Morrison said on Tuesday he was open to Australia moving its mission from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the United States did in May to the delight of Israel but to the fury of Palestinians.

Morrison's willingness to reverse decades of foreign policy and follow the U.S. lead alienated many of Australia's Asian neighbors that have close alliances with Palestinians.

It also drew condemnation from 13 Arab ambassadors in Australia who called the suggestion regrettable and asked Morrison to reconsider or risk damaging Australian ties in the region.

Morrison, who faces a critical by-election on Saturday that will determine whether his government keeps its one-seat majority, said his government had been assured Indonesia would honor its commitment to the deal worth more than 16 billion Australian dollars ($11 billion).

"There's been direct communication between myself and the president as well as between our foreign ministers and with the trade ministers," Morrison told reporters in Canberra, referring to Indonesia's President Joko Widodo.

"The Indonesian trade minister has made it very clear on the public record that is not an issue of concern to them," he said.

Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, where the Palestinian question is a sensitive issue and tens of thousands protested against Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, speaking at a news conference with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki in Jakarta on Tuesday, called on Australia to avoid any step that would threaten efforts to forge peace in the Middle East.

The trade agreement, which has been in the works for nearly a decade, offers Australia a chance to boost rural exports, which dominates two-way trade.

Indonesia is a major importer of wheat and beef and bought more than AU$3 billion ($2 billion) of Australian agricultural commodities in 2017, according to government data.

Fiona Simson, president of Australia's National Farmers Federation, which represents the rural sector, cautioned Morrison against any move that would threaten exports.

The Council of Arab Ambassadors said in a statement issued on its behalf by Egypt's envoy to Australia, said it was very worrying that Morrison would entertain the idea of shifting Australia's embassy.

"Any decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital or to relocate the Australian embassy would legitimize the status quo and affirm Israel's claims to the entire city," it said.

While raising concern among rural voters worried about exports, Morrison's potential policy shift could help his government retain its one-seat parliamentary majority.

Voters in the Sydney electorate of Wentworth will decide on Saturday who will replace former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who quit politics after he was ousted in a party revolt in August.

Wentworth is home to a large Jewish community. Census figures show 12.5% of people in Wentworth are Jewish, a larger proportion than anywhere else in Australia.

The candidate contesting the by-election for Morrison's Liberal party, Dave Sharma, is a former ambassador to Israel who was credited with the idea to relocate the embassy.

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In the Gaza Strip, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, said, "Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is a declaration of war against the Arab and Muslim nation, and the U.S. administration must reconsider."

He also called on Muslims to unite against this "despicable decision."

Clashes erupted in Gaza and the West Bank earlier on Friday in a weekly protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's stance on Jerusalem, which has also angered Arab political and religious leaders across the region and dismayed European allies.

Palestinians were particularly irked by Trump's Dec. 6, 2017 declaration recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because they envision east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Trump's declaration set the embassy relocation in motion, thereby contravening decades of policy by the international community.

Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator in peace talks that have been frozen since 2014, said the U.S. move showed a "determination to violate international law, destroy the two-state solution and provoke the feelings of the Palestinian people as well as of all Arabs, Muslims and Christians around the globe."

Erekat, who is also secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said, "Trump and his team have disqualified the U.S. from being part of the solution between Israelis and Palestinians; rather, the world now sees that they are part of the problem."

A U.S. official on Friday said the United States was expected to open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem in May. This would be shortly after Israel's 70th anniversary.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called the move "unacceptable."

"Any unilateral move will deprive everyone of legitimacy and will be an obstacle to any effort to create peace in the region," he said.

Abbas has rejected U.S.-led Middle East peace efforts as "impossible" since Washington's decision.

Abu Rudeineh said the only way to achieve peace, security and stability was to adopt Abbas' proposal – outlined in an address to the United Nations Security Council in New York on Tuesday – calling for an international conference to kick-start the peace process, including the establishment of a "multilateral mechanism" to oversee it.

Abbas remained in the U.S. for medical exams in Baltimore on Thursday, but headed back to the West Bank over the weekend, Abu Rudeineh said.

Ankara also condemned the move, which the Turkish Foreign Ministry called "highly worrisome."

A Turkish official said the U.S. plan to relocate the embassy "reveals that the U.S. insists on undermining the foundations of peace by disregarding international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions on Jerusalem."

"Turkey will sustain its efforts, together with the vast majority of [the] international community, to safeguard the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people," the official said.

A number of Israeli lawmakers also condemned the American decision. Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg said, "We all want to see Jerusalem recognized as the [Israeli] capital by the nations of the world. But the decision to unilaterally move the embassy will not help [attain] that goal, but will do the exact opposite. If we want all the embassies, not just the American [Embassy], to relocate to Jerusalem, we need to reach a peace agreement, end the occupation and determine agreed-upon and recognized borders."

Joint Arab List MK Yousef Jabareen said the decision was comparable to spitting "in the face of the international community, which in an absolute majority, voted against the Trump declaration."

"The embassy should remain in Tel Aviv, and there is no room for its transfer to Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem will be determined in a comprehensive peace agreement and with the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, as agreed upon by the international community," he said.

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