Uprising:
• Trump’s Jerusalem move causes outrage, not violence
Palestinian protesters run during clashes with Israeli troops at a demonstration against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, close to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.
The Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians on Thursday to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel in response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as its capital.
The Israeli military said it was reinforcing troops in the occupied West Bank, deploying several new army battalions and putting other forces on standby, describing the measures as part of its “readiness for possible developments”.
Protests so far have been scattered and largely nonviolent. But dozens of Palestinians gathered at two points on the Gaza border fence with Israel and threw rocks at soldiers on the other side. Inside Gaza, thousands of Palestinians rallied, some chanting: “Death to America! Death to the fool Trump!” and burning tyres.
Trump reversed decades of US policy on Wednesday by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperilling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and western allies alike.
The status of Jerusalem — home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions — is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
“We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada [Palestinian uprising] in the face of the Zionist enemy,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech in Gaza.
Haniyeh, elected the group’s overall leader in May, urged Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs to hold rallies against the US decision on Friday, calling it a “day of rage”.
Naser al-Qidwa, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior official in his Fatah party, urged Palestinians to stage protests but said they should be peaceful.
Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital. Palestinians want the capital of their independent state to be in the city’s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that was never recognised internationally.
Trump announced that his administration would begin a process of moving the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step expected to take years and one that his predecessors opted not to take to avoid inflaming tensions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who hailed Trump’s announcement as a “historic landmark”, said on Thursday many countries would follow the US move and contacts were under way. He did not name the countries.
UNITED JERUSALEM IS ARAB AND MUSLIM, AND IT IS THE CAPITAL OF THE STATE OF PALESTINE, ALL OF PALESTINE
“President Trump has immortalised himself in the chronicles of our capital.
“His name will now be held aloft, alongside other names connected to the glorious history of Jerusalem and of our people,” he said in a speech at Israel’s foreign ministry.
Other close US allies including France and Britain, have been critical of Trump’s move. Pope Francis called for Jerusalem’s status quo to be respected, while China and Russia also expressed concern.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said: “The EU has a clear and united posi- tion. We believe the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states and with Jerusalem as the capital of both.”
Trump’s decision has raised doubts about his administration’s ability to follow through on a peace effort that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has led for months aimed at reviving longstalled negotiations.
The UN Security Council was likely to meet on Friday to discuss the decision by the US, diplomats said.
STRATEGIC DANGER
Israel and the US consider Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2007, a terrorist organisation. Hamas does not recognise Israel’s right to exist and its suicide bombings helped spearhead the last intifada, from 2000 to 2005.
“We have given instruction to all Hamas members and to all its wings to be fully ready for any new instructions or orders that may be given to confront this strategic danger that threatens Jerusalem and threatens Palestine,” Haniyeh said.
“United Jerusalem is Arab and Muslim, and it is the capital of the state of Palestine, all of Palestine,” he said, referring to territory including Israel.
Haniyeh called on westernbacked Abbas to withdraw from peace making with Israel and he called on Arabs to boycott the Trump administration.
Abbas said on Wednesday the US had abdicated its role as a mediator in peace efforts.
Palestinian secular and Islamist factions had called for a general strike and for rallies on Thursday. Fearing that recrimination could disrupt reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah arrived in Gaza on Thursday to meet Hamas.