Anger as Trump endorses Jerusalem
FURIOUS Palestinians called for a “day of rage” yesterday as protests spread against US President Donald Trump’s widely criticised recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
A senior Palestinian official said late on Thursday that US Vice President Mike Pence was “not welcome in Palestine” following the policy shift, which ended decades of US ambiguity on the status of the disputed city.
But the White House said it would be “counterproduct to cancel a scheduled meeting between Pence and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas later this month.
Sporadic clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces on Thursday, as Israel deployed hundreds more troops to the occupied West Bank amid uncertainty over the fallout.
Trump’s announcement was met by an almost universal diplomatic backlash as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lavished praise on the president, saying his name would be associated with Jerusalem’s long history and urging other countries to follow suit.
In a speech in Gaza City, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya called for a new intifada, or uprising. Within hours several projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.
One hit Israeli territory, prompting the army and air force to retaliate by targeting “two terror posts” in Gaza, it said, blaming Hamas, the enclave’s Islamist rulers.
Trump said his defiant move – making good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge – marks the start of a “new approach” to solving the Israeliconflict.
Pence is due to meet the Palestinian president in the second half of December on a regional tour, but a senior member of Abbas’s Fatah faction said the leader would not meet him.
“The American vice-president is not welcome in Palestine. And President Abbas will not welcome him,” said Jibril Rajoub.
Trump’s move left many angry US allies struggling to find a diplomatic response, with an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council set for yesterday.
Trump insisted the move did not prejudge final talks, saying that it simply reflected the reality that west Jerusalem was and would continue to be part of Israel under any settlement.
“The United States would support a two-state solution if agreed to by both sides,” he said. — AFP