BRUSSELS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday called for "utmost restraint" to avoid further loss of life, in the wake of the clash along the Gaza border that left at least 41 Palestinians dead.
"Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and the principle of proportionality in the use of force. Hamas and those leading the demonstrations in Gaza must ensure that they remain strictly non-violent and must not exploit them for other means," the EU top diplomat said in a statement.
"Any further escalation of an already extremely tense and complex situation would cause again further unspeakable sufferings to both peoples, and will make the perspective of peace and security even more remote," she added.
At least 41 Palestinians were killed and over 1,700 others injured during mass protests along the Gaza border on Monday.
The protests were organized by the National Commission of the Great Marches of Return in eastern Gaza Strip, which have been going on since March 30.
The anti-Israel rallies, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' "Nakba Day" or "Day of Catastrophe", were also against the opening of U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.
Mogherini stressed that both Israel and Palestine have legitimate claims and aspirations which need to be mutually acknowledged.
"Jerusalem is a holy city for Jews, Muslims and Christians. The ties of the Jewish people to Jerusalem are irrefutable, and must not be denied. And the same is true for the ties of the Palestinian people to the city," she said.
In a sign of rift among EU members over the status of Jerusalem, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic sent their envoys to a reception hosted by Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to mark the U.S embassy's relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Sunday.
However, Mogherini highlighted that the EU "will continue to respect the international consensus on Jerusalem embodied in, inter alia, UN Security Council Resolution 478, including on the location of diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved."
Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal and indivisible capital," in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.
Palestinians, who make up more than one third of the city's overall population, consider East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
The UN Security Council Resolution 478 adopted on Aug. 20, 1980 rejects Israel's attempted annexation of East Jerusalem and its declaration of Jerusalem as its capital.
