Palestine filed a lawsuit against the United States at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) moving its embassy to the occupied city of Jerusalem, in a new sign of the deterioration of the US-Palestinian relations. Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said on Saturday that Palestine has decided to file the lawsuit against the US for violating international law by moving its embassy in Israel to the occupied city of Jerusalem. In a statement, he said that the case was based on Palestine’s membership in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries, specifically the Optional Protocol concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes. The foreign minister said that in the lawsuit against the US, “the ICJ was asked to declare that moving the embassy to occupied Jerusalem constituted a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and to order the United States to take its diplomatic mission out of Jerusalem and comply with its international obligations in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, as well as taking the necessary measures to comply with its obligations and refrain from taking any future steps that may violate its obligations and provide the necessary guarantees for non-repetition of its unlawful action.” “We defend our rights and our people without hesitation and reject all forms of political and financial extortion,” he said. The ICJ on Friday confirmed it has received a complaint from the State of Palestine against the United States saying that the US government’s placement of its Israeli embassy in Jerusalem violates an international treaty and should be removed. Abbas said last week that the Palestinian Authority would resort to the ICJ about Trump’s decisions regarding Jerusalem and would go to the ICC against Israel’s practices. The Palestinians expect a fierce confrontation in the coming period, according to officials, including Maliki.