Jerusalem move triggers street protests across the Middle East
THE US was last night scrambling to contain the diplomatic fallout of Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as Arab leaders threatened to cancel meetings with his vice president and allies rounded on America at the UN.
Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza in response to rockets fired from the territory and two Palestinian men were killed during clashes with Israeli forces.
As protests broke out across the Middle East, US diplomats were working to salvage vice president Mike President’s upcoming trip to the region amid public pressure on leaders not to meet him.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, threatened to cancel his planned meeting with Mr Pence, the first time in years that a Palestinian leader has so publicly challenged the White House.
“Jerusalem is more important than the American administration and we will not give up on it in return for a meeting with the US vice president,” a spokesman for Mr Abbas told al-jazeera. Another senior Palestinian official said Mr Pence, who is a strong supporter of Israel and stood at Mr Trump’s side during his Jerusalem speech, was “unwelcome”. The same message was scrawled in graffiti on walls in Bethlehem, where Mr Pence was scheduled to meet Mr Abbas.
US officials said they had expected Palestinian anger over Mr Trump’s announcement but warned that it would be “counterproductive” for the Palestinian president to so publicly snub America’s deputy leader.
As well as visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank, Mr Pence is expected to travel to Egypt. His office had requested a meeting with Sheikh Ahmed al-tayeb, Egypt’s most senior Muslim cleric, but the sheikh said he would refuse to meet him until the US reversed its decision on Jerusalem.
A spokesman for Mr Pence said: “We are still finalising the vice president’s travel schedule and will make more of it public in the coming days.”
Two men in Gaza were shot dead after clashes with Israeli troops near the border fence. The Palestinian health ministry said 14 people were injured, including a young baby, when Israel warplanes struck targets in the north of Gaza. The Israeli military said several rockets had been fired from Gaza, one of which landed in the Israeli city of Sderot, apparently with no casualties. Israeli jets struck two Hamas targets in response, a spokesman said.
America found itself isolated at the UN Security Council where France and other allies accused Mr Trump of violating international law
Francois Delattre, France’s UN ambassador, called the American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “null and void” because it contradicted a 1980 UN Security Council resolution on the status of Jerusalem.
“It is henceforth necessary for the US to specify how President Trump’s announcement complies with international law,” he said.
Fourteen of the council’s 15 members, including the UK, criticised the decision, leaving US ambassador Nikki Haley to sit and listen as nation after na- tion denounced Mr Trump’s decision. When it was her turn to speak, Mrs Haley was defiant and defended the unilateral US move.
“The UN has done much more to damage the prospects of peace than advance it,” she said. “The United States will not be lectured to by any country that does not treat Israel fairly.”
Several thousand young Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and one man was killed by Israeli gunfire. The Red Crescent said around 250 injuries were recorded.
The violence was not as serious as some had feared after Hamas and other Palestinian factions called for a “Day of Rage”. Thousands more demonstrated outside the US embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman, where there is a large Palestinian population, and there were more demonstrations in Cairo, Tunis and Tehran.
The Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, chaired by Mr Abbas, is due to meet today to formulate its official response to the US move and Mr Pence’s visit. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told al-jazeera TV last night that the Palestinians will not talk to the US until Mr Trump has reversed his decision.
Grant Rumley, a political analyst who wrote a biography of Mr Abbas, said the Palestinian president was under significant public pressure. “There is a lot of animosity among the Palestinian people towards the US. On the other hand, Pence is still the vice president of the US and it’s an opportunity for Abbas to be productive and try to forge forward.”