CALL FOR PROTESTS AGAINST PENCE’S VISIT
Fatah urges rallies in Jerusalem when US V-P arrives on Wednesday
THE Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called for demonstrations next week when United States Vice-President Mike Pence visits Jerusalem, after Washington’s policy shift on the holy city.
Breaking with decades with US policy, President Donald Trump announced on Dec 6 his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and that he would move the US embassy to the city.
It prompted Abbas to cancel a meeting with Pence, who arrives on Wednesday, and warn that Washington no longer had a role to play in the peace process.
The call to protest came as thousands of Palestinians took part in funerals for two of four men killed on Friday in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
Mourners chanted anti-Trump slogans and masked men fired into the air during one of the ceremonies in the village of Beit Ula, located between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
A Palestinian was killed in north Jerusalem after being shot in the chest by the Israeli army.
Another stabbed an Israeli border police officer near a checkpoint in the outskirts here before being shot. The assailant, who later died of his wounds, wore what appeared to be a suicide vest, though it was unclear if it was operational.
Funerals were also held for the two Palestinians killed in Gaza, where Hamas had on Friday called for a “day of rage”.
One of those killed was Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh, who lost his legs in an Israeli attack a decade ago.
He, with his wheelchair, was a regular feature at protests along Gaza’s border with Israel.
The 29-year-old bachelor was living with his parents and had been without regular work since he lost his legs during an Israeli incursion east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp here in April 2008.
“He was injured by an Israeli helicopter that targeted him after he brought down the Israeli flag and raised the Palestinian flag along the border,” his brother, Samir, said on Friday.
“It did not stop him from demonstrating for Jerusalem. He went alone every day to the border.”
In video footage recorded earlier, Ibrahim could be seen carrying the Palestinian flag and waving the victory sign at Israeli soldiers across the border.
“I want to go there,” he said, referring to the other side of the border, as a number of young men surrounding him waved Palestinian flags and others threw stones towards the troops.
“This land is our land, we will not give up. America has to withdraw its decision,” Ibrahim said in another video.
A few hours before his death, despite having no legs, he climbed an electricity pole to raise the Palestinian flag.
What happened after that remains unclear. The Palestinian Health Ministry claimed that he was shot in the head by a sniper.