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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Palestinians protest in West Bank, Gaza Strip

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JERUSALEM/GAZA: The Hamas group urged Palestinians on Thursday to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel in response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. The Israeli military said it was reinforcing troops in the occupied West Bank, deploying several new army battalions and putting other forces on standby, describing the measures as part of its “readiness for possible developments”.


Medics said at least 31 people were wounded by Israeli army gunfire when Palestinian protests erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday. They said 11 were hit by live bullets and 20 by rubber bullets. One person was in a critical condition. Some protesters threw rocks at soldiers and others chanted: “Death to America! Death to the fool Trump!”.


Trump reversed decades of US policy on Wednesday by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperilling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.


The status of Jerusalem — home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions — is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.


“We should call for and we should work on launching an intifadha (Palestinian uprising) in the face of the Zionist enemy,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech in Gaza.


He urged Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs to hold rallies against the US decision on Friday, calling it a “day of rage”.


Naser al Qidwa, an aide to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and senior official in his Fatah party, urged Palestinians to stage protests but said they should be peaceful.


Asked on Israel Radio whether there might be another intifadha, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said: “In my estimate Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not wreck matters. It would not be helpful to him.”


Fearing recrimination could disrupt reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al Hamdallah and other Fatah delegates arrived in Gaza on Thursday to meet Hamas.


The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem, believing its status should be resolved in negotiations. No other country has its embassy in Jerusalem.


Trump’s decision fulfils a campaign promise and will please Republican conservatives and evangelicals who make up a sizeable portion of his domestic support.


In Lebanon, Hizbullah lawmakers said the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital constituted aggression against Palestinians and resistance was the only way to recover lost rights. Hizbullah and Israel fought a war in 2006.


Protests broke out in areas of Jordan’s capital, Amman, inhabited by Palestinian refugees, and several hundred protesters gathered outside the US consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement. —Reuters


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