Protests continue over U.S. stance on Jerusalem
ISRAELI PM ON DEFENSIVE AS PROTESTERS BLAST TRUMP’S DECISION
Violence sparked by U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital erupted for a third straight day, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a visit to Europe to defend the decision.
Following a weekend of violence that left four Palestinians dead, protesters clashed Sunday with Israeli troops in the West Bank and a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli security guard in downtown Jerusalem. The army said it had demolished a Palestinian attack tunnel running from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, the second tunnel discovered in recent months.
After meeting Sunday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Netanyahu will continue Monday to Brussels to meet foreign ministers from the 28-nation EU. He pledged to argue in favour of U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial move, despite criticism from world leaders.
“I will present Israel’s truth without fear and with my head held high,” Netanyahu told reporters before leaving for Europe.
Netanyahu and Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, both said Sunday that the decision on Jerusalem would help the Middle East peace process.
Macron, though, called it “a danger to peace,” the crown prince of U.S. ally Abu Dhabi said it “extended a lifeline to terrorists,” and several Middle East leaders that U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence planned to meet later this month said they now won’t see him.
Haley, in an interview on Fox News Sunday, said Trump had been careful not to delineate a border that would forestall negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over the latter’s call for the eastern part of Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. “No outside group should decide what the final status looks like,” she said.
Palestinians claim the eastern sector of Jerusalem, with shrines sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, as the capital of a future state, while Israel sees the area as part of its capital.
Trump said he was not determining Jerusalem’s borders, and that the two sides eventually would have to negotiate the city’s final status.
Palestinian officials have said Trump’s move disqualifies the U.S. as a mediator in any peace process. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas left Sunday for Cairo, where he was to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Pence will still meet with Netanyahu and Sisi on his trip despite being rebuffed by others including Abbas, said Jarrod Agen, Pence’s deputy chief of staff, in an email.
“It’s unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region, but the administration remains undeterred in its efforts to help achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians and our peace team remains hard at work putting together a plan,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world, thousands of Moroccans protested Sunday in front of the parliament building, carrying Palestinian flags and banners declaring Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital. Egyptians protested on university campuses, and Lebanese protesters tried to break into the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
Addressing reporters after their meeting Sunday, Macron reiterated his opposition to the U.S. move and encouraged Netanyahu to take steps toward the Palestinians. Netanyahu said the Trump administration is leading a “serious effort” to make peace, and that accepting Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would help that push.
It’s not yet clear if Trump’s move will fuel a major escalation of violence or lead to serious diplomatic fallout. Fatah, the governing Palestinian faction, has called for more confrontations this coming Friday. Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, urged Palestinians to wage an armed uprising in response to Trump’s decision.