Later, he tweeted a photograph of himself and his wife, Sara, with Ivanka Trump and Kushner and the new plaque. 

“What a great day for the great American-Israeli alliance,” he wrote. 

But just a few blocks from the site, scuffles broke out between Israeli forces and protesters, including Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Israeli-Arab members of Israel’s parliament. Fourteen people were arrested, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. 

“As someone who lives in Jerusalem and who cares about this city and the people who live in it, this feels like a dangerous game that Trump is playing with our lives,” said Maya Rosen, an American-born resident of the city. 

 Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab faction in the Knesset, drew a direct line between the embassy opening and the deaths in Gaza. 

“The opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem and its grand ceremony is part of the same policy that has claimed the lives of dozens of Gazans,” he said. “Today, there is nothing to celebrate. The opening of the embassy is yet another provocative step that signals the destruction of the notion of peace.” 

Former peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, now a member of the official opposition in Israel, said the embassy opening was bittersweet. 

“This is a happy day for us in Israel but simultaneously we have to take care of the situation in Gaza,” she said.

[As Ivanka and Jared join embassy party in Jerusalem, Gaza braces for violence]

“It has been a day of dilemma,” said Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi. “We wanted this to happen for 70 years and we don’t want the celebrations to end.” 

Asked for his reaction to events along the Gaza border, Hanegbi said: “It is very sad and tragic that Hamas has learned nothing over the last 70 years. So many decades have passed since they made the wrong decision in 1948 and now 70 years later they still can’t accept Israel.”

Hanegbi was referring to Palestinian resistance to the creation of the Israeli state; Hamas, the Islamic organization that is in control of Gaza, was founded in 1987.