JERUSALEM/GAZA: Protests were held all over the world including Pakistan against US President Donald Trump’s decision to accept Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. US flags and effigies of Trump were burned in the protests.
Israeli Army shot dead two of the protesters and injured dozens others in a brazen display of brutality. Hamas urged Palestinians on Thursday to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel.
Palestinian factions called for a "Day of Rage" on Friday. At least two people were shot dead and 31 wounded by the Israeli gunfire and rubber bullets, medics said. The Israeli military said an aircraft and a tank had targeted two posts belonging to militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after three rockets were launched at Israel. A jihadist Salafi group in Gaza called the Al-Tawheed Brigades – which does not heed the call from the enclave’s dominant force, Hamas, to desist from firing rockets – claimed responsibility for the launches.
The military said it was reinforcing troops in the occupied West Bank. 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.
The status of Jerusalem, home to sites considered holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. "We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada (Palestinian uprising) in the face of the Zionist enemy," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech in Gaza.
On Friday´s "Day of Rage," rallies and protests are expected near Israeli-controlled checkpoints in the West Bank and along the border with Gaza. Friday prayers at the Muslim shrine of Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem could also be a flashpoint.
Naser Al-Qidwa, an aide to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior official in his Fatah party, urged Palestinians to stage peaceful protests. Abbas on Thursday met Jordan´s King Abdullah, whose dynasty is the traditional custodian of Jerusalem´s holy places.
Jordan is a staunch US ally but has dismissed Trump´s move as "legally null". Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital. Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of their own to be in the city´s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognised internationally. No other country has its embassy there.
US officials said that when Trump forewarned the Palestinian president of his intention to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he assured him that a peace plan being put together would please the Palestinians.
Trump´s decision has raised doubts about his administration’s ability to follow through on the peace effort that his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has led for months aimed at reviving long-stalled negotiations.
Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Gallant said he would next week bring to the Cabinet for approval 14,000 housing units, some 6,000 of which are slated for construction in areas in Arab East Jerusalem and are already at various planning stages.
"Following President Trump´s historic declaration, I intend to promote and reinforce building in Jerusalem," Gallant said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump´s announcement as a "historic landmark" and said many countries would follow the US move and contacts were under way. He did not name the countries.
The White House said it was not aware of any other country that planned to follow Trump´s lead. "President Trump has immortalised himself in the chronicles of our capital. His name will now be held aloft, alongside other names connected to the glorious history of Jerusalem and of our people," he said in a speech at Israel´s Foreign Ministry.
Close Western allies of Washington, including France and Britain, have been critical of Trump´s move. The EU´s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said Jerusalem must be the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state.
A senior Palestinian official with Fatah said that US Vice President Mike Pence, due to visit the region later this month, was "unwelcome in Palestine". A spokesman for Pence said the vice president was planning to meet Abbas on the trip.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah backed calls for a new intafada and said: "We are facing blatant American aggression”. Islamist militant group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said Trump´s decision was the result of "normalisation steps" between some Gulf Arab countries and Israel.
Protests have broken out since Trump´s announcement in Jordan, outside the US consulate in Istanbul and in Pakistan. Thousands of Tunisians protested in several cities on Thursday. In Pakistan, countrywide protest demonstrations were staged by JI, Pakistan Sunni Tehrik, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen, Difa-e-Pakistan Council and others. PTI chairman Imran Khan also condemned the move.
Addressing a rally in Lahore by telephone, JI ameer Sirajul Haq said that Trump’s announcement was an alarm bell and was tantamount to sprinkling salt on the wounds of the Muslim Ummah. However, he said that the US president would have to face the consequences.
He urged Prime Minister Shahid khaqan Abbasi to attend the Rabita Alam-e-Islami meeting as a spokesman of the nation. JI also held rallies in other cities including Karachi, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Peshawar.
JUI-F also condemned Trump in its rallies in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Charsadda, Kohat, Hangu, Karak Tank, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, DI Khan, Haripur, Abbottabad, Manshera, Battagram, Torghar, Kohistan, Malakand, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Swat, Shangla, Buner and Chitral and all tribal agencies in Fata after Jumma prayers.
