We will never give up on Jerusalem, Palestinians say
Protests in three Palestinian cities call on Trump not to relocate the US embassy
Hundreds of Palestinians participated in demonstrations late Thursday in three Palestinian cities to call on US President Donald Trump not to relocate the US embassy to Occupied Jerusalem.
Fatah, the dominant political party in the West Bank, other PLO factions, and local political committees organised the demonstrations, which took place in Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron.
At the demonstration in Nablus’s Martyrs Square, hundreds of Palestinians turned out, waving Palestinian flags and holding signs that read “No to relocating the US Embassy” and “Relocating the US Embassy is the new Balfour Declaration for the Palestinian people” and “the world is making progress while Trump administration is going backwards.”
“We will not give up on our capital,” they called out.
Donald Trump told the Israeli daily Israel Ha-Yom on Wednesday that he intends to follow through with his campaign promise to relocate the embassy.
Akram Rajoub, the PA Nablus Governor, who also delivered a speech at the Nablus demonstration, said relocating the embassy to Jerusalem would undo “hope.”
“Moving the embassy would mean that there is no hope for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and no national rights for the Palestinian people,” Rajoub said emphatically, adding, “There is nothing more dangerous than an entire people losing hope for the future.”
Also on Thursday, foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation indirectly condemned plans to move the US embassy. A statement issued after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name, but said the OIC rejected any actions that could undermine the ability of Palestinians to claim part of Jerusalem in a future state.
It called on governments to desist from any activities that might encourage Israel to “pursue its illegal occupation and annexation of ... East Jerusalem, including any such encouragement through the transfer of their diplomatic missions to the city.”
The move would also distance the US from much of the international community, including its closest allies in Western Europe and the Arab world. Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognised. It claims the entire city as its capital.