Jerusalem – Palestinians seethed with anger and a sense of betrayal over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
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Many heard the death knell for the long-moribund U.S.-sponsored talks aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. They also said more violence could erupt.
“Trump wants to help Israel take over the entire city. Some people may do nothing, but others are ready to fight for Jerusalem,” said Hamad Abu Sbeih, 28, an unemployed resident of the walled Old City.
“This decision will ignite a fire in the region. Pressure leads to explosions,” he said.
Jerusalem — specifically its eastern Old City, home to important shrines of Judaism, Christianity and Islam — is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli captured Arab East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War then later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want it to be the capital of a future independent state and resolution of its status is fundamental to any peace-making.
Trump is due to announce later on Wednesday that the United States recognizes the city as Israel’s capital and will move its embassy there from Tel Aviv, breaking with longtime policy..
“This is insane. You are speaking about something fateful. Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine and neither the world nor our people will accept it,” said Samir Al-Asmar, 58, a merchant from the Old City who was a child when it fell to Israel.
“It will not change what Jerusalem is. Jerusalem will remain Arab. Such a decision will sabotage things and people will not accept it.”
Palestinian newspapers also decried the move.
“Trump Defies the World,” thundered Al-Ayyam. Another, Al-Hayat, roared “Jerusalem is the Symbol of Palestinian Endurance” in a red-letter headline over an image of the city’s mosque compound flanked by Palestinian flags.
Palestinian leaders have also warned the move could have dangerous consequences. Although winter rains dampened protests called for East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, few doubted fresh bloodshed now loomed.
Israeli security forces braced for possible unrest but police said the situation in Jerusalem was calm for now.
That could quickly change, given the religious passions that swirl around the Old City, where Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest shrine, abuts the Western Wall prayer plaza, a vestige of two ancient Jewish temples.
Palestinians mounted two uprisings, or intifadas, against Israeli occupation from 1987 to 1993 then from 2000 to 2005, the latter ignited by a visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the shrine area, known to Jews as Temple Mount.
Violent confrontations also took place in July when Israel installed metal detectors at an entrance to Al-Aqsa compound after Arab gunmen holed up there killed two of its policemen. Four Palestinians and three Israelis died in ensuing violence.
ANGRY IN GAZA
In the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, demonstrators chanted “Death to America”, “Death to Israel” and “Down with Trump”. They also burned posters depicting the U.S., British and Israeli flags.
Youssef Mohammad, a 70-year-old resident of a refugee camp, said Trump’s move would be a test for Arab leadership at a time of regional chaos and shifting alliances.
“Let him do it. Let’s see what Arab rulers and kings will do. They will do nothing because they are cowards,” the father of eight said.
The Jerusalem uproar could affect Egyptian-brokered efforts to bring Gaza, which has been under Islamist Hamas control for a decade, back under the authority of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who favors negotiation with Israel.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Trump’s planned moved showed the United States was biased.
“The United States was never a neutral mediator in any cause of our people. It has always stood with the occupation (Israel),” he said.
He said Abbas’ administration should “rid itself of the illusion that rights can be achieved through an American-backed deal”.
Let them seethe as long as no Yid chas v’
sholom is murdered. Stupid , or rather scrupulous Trump is looking for political while he is protected by the secrete service and avoided serving in the military, coward
All righty! Finally, our domestic Trump-haters and genocidal Arabs are on the same page! Good job, liberals!
“This decision will ignite a fire in the region”
“Palestinian leaders have also warned the move could have dangerous consequences. Although winter rains dampened protests called for East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, few doubted fresh bloodshed now loomed.”
So the fake news in its tricky way admits the truth. The Palestinians are a bunch of violent people who resort to guns and blood when unhappy.
Make no mistake, whats wrong with West Jerusalem being Israel’s capital? Its uncontested and not part of the official two state solution dispute? The answer is they want from sea to sea. Trump called their bluff. And they want our blood and seek our destruction.
Lest you ask, but don’t I pray for their destruction too? Its very different. I only pray for their destruction because they are killing my brothers. Because my brothers blood is cheap in the eyes of these animals. If they’d only put down their guns and stop calling for violence when they don’t get their way I would not call for thier destruction. Thats a very distinct and obvious difference.
Lets all daven (daven not call for violence) that hashem smite Palestinians with cancer and ALS
I neglected to post my user name on my prior comment. But its obvious
For the last 500 years the capital of palestine has been Ramala , in case they forgot it. That was the city that was given the title by the Ottoman Turks.There never was a state called by the name palestine, its the territory that has the name given by the Romans after Jerusalem was obliterated by them. They don’t want peace, only to obstruct peace in israel.
There will never be peace in the middle east because the Muslims simply don’t want it. It is in the best interest of Mssrs. Abbas and company to keep the Palestinian populace under his boot. The leaders of the PA and Hamas , Abbas and company, live like royalty with the money donated by the west, while the general populace doesn’t see a dime of these billions foisted on them by the west They are useful pawns relegated to live in squalor in “refugee camps”, and bombed out villages. If the Palestinian people ever got a taste of freedom, meaningful jobs, decent clean homes, meaningful lives, Mr. Abbas’ “Raison D’etre, would evaporate into thin air.
Without war and violence, Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of those scoundrels are unemployed, therefore they will milk this conflict and keep it going for as long as they can. The west needs to make unilateral moves like this one and ignore the threat of inflaming the Arab street. The “Arab Street” does not spontaneously combust. It is orchestrated by that vile excuse for a human, Abbas.
Kapitel Kof Chof Bais…. “Sha’alu shlom Yerushalayim”…. Only H”KBH can make that happen.
These fools should’ve grabbed the deals they were offered by the past leftist Israelis leaders to Arafat y”sin which they would’ve gotten 97% of the West Bank and a piece of Jerusalem, but as it’s been said, they never miss an opportunity t9 miss an opportunity! And of course G-d will never allow Israel to fall into the hands of their lifelong arch enemies (or anyone else), so all this is orchestrated by Him, and no human’s efforts will change His will!