“I think the massacres by Israel will continue, the peaceful protests from Palestinians will continue. I don’t see any resolution, unfortunately,” said Petras, a retired professor at Binghamton University in New York. He added that he believes “murders by the Israelis are on the increase.”

“I think this is a pattern which we will be witnessing in the next period with Trump’s increasing bellicosity towards Iran. Who knows how it can end, if not a regional war.”

Petras spoke to RT on the day of the US embassy’s relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a move which he says is an “absolute violation of international law.” He noted that such a stance is supported by the European Union and the major countries in the world.

The move, according to Petras, is “seen as another one of these arbitrary actions by the neocons in Washington and among the powerful Zionist lobby which has been dragging Trump by the nose on every issue that affects Israel.”

Marjorie Cohn, a professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson Law School and former president of the National Lawyers Guild, agrees that the violence is unlikely to end anytime soon.

“I doubt that the Palestinian protests will subside – and may even increase – after the Nakba anniversary, particularly in light of the US embassy opening in Jerusalem,” she told RT. Nakba, which falls on May 15, is the day which Palestinians regard as the day of mass exodus from their land as a result of Israel’s establishment.

The embassy’s relocation will “serve as a permanent reminder of the illegal occupation, oppression, exploitation of the Palestinians by Israel,” Cohn said.

The relocation of the embassy on Monday sparked protests in Gaza, with Israeli forces killing dozens of demonstrators, including children. Like Petras, the Palestinian government has labeled the loss of lives as a “massacre” and called for international intervention to prevent more deaths.