New protests flare up over Trump’s Jerusalem declaration
Jerusalem - New protests flared up in the Middle East and elsewhere on Sunday over US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that has drawn global condemnation and sparked days of unrest in the Palestinian territories.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly warned of the consequences of Trump’s move, also lashed out by calling Israel a ‘terrorist state’ and ‘state that kills children’.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile visited Europe for his first trip abroad since Trump’s declaration, with talks planned with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Trump’s announcement on Wednesday has been followed by days of protests and clashes in the Palestinian territories. Four Palestinians were killed either in clashes or from Israeli airstrikes in retaliation for rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.
Tens of thousands have also protested in Muslim and Arab countries, including Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia.
Further protests were held in Lebanon, Indonesia, Egypt and the Palestinian territories on Sunday.
Protests in Cairo, Jakarta
Several people were injured by rocks, tear gas, and rubber bullets, an AFP correspondent said.
In Jakarta, some 5,000 In- Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday described Israel as a ‘terrorist state’ and vowed to use ‘all means to fight’ against the US recognition of Jerusalem as the country’s capital.
“Palestine is an innocent victim.. As for Israel, it is a terrorist
donesians protested in solidarity with the Palestinians, gathering outside the US embassy.
In Cairo, students and professors demonstrated at the prestigious Al Azhar University, a university spokesman said, with pictures on social media showing several hundred protesters. state, yes, terrorist!” Erdogan said in a speech in the central city of Sivas.
Erdogan earlier described the status of Jerusalem, whose eastern sector Palestinians see as the capital of their future state, as a ‘red line’ for Muslims. He called Trump’s declaration ‘null and void’.
Dozens of students protested at two other Cairo universities.
A protest and clashes also broke out in Al Arroub refugee camp in the south of the occupied West Bank, leaving one Palestinian wounded from rubber bullets, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Turkish President has used his position as the current chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to call a summit of the pan-Islamic group on Wednesday.
“We will show that applying the measure will not be as easy as that,” he added on Sunday.
Separately, the Israeli military said it destroyed a Hamas tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory - an incident unrelated to the recent unrest, but which threatened to further increase tensions.
Such tunnels have been used in the past to carry out attacks.
Netanyahu in Europe
Both Macron and EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini have criticised Trump’s decision, and there have been ongoing tensions between Netanyahu and European Union officials over Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.
The premier criticised European ‘hypocrisy’ as he left for the trip. “I hear voices from there condemning President Trump’s historic statement, but I have not heard condemnations of the rockets fired at Israel or the terrible incitement against it.”
“I am not prepared to accept this hypocrisy,” he said.
He said the talks with EU foreign ministers on Monday would be the first of their kind with an Israeli premier in 22 years.
US isolated
There have been fears of a much larger escalation of violence after Hamas leader Ismail Haniya called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
In Rome, Pope Francis called on Sunday for ‘wisdom and prudence’, asking world leaders ‘to avert a new spiral of violence’.
Washington has found itself isolated on the global stage. Five European countries on the Security Council insisted the new US policy was inconsistent with past resolutions.
The declaration is likely to impact domestic Palestinian politics, particularly between Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah and the Islamist Hamas.