Palestinians unleash ‘day of rage’
Some leaders call for uprising after Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Protests erupted throughout the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and cities across the Middle East on Thursday in what was dubbed a “day of rage” after President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he would “officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” sparking worldwide condemnation, including from Washington’s closest allies in the region. Some Palestinian leaders called for a new intifada, or uprising, in response to the move.
In the wake of his speech, Palestinian factions called for a general strike on Thursday, and the Palestinian Education Ministry canceled classes so that students and teachers could participate in the demonstrations.
Thousands of residents poured into major thoroughfares in Ramallah, Jericho, Hebron and Bethlehem in the West Bank as well as massing at East Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.
Although both sides have long claimed their right to Jerusalem, recent iterations of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process have designated East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
“How can the president of the United States flout international resolutions and ignore the feelings of millions of Arabs and Muslims?” asked Suha Arrar, a 43-year-old employee at the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health. She said she had come out to protest “the unprecedented arrogance of the U.S. administration.”
Ahmed Ghneim, a leader with the Palestinian faction Fatah, expressed his rejection of the Trump decision, adding that the “honeymoon” between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not come without costs.
“For 30 years, the Palestinian leadership thought the U.S. was the key to the solution,” Ghneim said. “Trump’s decision proved this key is not suitable for any solution.”
Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian politician in the West Bank, insisted that Trump’s decision “forbids Palestinians from having any contact with the U.S.,” which, he said, “has completely lost its role as a broker of the peace process.”
“We must now unite behind an uprising that is based on nonviolence as Palestinian protests succeeded in removing the electronic gates at the entrance to the Aqsa Mosque in the summer.”
Clashes flared between the protesters and Israeli troops, who deployed water cannons and fired what appeared to be rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
At Kalandiyeh, the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, young Palestinian men hunkered behind garbage containers before hurling rocks at nearby Israeli soldiers firing tear gas.
Video uploaded to social media showed a throng of Israeli soldiers racing through a deserted thoroughfare in Hebron while others grabbed a number of demonstrators and led them away.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement that it had treated more than 108 wounded in Gaza and the West Bank, adding that a number had been shot with live ammunition.
In the largely Christian town of Beit Jala, a man was taken into custody after he rammed a truck into several vehicles, injuring at least seven people and damaging at least 22 vehicles, witnesses said. In protest, residents blocked a main road, demanding that Palestinian police provide them with proper protection. Some speculated that the unidentified driver, who fled the scene and was later captured by Israeli forces and turned over to Palestinian authorities, targeted Christians because of Trump, but that could not be confirmed.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, said Trump’s announcement marked “a new equation” in the “Satanic alliance” between the U.S and Israel that could “only be confronted by launching the spark of a new intifada.” He added that Jerusalem was “unified” and was Palestinian.
“There is no existence for Israel on the land of Palestine. It has no presence on the land of Palestine for it to have a capital,” he said. “We declare … that what is called the peace process has been buried … and forever.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas began a round of diplomatic maneuvering by meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman, the Jordanian capital, where police had cut off roads leading to the U.S. Embassy in the the western neighborhood of Abdoun to prevent protesters from reaching it.
Both leaders “affirmed that any measure to tamper with the historical and legal status of Jerusalem is null and void and will only lead to more tension and violence in the region and the world,” according to the Jordanian state news agency Petra.
Other governments in the region echoed the sentiment, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying that it was a “step that would throw… this region into a ring of fire.”
“What would you like to do [with this step], Mr. Trump? What kind of stance is it?” Erdogan asked at a new conference in Ankara, the capital, according to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman to register its displeasure.
Even archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, in a rare moment of unity, described the decision as a bad one, with the former saying it would incite Muslims, spark an uprising and encourage extremism, and the latter calling it an “irresponsible and unwarranted” step.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his “historic announcement,” insisting that other countries would soon follow suit and move their embassies to Jerusalem.
The Czech Republic declared West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel shortly after Trump’s statement.
“Good morning and welcome to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish state of Israel,” said Netanyahu to a group of diplomats on Thursday in the city, according to the local daily newspaper Times of Israel. “If you weren’t aware of that until yesterday, you are now. But we’ve been aware of it for 3,000 years.”