The day of rage
One dead, hundreds hurt as protests spread across the Muslim world at Trump’s Jerusalem declaration
ONE Palestinian was shot dead and hundreds were injured yesterday during protests against Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Israeli army gunned down the man in clashes near the border between Gaza and Israel, while 245 were reportedly injured in the West Bank and Jerusalem during a second day of violence in the region.
It came as tens of thousands around the world protested against Mr Trump’s decision, burning US and Israeli flags and chanting ‘death to America’.
Britain’s UN ambassador Matthew Rycroft and envoys from France, Germany, Italy and Sweden said the US move was ‘unhelpful for peace’ and contrary to Security Council resolutions.
Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mah-
‘US not qualified to sponsor peace’
moud Abbas said the US could no longer broker the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. ‘ We reject the American decision over Jerusalem. The US has become no longer qualified to sponsor the peace process,’ he added.
Palestinians, who declared yesterday a ‘ day of rage’, burnt piles of tyres in the streets and stone-throwers traded volleys with soldiers firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
The fatality came in clashes with the Israeli army in the city of Khan Yunis. Protesters rolling burning tyres and throwing stones near the border there were met with gunfire and tear gas from soldiers.
The Israeli military said troops had ‘fired selectively at… [the] main instigators’ of ‘violent riots’ and confirmed hitting them.
Protests were recorded at 30 locations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces arrested six people.
Protesters also burnt effigies of the US president in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and there were chants of ‘death to America’ during a rally in the Iranian capital Tehran. Hundreds of Muslim Kashmiris marched in parts of Indian- controlled Kashmir, chanting slogans such as ‘down with America’ and burning Israeli flags.
Thousands carrying Palestinian flags also marched in Turkey, Afghanistan, Jordan, Pakistan, Somalia and Egypt, where campaigners vowed to ‘sacrifice our blood and souls for Palestine’.
Mr Trump’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – recognising Israel’s claim that the city is its capital – has been condemned for ignoring Jerusalem’s symbolic significance to Palestinians.
They want East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel in 1967, to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, but many say that is now impossible as Washington has in effect ceded the city to Israel.