US EMBASSY TO OPEN IN JERUSALEM TODAY

Israelis basked in national pride and prepared for a Jerusalem march expected to draw tens of thousands yesterday, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move to the disputed city.

Palestinians meanwhile readied for their own protests today over the embassy's inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

The Jerusalem march begins a week of high tension between Israelis and Palestinians, highlighted by the embassy inauguration to be attended by a Washington delegation including US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.

Both arrived in Israel yesterday.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe," commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are also planned for tomorrow.

For Israelis, Sunday is Jerusalem Day, an annual celebration of the "reunification" of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state but Israel has declared the whole of the city as its undivided capital.

This year's celebration takes on added significance due to the embassy move the following day.

There were already tensions in the weeks before the embassy move.

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed in protests and clashes since March 30 along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel. No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Meanwhile, Israel's government yesterday gave the green light to a controversial cable car project planned to run between West Jerusalem and the Old City in annexed east Jerusalem.