Arab nations join outrage vs Trump
Protests grow worldwide over US recognition of Jerusalem as Jewish capital
CAIRO— The United States is increasingly getting isolated in the international community as a result of US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The latest to join the outrage are ministers of Arab League member nations who demand Trump rescind his proclamation as bloodshed spreads in the Middle East.
CAIRO— Arab foreign ministers on Saturday called on the United States to rescind its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and for the international community to recognize a Palestinian state.
In a resolution after an emergency meeting in Cairo, Arab League member ministers said that the United States had “withdrawn itself as a sponsor and broker” of the Israel-Palestinian peace process with its controversial move.
The ministers met at the league’s headquarters in Cairo to formulate a response to the US decision, which has been roundly criticized in the Arab world and internationally.
The move by US President Donald Trump was “denounced and condemned,” Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit told the ministers at the beginning of the meeting.
Recognize Palestine
The ministers agreed on “demanding that the United States rescind its decision on Jerusalem and calling on the international community to recognize the state of Palestine with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
They also said they would head for the UN Security Council for a resolution condemning the US decision as a violation of international law.
The decision sparked protests and clashes in Palestinian territories since Trump announced it on Wednesday, drawing criticism from every other member of the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting on Friday.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has can- celled a scheduled meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ramallah later this month.
Unwelcome
In Egypt, which Pence would also visit, the country’s top Muslim and Christian clerics have both cancelled scheduled meetings with Pence in protest of the decision.
There have been fears of a much larger escalation of violence after Hamas leader Ismail Haniya called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group both renewed that call on Saturday.
Abbas’s Fatah organization urged Palestinians to “keep up confrontation and broaden it to all points where the Israeli army is present” in the West Bank.
Israel seized Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
The Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.
The international community does not recognize the ancient city as Israel’s capital, insisting the issue can only be re- solved in negotiations.
Israeli retaliation
Retaliatory Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed two Hamas militants as unrest simmered.
Four people have been killed and dozens wounded since Trump announced the move.
“The United States has crossed all the red lines with the Jerusalem decision,” said Majdi al-Khaldi, Abbas’ diplomatic adviser.
Egypt’s Coptic Pope Tawadros II also cancelled a meeting with Pence.
On Friday, Ahmed al-Tayeb who heads Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top Sunni Muslim institution, also scrapped plans to meet Pence over the “unjust and unfair American decision on Jerusalem.”
There were fresh clashes on Saturday as Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank hurled stones at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds.
In Gaza, mourners vented their anger at the funerals of two people killed during clashes at the border fence on Friday and the two Hamas militants killed early on Saturday.
The unrest spread into Israel when a bus was stoned near Arab towns in the northern Wadi Ara district, injuring the driver.
Police said they arrested two young men from the Israeli Arab town of Arara.
An Israeli army statement said “violent riots have erupted at approximately 20 locations” in the West Bank and Gaza.