissolve the Legislative Council and call for legi