Palestinians protest US settlement decision in ‘day of rage’
Thousands of Palestinian protesters took part in a “day of rage” across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, with some groups clashing with Israeli forces to protest the US announcement that it no longer believes Israeli settlements violate international law.
Around 2,000 people gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah by midday, where they set ablaze posters of US President Donald Trump as well as Israeli and American flags. Schools, universities and government offices were closed and rallies were held in other West Bank cities, AP reported.
“The biased American policy toward Israel, and the American support of the Israeli settlements and the Israeli occupation, leave us with only one option: To go back to resistance,” Mahmoud Aloul, an official with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, told the crowd in Ramallah.
Demonstrators held signs reading, “Trump to impeachment, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to jail, the occupation will go and we will remain on our land.”
The protests came just hours after the death of a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody following a battle with cancer.
Organizers had said the demonstrations – which were planned before his death – would also call for the release of Sami Abu Diak, 35, to allow him to die at his family’s side. Israeli officials denied the request.
Organized by Fatah, Tuesday’s “day of rage” protested the Trump administration’s announcement on Israeli settlements last week. The decision upended four decades of American policy and embraced a hardline Israeli view at the expense of the Palestinian quest for statehood.
Israeli leaders welcomed the US decision, while the Palestinians and most of the world say the settlements are illegal.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Al-quds in the 1967 Mideast war and quickly began settling the newly conquered territory. Today, some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the two areas, which are both claimed by the Palestinians for their state.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last week that the US was repudiating the 1978 State Department legal opinion.