Israeli troops wound over 40 Palestinians

RAMALLAH: Israeli troops shot and wounded more than 40 Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank on Friday, medical officials said, as protests over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Occupied-al-Quds as Israel’s capital entered a second week.

Near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank, Israeli police troopers said they shot a man after he stabbed and hurt one of their unit.

Reuters photographers who saw the wounded Palestinian fall said he was holding a small knife and wore what looked like a bomb belt. Medical officials said three more Palestinians were shot and wounded in the West Bank.

A further 38 were wounded on the border of the Gaza Strip, whose dominant Hamas Islamists have called for a revolt against Israel in protest against Trump’s Dec 6 decision. The Israeli military said that about 2,500 Palestinian took part in riots in the West Bank, rolling flaming tyres and throwing firebombs and rocks at soldiers and border police.

Troops took action to break up the riots, it said in a statement. Similar scenes occurred along the border with Gaza Strip, where about 3,500 Palestinians demonstrated. "During the violent riots IDF soldiers fired selectively towards main instigators," the military said.

Gaza has also seen almost nightly rocket launches into Israel by Palestinian militants, which have not caused casualties. An Israeli counter-strike on Gaza killed two Hamas gunmen.

Meanwhile, Turkey is launching an initiative at the United Nations to annul a decision by the United States to recognise Occupied al-Quds as Israel’s capital, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Erdogan was speaking two days after a Muslim leaders meeting in Istanbul condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision, calling on the world to respond by recognising East Occupied al-Quds as the capital of Palestine.

"We will work for the annulment of this unjust decision firstly at the UN Security Council, and if a veto comes from there, the General Assembly," Erdogan told crowds gathered in the central Anatolian city of Konya via teleconference.

The United States is a permanent Security Council member with veto powers, meaning any move to overturn Washington’s decision at the council would certainly be blocked. Occupied al-Quds, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam’s third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.

Israel captured Arab East Occupied al-Quds in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognised internationally. Trump’s decision broke with decades of US policy and international consensus that the city’s status must be left to Israeli-Palestinian talks, leading to harsh criticisms from Muslim countries and Israel’s closest European allies, who have also rejected the move.

A communique issued after Wednesday’s summit of more than 50 Muslim countries, including US allies, said they considered Trump’s move to be a declaration that Washington was withdrawing from its role "as sponsor of peace" in the Middle East.

Asked about the criticism during an interview with Israel’s Makor Rishon daily, the US ambassador to Israel said Trump had done "what is good for America". "President Trump...does not intend to reverse himself, despite the various condemnations and declarations," Ambassador David Friedman said.