Clashes leave 2 dead
Renewed violence, protests break out amid continued anger over Jerusalem declaration
JERUSALEM — Two Palestinians were killed in renewed clashes with Israeli forces, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged France and Europe to play a stronger role in peace efforts amid continued fallout over U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The fresh violence came a day after the UN General Assembly resolution denouncing Trump’s decision.
Abbas on a visit to Paris urged France and Europe to play a stronger role in peace efforts, insisting he’ll no longer accept any U.S. plans for Mideast peace because of the Trump’s position on Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the administration siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in the conflict.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said a 24-yearold and a 29-year-old were killed in clashes along the border with Israel. Another 45 Palestinians were wounded, he said.
The Israeli military said thousands of Palestinians participated in “violent riots” along the Gaza border and across the West Bank “hurling firebombs and rocks and rolling burning tires” at Israeli forces. It said troops responded with tear gas and deployed live fire “selectively toward main instigators.”
Palestinians have been clashing with Israeli troops since Trump’s Jerusalem announcement on Dec. 6. Ten Palestinians have been killed and dozens more wounded so far.
In Bethlehem on Friday, Palestinian protesters held anti-Trump banners reading “Mr. Trump, it’s not your land to decide to whom it belongs, Jerusalem is ours and it belongs to us,” and “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.”
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to denounce Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, largely ignoring Trump’s threats to cut off aid to any country that went against him.
The nonbinding resolution declaring U.S. action on Jerusalem “null and void” was approved 1289. Amid Washington’s threats, 35 of the 193 UN member nations abstained and 21 were absent.
The Trump administration made it clear the vote would have no effect on its plan to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN aired on Friday that Trump’s Jerusalem declaration recognizes “a historical truth.”
“Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 3,000 years from the time of King David. It has been the capital of the state of Israel for 70 years, and it’s about time that the United States said, and I’m glad they said it, ‘This is the capital and we recognize it’ and I think that’s going to be followed by other countries,” Netanyahu said.
East Jerusalem is home to Jerusalem’s Old City with its key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, and its status is an emotionally charged issue.
A sensitive hilltop compound there, sacred to both Jews and Muslims, is at the heart of the conflict. Jews revere it as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples.
It is the holiest site in Judaism and the nearby Western Wall, a remnant of the temple complex, is the holiest place where Jews can pray.
The walled compound is home to both the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war from Jordan, as the capital of their hoped-for state. Israel says the entire city, including east Jerusalem, is its eternal capital.