10 dec 2017
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AARON MATÉ: It’s The Real News. I’m Aaron Maté. The uproar continues over President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. At least one Palestinian has been killed and dozens have been wounded as Israeli forces crackdown on protests across occupied territories. Protests are also being held around the world and the UN Security Council has held an emergency session. Joining me is Noura Erakat, human rights attorney and professor at George Mason University. Welcome, Noura. As you see this response both in the territories and around the world, your thoughts today?
NOURA ERAKAT: So, two thoughts to start off with: one is that I just want to start by expressing some sort of emotional weight that Palestinians are feeling. This is an incredibly sad moment. In addition to feeling rage and righteous rage, there’s a lot of sadness and a |
heaviness around the fact that this announcement comes around Eid or Christmas for the Christians amongst us and really dampens the mood and the reality that we continue to live under a settler-colonial reality.
What President Trump has done is to mark the inevitable consolidation of Israel settler- colonial project that is intent on the elimination of Palestinians as a people and their containment as mere Arabs, as Bedouins, as individuals, as refugees, but not as a people who are deserving of their self-determination.Palestinians have been waging this struggle for self-determination ever since 1917 when British Empire decided that it would erase Palestinians as a people in order to make way for the establishment of a Jewish national home in their place. This was a colonial decision. It was a colonial erasure.
What Netanyahu has said recently in response to Trump is that Trump’s announcement about Jerusalem is the equivalent of the Balfour Declaration designating all of Palestine for Jewish settlement. We are seeing a continuity of this colonial process that continues to erase Palestinians, but we’re also seeing a continuity in US foreign policy that has steadily, steadily moved forward this project by adopting a dual process of speaking out of both sides of their mouth.
The United States, especially since 1967 under the Lyndon B. Johnson administration has simultaneously told Israel and the world that there will be no resolution, unilateral resolution imposed on the solution either by way of international law or external interference, that it will be completely negotiated resolution. At the same time, the United States has enabled Israel to expand its settler colonial holdings over Palestinian lands without regard to putative borders or otherwise in the form of unequivocal diplomatic aid shielding it from any kind of international censor at the United Nations, in the form of unequivocal military aid that has made Israel the most, the 11th most significant military power in the world but also the only nuclear power in the Middle East, and in the form of financial aid that has ensured Israel will stay afloat and have a remarkably powerful economy on the global scale.
These things together have immunized Israel from any kind of external pressure. Despite the international community insisting that there must be a solution and a just solution to the Palestinian condition, it has been able to act with impunity in order to continue its settler colonial project of erasure, to usher in an era of apartheid under the double-speak of the United States which has now ended as Trump has revealed, has removed the emperor’s clothes to reveal US foreign policy for what it is which is as an enabler for Israel’s project.
AARON MATÉ: Noura, I want to talk a bit about how we got here and the key role of Democrats in laying the groundwork for Trump. After all, just recently it came out that Chuck Schumer, the head of the Democratic Party in the Senate had urged Trump to declare Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel. On this front, I want to go to two clips. They’re both, they’re of President Obama speaking at AIPAC in 2008 and four years later Chuck Schumer in 2012.
BARACK OBAMA: Any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with secure recognized defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.
CHUCK SCHUMER: Everyone knows the vast overwhelming majority of Democrats, Democrats have always been for Jerusalem being the unified capital of Israel. I’m one of the leading Democrats on Middle East policy. That’s been my position for a long time. This is a tempest in a teapot. The overwhelming Democratic position is just that.
AARON MATÉ: So, that’s Chuck Schumer in 2012; before that, Barack Obama in 2008. Noura, it’s been interesting to see the Democratic reaction to Trump’s decision. People have been criticizing him, but yet they’re in a tough position because they effectively support the exact policy that he’s carried out.
NOURA ERAKAT: Look, this is one of those issues where there’s really no daylight between Republicans and Democrats with a few very brave exceptions on this issue. This has been a bipartisan issue. It’s something that unites Congress rather than splits them, and is really, really unfortunate because it’s even. It’s moved Congress to act against its own American interests as was demonstrated when Netanyahu came to address Congress in order to undermine President Obama’s Iran Nuclear Agreement in a way where they actually showed more loyalty to what Israel needed in the region than to what the United States thought was necessary.This is not surprising. I think what should be pointed out for our audience, we are in a moment that has been defined by resistance to Trump as if what Trump is doing is unprecedented. In some cases, it might be more bold. It might be more bombastic, irresponsible, lacking and arrogant. But it isn’t necessarily a rupture especially on this issue.
The declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the consecration of five decades of US foreign policy on this issue. This is actually the pinnacle of an inevitable outcome of what the United States has been doing to shield Israel from any kind of international accountability.It is issued in the UN Security Council between 1967 and the present 43 vetoes in order to shield Israel from the application of international law that would stem its settlement enterprise and its project. It has done very little. It did nothing in order to stem the building of a wall on West Bank territory and to preserve the territorial integrity of the occupied territory. It has spoken out of both sides of its mouth. On the one hand, these are all administrations, Democratic and Republican alike. On the one hand, it said that settlements are counterproductive and that Israel must abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
On the other hand indeed, it has protected Israel and shielded it so that it can continue to get away with its practices on the ground.Lest we valorize President Obama on this issue even when in his last, one of his last acts in office, he actually oversaw an abstention in the Security Council and the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which affirmed the illegality of settlements and affirmed the territorial integrity of the territories. At the same time, he also promised Israel more military aid than any other administration, increasing US aid to Israel from 3.0 billion over 10 years to 3.8 billion over 10 years and an MOU that basically guarantees Israel $38 billion. Even in that moment of what appeared like a US shifting its policy was still speaking out of both sides of its mouth.
Responsibility for this however and for exposing the US’s double-speak and for pivoting us, pivoting Palestinian fate away from this disastrous US course is on the Palestinian leadership which has had opportunities over and over and over again to shift course to move away from the backwaters of bilateralism, to use international law, to use accountability mechanisms after repeated onslaughts on the Gaza Strip for example, to use the opportunity that 2334 represented to us, to use the ICJ decision in order to wage a global boycott divestment sanctions movement in order to place sanctions on Israel. And yet the Palestinian leadership in its undue faith has clung on to the idea that the US’ global superpower will deliver independence to it.That’s just, there’s no reason. They’ve had empirical evidence that devastates that possibility, and it’s not justified. Now this is another moment that is testing Palestinian leadership, and the saddest part about this moment is that Palestinians may be a part of consolidating Israel’s control rather than resisting it at this juncture.
AARON MATÉ: The ICJ decision, just to clarify for people who don’t know it, that’s in 2004 when the World Court ruled against the Israeli separation wall that cuts throughout the West Bank, separates more Palestinian territory from each other in order to keep Israeli control of the illegal settlement blocks. Let me ask you, Noura…
NOURA ERAKAT: Really quick, just to highlight for folks who are interested in that, the ICJ decision that said Israeli has the right to self-defense and every right to build a wall. It just said that it cannot build that wall in the West Bank territory and has to build it on the 1949 Armistice Line. The reason Israeli built that wall and 85% of its route into the West Bank was in a land grab scheme under the veneer of security. That was the issue. Let’s not confuse whether or not Israel has the right to build a wall. This was specifically about why Israel is building a wall, where it’s building the wall, and what pretext is it using to build it.
AARON MATÉ: Right. Given the Palestinian leadership, as you say, has been ineffective and some ways complicit in all of this and collaborating with Israel as a sort of surrogate police force inside the occupied territories, I’m wondering if you see any different signs now. We saw the top Palestinian negotiator say that the era of the peace process is over and it’s time for a struggle for a one-state. We saw Palestinian officials say that Vice President Mike Pence, the so-called defender of Christianity in the Middle East, tell Pence that he’s no longer welcome in the birthplace of Christianity in the Middle East, Bethlehem, when he comes to visit soon. Are we seeing a change of course already from Palestinian leadership?
NOURA ERAKAT: I hope so. That would be the right thing to do. If not know then I don’t know when. We have had repeated, repeated evidence that the United States is either unable or unwilling to change course in order to restrain its most significant ally in the Middle East and to actually act as a honest broker and it has any interest in Palestinian freedom. What the United States has been trying to give to Palestinians is autonomy and asking us to accept ghettoized sovereignty in the place of meaningful freedom.Unfortunately, we have, instead of resisting that plan, insisted that if we continue to work as, if we continue to be complicit and to work with the United States and to do everything that it’s asking for, that somehow the United States is going to change course and change its policy. That’s why we rescinded the 2009 Goldstone report from the Human Rights Council that was to hold Israel to account for its war crimes in the Gaza Strip after the first onslaught in 2008, 2009. That was why we’ve done very little with the ICJ decision.
That’s why the leadership hasn’t endorsed BDS.There have been some positive signs however, when Palestinians actually went to the ICC, notwithstanding US protests. There’s positive signs that the Palestinians, for example, have signed onto human rights treaties and are insisting that they are going to pursue some sort of alternative international course as we saw that they did during the UN General Assembly when they pursued their statehood bid.That said, Palestinian leadership is also speaking out of both sides of its mouth. On the one hand, it’s hedging its bets and still has faith in the United States. On the other hand, it keeps using these veiled threats and these small incremental steps that are moving away from the United States but never fully resisting it, never fully pivoting away from it.
It’s maintaining Palestinians in this holding position.The UN Security Council deliberations today are yet another indication of that when the discussion went back right to square one where they were talking about this doesn’t make negotiations impossible and that Palestinians and Israelis should still negotiate. Palestinians should negotiate but Palestinians need negotiating leverage and they have none when they are leaving this in the hands of the United States and not making it costly to Israel or the United States in the form of legitimacy in order to increase their negotiating leverage.We have failed to take advantage of that. We’ve failed to take advantage of that after the First Intifada.
This is an anniversary of it. It was the First Intifada that led us and ushered us into the peace process, and yet we relinquished and squandered that opportunity to enter into Oslo rather than taking advantage of the international community support for Palestinian freedom. We have grassroots support. That doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily going to prevail because, as we’ve seen, dictates of powerful states oftentimes have the last word, but it means we have a better chance that way than we do by continuing to pander to western states that aren’t necessarily invested in freedom and that have no kind of signal or urgency from Palestinian officialdom that they should change course and also punish Israel.
AARON MATÉ: Noura Erakat, human rights attorney and Assistant Professor at George Mason University. Thank you.
NOURA ERAKAT: Thank you for having me.
AARON MATÉ: Thank you for joining us on The Real News.
What President Trump has done is to mark the inevitable consolidation of Israel settler- colonial project that is intent on the elimination of Palestinians as a people and their containment as mere Arabs, as Bedouins, as individuals, as refugees, but not as a people who are deserving of their self-determination.Palestinians have been waging this struggle for self-determination ever since 1917 when British Empire decided that it would erase Palestinians as a people in order to make way for the establishment of a Jewish national home in their place. This was a colonial decision. It was a colonial erasure.
What Netanyahu has said recently in response to Trump is that Trump’s announcement about Jerusalem is the equivalent of the Balfour Declaration designating all of Palestine for Jewish settlement. We are seeing a continuity of this colonial process that continues to erase Palestinians, but we’re also seeing a continuity in US foreign policy that has steadily, steadily moved forward this project by adopting a dual process of speaking out of both sides of their mouth.
The United States, especially since 1967 under the Lyndon B. Johnson administration has simultaneously told Israel and the world that there will be no resolution, unilateral resolution imposed on the solution either by way of international law or external interference, that it will be completely negotiated resolution. At the same time, the United States has enabled Israel to expand its settler colonial holdings over Palestinian lands without regard to putative borders or otherwise in the form of unequivocal diplomatic aid shielding it from any kind of international censor at the United Nations, in the form of unequivocal military aid that has made Israel the most, the 11th most significant military power in the world but also the only nuclear power in the Middle East, and in the form of financial aid that has ensured Israel will stay afloat and have a remarkably powerful economy on the global scale.
These things together have immunized Israel from any kind of external pressure. Despite the international community insisting that there must be a solution and a just solution to the Palestinian condition, it has been able to act with impunity in order to continue its settler colonial project of erasure, to usher in an era of apartheid under the double-speak of the United States which has now ended as Trump has revealed, has removed the emperor’s clothes to reveal US foreign policy for what it is which is as an enabler for Israel’s project.
AARON MATÉ: Noura, I want to talk a bit about how we got here and the key role of Democrats in laying the groundwork for Trump. After all, just recently it came out that Chuck Schumer, the head of the Democratic Party in the Senate had urged Trump to declare Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel. On this front, I want to go to two clips. They’re both, they’re of President Obama speaking at AIPAC in 2008 and four years later Chuck Schumer in 2012.
BARACK OBAMA: Any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with secure recognized defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.
CHUCK SCHUMER: Everyone knows the vast overwhelming majority of Democrats, Democrats have always been for Jerusalem being the unified capital of Israel. I’m one of the leading Democrats on Middle East policy. That’s been my position for a long time. This is a tempest in a teapot. The overwhelming Democratic position is just that.
AARON MATÉ: So, that’s Chuck Schumer in 2012; before that, Barack Obama in 2008. Noura, it’s been interesting to see the Democratic reaction to Trump’s decision. People have been criticizing him, but yet they’re in a tough position because they effectively support the exact policy that he’s carried out.
NOURA ERAKAT: Look, this is one of those issues where there’s really no daylight between Republicans and Democrats with a few very brave exceptions on this issue. This has been a bipartisan issue. It’s something that unites Congress rather than splits them, and is really, really unfortunate because it’s even. It’s moved Congress to act against its own American interests as was demonstrated when Netanyahu came to address Congress in order to undermine President Obama’s Iran Nuclear Agreement in a way where they actually showed more loyalty to what Israel needed in the region than to what the United States thought was necessary.This is not surprising. I think what should be pointed out for our audience, we are in a moment that has been defined by resistance to Trump as if what Trump is doing is unprecedented. In some cases, it might be more bold. It might be more bombastic, irresponsible, lacking and arrogant. But it isn’t necessarily a rupture especially on this issue.
The declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the consecration of five decades of US foreign policy on this issue. This is actually the pinnacle of an inevitable outcome of what the United States has been doing to shield Israel from any kind of international accountability.It is issued in the UN Security Council between 1967 and the present 43 vetoes in order to shield Israel from the application of international law that would stem its settlement enterprise and its project. It has done very little. It did nothing in order to stem the building of a wall on West Bank territory and to preserve the territorial integrity of the occupied territory. It has spoken out of both sides of its mouth. On the one hand, these are all administrations, Democratic and Republican alike. On the one hand, it said that settlements are counterproductive and that Israel must abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
On the other hand indeed, it has protected Israel and shielded it so that it can continue to get away with its practices on the ground.Lest we valorize President Obama on this issue even when in his last, one of his last acts in office, he actually oversaw an abstention in the Security Council and the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which affirmed the illegality of settlements and affirmed the territorial integrity of the territories. At the same time, he also promised Israel more military aid than any other administration, increasing US aid to Israel from 3.0 billion over 10 years to 3.8 billion over 10 years and an MOU that basically guarantees Israel $38 billion. Even in that moment of what appeared like a US shifting its policy was still speaking out of both sides of its mouth.
Responsibility for this however and for exposing the US’s double-speak and for pivoting us, pivoting Palestinian fate away from this disastrous US course is on the Palestinian leadership which has had opportunities over and over and over again to shift course to move away from the backwaters of bilateralism, to use international law, to use accountability mechanisms after repeated onslaughts on the Gaza Strip for example, to use the opportunity that 2334 represented to us, to use the ICJ decision in order to wage a global boycott divestment sanctions movement in order to place sanctions on Israel. And yet the Palestinian leadership in its undue faith has clung on to the idea that the US’ global superpower will deliver independence to it.That’s just, there’s no reason. They’ve had empirical evidence that devastates that possibility, and it’s not justified. Now this is another moment that is testing Palestinian leadership, and the saddest part about this moment is that Palestinians may be a part of consolidating Israel’s control rather than resisting it at this juncture.
AARON MATÉ: The ICJ decision, just to clarify for people who don’t know it, that’s in 2004 when the World Court ruled against the Israeli separation wall that cuts throughout the West Bank, separates more Palestinian territory from each other in order to keep Israeli control of the illegal settlement blocks. Let me ask you, Noura…
NOURA ERAKAT: Really quick, just to highlight for folks who are interested in that, the ICJ decision that said Israeli has the right to self-defense and every right to build a wall. It just said that it cannot build that wall in the West Bank territory and has to build it on the 1949 Armistice Line. The reason Israeli built that wall and 85% of its route into the West Bank was in a land grab scheme under the veneer of security. That was the issue. Let’s not confuse whether or not Israel has the right to build a wall. This was specifically about why Israel is building a wall, where it’s building the wall, and what pretext is it using to build it.
AARON MATÉ: Right. Given the Palestinian leadership, as you say, has been ineffective and some ways complicit in all of this and collaborating with Israel as a sort of surrogate police force inside the occupied territories, I’m wondering if you see any different signs now. We saw the top Palestinian negotiator say that the era of the peace process is over and it’s time for a struggle for a one-state. We saw Palestinian officials say that Vice President Mike Pence, the so-called defender of Christianity in the Middle East, tell Pence that he’s no longer welcome in the birthplace of Christianity in the Middle East, Bethlehem, when he comes to visit soon. Are we seeing a change of course already from Palestinian leadership?
NOURA ERAKAT: I hope so. That would be the right thing to do. If not know then I don’t know when. We have had repeated, repeated evidence that the United States is either unable or unwilling to change course in order to restrain its most significant ally in the Middle East and to actually act as a honest broker and it has any interest in Palestinian freedom. What the United States has been trying to give to Palestinians is autonomy and asking us to accept ghettoized sovereignty in the place of meaningful freedom.Unfortunately, we have, instead of resisting that plan, insisted that if we continue to work as, if we continue to be complicit and to work with the United States and to do everything that it’s asking for, that somehow the United States is going to change course and change its policy. That’s why we rescinded the 2009 Goldstone report from the Human Rights Council that was to hold Israel to account for its war crimes in the Gaza Strip after the first onslaught in 2008, 2009. That was why we’ve done very little with the ICJ decision.
That’s why the leadership hasn’t endorsed BDS.There have been some positive signs however, when Palestinians actually went to the ICC, notwithstanding US protests. There’s positive signs that the Palestinians, for example, have signed onto human rights treaties and are insisting that they are going to pursue some sort of alternative international course as we saw that they did during the UN General Assembly when they pursued their statehood bid.That said, Palestinian leadership is also speaking out of both sides of its mouth. On the one hand, it’s hedging its bets and still has faith in the United States. On the other hand, it keeps using these veiled threats and these small incremental steps that are moving away from the United States but never fully resisting it, never fully pivoting away from it.
It’s maintaining Palestinians in this holding position.The UN Security Council deliberations today are yet another indication of that when the discussion went back right to square one where they were talking about this doesn’t make negotiations impossible and that Palestinians and Israelis should still negotiate. Palestinians should negotiate but Palestinians need negotiating leverage and they have none when they are leaving this in the hands of the United States and not making it costly to Israel or the United States in the form of legitimacy in order to increase their negotiating leverage.We have failed to take advantage of that. We’ve failed to take advantage of that after the First Intifada.
This is an anniversary of it. It was the First Intifada that led us and ushered us into the peace process, and yet we relinquished and squandered that opportunity to enter into Oslo rather than taking advantage of the international community support for Palestinian freedom. We have grassroots support. That doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily going to prevail because, as we’ve seen, dictates of powerful states oftentimes have the last word, but it means we have a better chance that way than we do by continuing to pander to western states that aren’t necessarily invested in freedom and that have no kind of signal or urgency from Palestinian officialdom that they should change course and also punish Israel.
AARON MATÉ: Noura Erakat, human rights attorney and Assistant Professor at George Mason University. Thank you.
NOURA ERAKAT: Thank you for having me.
AARON MATÉ: Thank you for joining us on The Real News.
A Tunisian labor union on Sunday evening announced its decision to boycott U.S. ships docked at a seaport in the country’s southern region of Sfax following Trump’s recognition, on Wednesday, of Occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Spokesman of the Popular Conference for the Palestinians Abroad, Ziad al-Aloul, said on Facebook that the regional executive office of Tunisia’s Trade Unions decided to boycott all American ships docked at Sfax commercial harbor.
As part of the boycott move, workers at the airport will not empty the shipments onboard boats tied up at Sfax seaport after they had set sail from the U.S.
Prior to the boycott, mass rallies have swept Tunisia with thousands of protesters holding up Palestinian flags and banners. Protesters also burned the U.S. flag and others stepped on images of Israeli flags.
Spokesman of the Popular Conference for the Palestinians Abroad, Ziad al-Aloul, said on Facebook that the regional executive office of Tunisia’s Trade Unions decided to boycott all American ships docked at Sfax commercial harbor.
As part of the boycott move, workers at the airport will not empty the shipments onboard boats tied up at Sfax seaport after they had set sail from the U.S.
Prior to the boycott, mass rallies have swept Tunisia with thousands of protesters holding up Palestinian flags and banners. Protesters also burned the U.S. flag and others stepped on images of Israeli flags.
Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) is ready to perform its duty towards the issue facing Jerusalem, Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Saturday.
“We have to be prepared for any possibilities.
The ATM has always been ready, waiting for instructions from the top leadership,” the Malaysian state news agency Bernama quoted Hussein as stating.
“Let us pray that this dispute would not lead to chaos,” Hussein added.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S.’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital and said the U.S. Embassy would relocate from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The dramatic shift in Washington’s Jerusalem policy triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and Europe, among other countries.
“We have to be prepared for any possibilities.
The ATM has always been ready, waiting for instructions from the top leadership,” the Malaysian state news agency Bernama quoted Hussein as stating.
“Let us pray that this dispute would not lead to chaos,” Hussein added.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S.’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital and said the U.S. Embassy would relocate from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The dramatic shift in Washington’s Jerusalem policy triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and Europe, among other countries.
A series of events were staged during Premier League matches at Turkish stadiums to protest Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Banners reading “Jerusalem…a redline” were lifted by soccer players prior to the kick-off whistle on Friday and Saturday.
Masses of supporters also raised the Palestinian flag and chanted slogans condemning Trump’s move.
A round of rallies and marches have swept Turkish cities over recent days after the U.S. President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of the self-proclaimed Israeli state and pledged to transfer the U.S. embassy to the city—home to Muslims’ third holiest site, al-Aqsa Mosque.
Banners reading “Jerusalem…a redline” were lifted by soccer players prior to the kick-off whistle on Friday and Saturday.
Masses of supporters also raised the Palestinian flag and chanted slogans condemning Trump’s move.
A round of rallies and marches have swept Turkish cities over recent days after the U.S. President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of the self-proclaimed Israeli state and pledged to transfer the U.S. embassy to the city—home to Muslims’ third holiest site, al-Aqsa Mosque.
9 dec 2017
Violent clashes erupted on Saturday between Palestinian youths and the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at the northern entrance to Bethlehem city after school students marched against the US declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Local sources reported that the IOF soldiers fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at the protesters who responded by throwing stones and empty bottles.
They added that a Palestinian student was arrested and many others suffered from tear gas inhalation during the clashes.
Other confrontations broke out between Palestinian youths and the IOF soldiers in Bab al-Zawiya area in al-Khalil on Saturday morning.
The PIC reporter said that five Palestinians choked on tear gas and a sixth was transferred to a local hospital after being injured with a rubber bullet in the head.
Meanwhile in the southern Gaza Strip, school students participated in large numbers in demonstrations organized by the Islamic Bloc, Hamas's student wing, in Khan Younis in protest at the US president Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Head of the Islamic Bloc in Khan Younis, Emad Eslim, in a statement to the PIC condemned Trump's decision and expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people in Jerusalem.
Media sources reported that hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday marched toward the border fence in different areas, east of the Gaza Strip.
Local sources said that the IOF soldiers stationed behind the fence showered the protesters with live bullets and tear gas canisters.
In the same context, spokesman for Gaza's Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qedra, said that a 35-year-old Palestinian woman was moderately injured in the shoulder after being shot by the IOF east of Khuza'a town in the southern Gaza Strip.
Four Palestinians have been killed and 170 others injured in the protests that started on Friday and were followed by several airstrikes on three resistance sites belonging to al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Local sources reported that the IOF soldiers fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at the protesters who responded by throwing stones and empty bottles.
They added that a Palestinian student was arrested and many others suffered from tear gas inhalation during the clashes.
Other confrontations broke out between Palestinian youths and the IOF soldiers in Bab al-Zawiya area in al-Khalil on Saturday morning.
The PIC reporter said that five Palestinians choked on tear gas and a sixth was transferred to a local hospital after being injured with a rubber bullet in the head.
Meanwhile in the southern Gaza Strip, school students participated in large numbers in demonstrations organized by the Islamic Bloc, Hamas's student wing, in Khan Younis in protest at the US president Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Head of the Islamic Bloc in Khan Younis, Emad Eslim, in a statement to the PIC condemned Trump's decision and expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people in Jerusalem.
Media sources reported that hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday marched toward the border fence in different areas, east of the Gaza Strip.
Local sources said that the IOF soldiers stationed behind the fence showered the protesters with live bullets and tear gas canisters.
In the same context, spokesman for Gaza's Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qedra, said that a 35-year-old Palestinian woman was moderately injured in the shoulder after being shot by the IOF east of Khuza'a town in the southern Gaza Strip.
Four Palestinians have been killed and 170 others injured in the protests that started on Friday and were followed by several airstrikes on three resistance sites belonging to al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Egypt's Coptic Church has rejected a meeting requested by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during his visit later this month in protest against Washington's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, MENA state news agency reported on Saturday.
The Church "excused itself from hosting Mike Pence" when he visits Egypt, citing President Donald Trump's decision "at an unsuitable time and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people", MENA said.
The Church "excused itself from hosting Mike Pence" when he visits Egypt, citing President Donald Trump's decision "at an unsuitable time and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people", MENA said.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque in Egypt, on Friday said he turned down a request from US vice president Mike Pence to meet him in Cairo on December 20, and called on the Palestinians to rise up against the Israeli occupation.
The US embassy in Cairo had made a formal request a week ago to arrange for that meeting between Pence and Sheikh Tayeb.
However, Sheikh Tayeb accepted to meet him at the time, but he changed his mind after US president Donald Trump signed a decision recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar said “he cannot sit with those who falsify history, usurp peoples’ rights and assault their holy sites.”
“How can I sit with those who gave what they do not have to those who are not the rightful owners?” he questioned, calling on Trump to immediately backtrack on his “invalid and unlawful” step.
Al-Azhar Imam also held Trump and his administration fully responsible for igniting hatred in the hearts of Muslims and all peace lovers in the world and undermining their belief in all principles of justice and peace and democratic values which the American people claim to respect.
The US embassy in Cairo had made a formal request a week ago to arrange for that meeting between Pence and Sheikh Tayeb.
However, Sheikh Tayeb accepted to meet him at the time, but he changed his mind after US president Donald Trump signed a decision recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar said “he cannot sit with those who falsify history, usurp peoples’ rights and assault their holy sites.”
“How can I sit with those who gave what they do not have to those who are not the rightful owners?” he questioned, calling on Trump to immediately backtrack on his “invalid and unlawful” step.
Al-Azhar Imam also held Trump and his administration fully responsible for igniting hatred in the hearts of Muslims and all peace lovers in the world and undermining their belief in all principles of justice and peace and democratic values which the American people claim to respect.
The Hamas Movement has called on the Palestinian people and their resistance “to continue their blessed intifada (uprising) until all their just demands are met.”
In a press release on Friday, the Movement urged the Palestinians to unite behind the resistance, stressing that “their strength is in their unity.”
“The blessed intifada has started anew and cannot stop unless our people regain their rights fully, so we call upon our Arab and Muslim nations, and the world’s free people to support our people and expose the true image of the occupation state and its American ally,” Hamas stated.
In a press release on Friday, the Movement urged the Palestinians to unite behind the resistance, stressing that “their strength is in their unity.”
“The blessed intifada has started anew and cannot stop unless our people regain their rights fully, so we call upon our Arab and Muslim nations, and the world’s free people to support our people and expose the true image of the occupation state and its American ally,” Hamas stated.
Hebrew newspaper Kol Ha'ir on Saturday reported that preparations are underway to launch a massive construction project in Jabal al-Mukabber area to the east of Occupied Jerusalem.
The paper explained that Ramat settlement has contracted with one of the largest settlement companies to build hundreds of settlement units, two hotels and a shopping center on an area of 28,000 square meters in Arnona neighborhood in Jabal al-Mukabber.
Business manager at Ramat settlement, Ilan Bulu, said that the deal was signed in coordination with the Israel Land Authority.
The Israeli authorities have stepped up the settlement activity and issued tenders for the establishment of thousands of new housing units in different parts of Occupied Jerusalem since the US president Donald Trump took office.
The paper explained that Ramat settlement has contracted with one of the largest settlement companies to build hundreds of settlement units, two hotels and a shopping center on an area of 28,000 square meters in Arnona neighborhood in Jabal al-Mukabber.
Business manager at Ramat settlement, Ilan Bulu, said that the deal was signed in coordination with the Israel Land Authority.
The Israeli authorities have stepped up the settlement activity and issued tenders for the establishment of thousands of new housing units in different parts of Occupied Jerusalem since the US president Donald Trump took office.
European countries at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Friday criticized the US president Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and affirmed that East Jerusalem is an occupied Palestinian territory.
This was voiced in a joint statement delivered by the ambassadors of the European Union (EU) countries at the UNSC meeting in New York in response to the US announcement on Wednesday of its decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem.
The ambassadors said that the US decision contradicts the UNSC resolutions and negatively affects peace prospects in the region. They noted that the status of Jerusalem should be determined through direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
"Based on international law and the relevant UNSC resolutions, especially 476, 478 and 2334, we consider East Jerusalem part of the occupied Palestinian territories," they pointed out.
The European ambassadors added, "The EU will not recognize any changes on the pre-1967 borders, including those related to Jerusalem, except those agreed upon by the two parties."
They concluded their statement by calling on all parties and those concerned to work to maintain peace in the region.
Many Arab, Muslim and Western countries on Friday witnessed mass demonstrations while two Palestinians were killed and hundreds were injured in the confrontations that flared up in the occupied Palestinian territories in protest at the latest US move.
This was voiced in a joint statement delivered by the ambassadors of the European Union (EU) countries at the UNSC meeting in New York in response to the US announcement on Wednesday of its decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem.
The ambassadors said that the US decision contradicts the UNSC resolutions and negatively affects peace prospects in the region. They noted that the status of Jerusalem should be determined through direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
"Based on international law and the relevant UNSC resolutions, especially 476, 478 and 2334, we consider East Jerusalem part of the occupied Palestinian territories," they pointed out.
The European ambassadors added, "The EU will not recognize any changes on the pre-1967 borders, including those related to Jerusalem, except those agreed upon by the two parties."
They concluded their statement by calling on all parties and those concerned to work to maintain peace in the region.
Many Arab, Muslim and Western countries on Friday witnessed mass demonstrations while two Palestinians were killed and hundreds were injured in the confrontations that flared up in the occupied Palestinian territories in protest at the latest US move.
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri on Friday talked over the phone with head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya and expressed his country’s support for the Palestinian people against the US recognition of Jerusalem as a capital for the Israeli occupation state.
According to a press release issued by Haneyya’s office, Berri said the Lebanese parliament discussed, during an extraordinary session on Jerusalem held earlier on the same day, the repercussions of the serious step that was taken by the US administration.
The speaker also said that the parliament conveyed, in a recommendation sent to the Lebanese government, the US administration and the UN, the Lebanese people’s rejection and condemnation of the US step, and its support for the Palestinian people’s armed resistance as a mean to get rid of the occupation and attain their right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
For his part, Haneyya applauded the Lebanese official and popular solidarity with Palestine and expressed his appreciation to the parliament for standing by the Palestinian people at such critical stage.
He said that the worldwide popular angry reactions to the US decision reflected the importance of Jerusalem to the entire Muslim nation.
Last Wednesday, US president Donald Trump signed a decision that recognized Occupied Jerusalem as a capital for Israel, defying overwhelming global opposition of his step.
According to a press release issued by Haneyya’s office, Berri said the Lebanese parliament discussed, during an extraordinary session on Jerusalem held earlier on the same day, the repercussions of the serious step that was taken by the US administration.
The speaker also said that the parliament conveyed, in a recommendation sent to the Lebanese government, the US administration and the UN, the Lebanese people’s rejection and condemnation of the US step, and its support for the Palestinian people’s armed resistance as a mean to get rid of the occupation and attain their right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
For his part, Haneyya applauded the Lebanese official and popular solidarity with Palestine and expressed his appreciation to the parliament for standing by the Palestinian people at such critical stage.
He said that the worldwide popular angry reactions to the US decision reflected the importance of Jerusalem to the entire Muslim nation.
Last Wednesday, US president Donald Trump signed a decision that recognized Occupied Jerusalem as a capital for Israel, defying overwhelming global opposition of his step.
The United Nations Security Council, on Friday, convened an emergency session, at the invitation of eight countries, to discuss US President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally recognize occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
During the meeting, the council expressed “grave concern over the dangers of escalating violence,” just following the decision.
During the session, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, in a video from Jerusalem, said that Palestinians are observing “three days of anger” from December 6 to 9. He warned of “religious extremism” and called on world leaders to “show wisdom” to restore calm to the region.
Jerusalem is the most complex issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he said, adding that Jerusalem is a symbol of Islamic, Christian and Jewish religions. He stressed that negotiations between the two parties is the means to determine the fate of the Holy City.
According to WAFA, the emergency meeting of the Security Council was held under the request of Egypt, Senegal, Uruguay, Bolivia, Sweden, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog said that Resolution 2334, adopted on December 23, 2016, affirms that the Security Council “will not recognize any changes in the borders of June 4, 1967, including Jerusalem, unless the two sides agree through negotiations.”
Egypt’s UN ambassador, Omar Abu al-Atta, said the US decision has alarmed the world and spiked fear of the consequences of unilateral decisions that violate international law and threaten the system of political relations.
He added that what the world is witnessing, today, is a test of the system and the rule of law, stressing that success will not be achieved, unless collective action within the framework of international law is taken.
Representatives of the member states of the UN Security Council – England, France, Italy, Bolivia, Uruguay, Senegal, China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Russia – rejected the unilateral decision of the US administration, as it is seen to be a violation of international resolutions.
They called for abiding by these laws and the status quo in Jerusalem.
They said that the decision would fuel violence in the region, calling on all parties to exercise restraint and not to take any steps that would change the situation in the city. They praised the role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in protecting holy sites in Jerusalem.
They affirmed that their countries oppose the US step and will keep their embassies in Tel Aviv, and that there is no need for such decisions that would affect security in the region and in the world. They stressed that everyone should work to the effects of this decision and return the parties to the table of negotiations.
During the meeting, the council expressed “grave concern over the dangers of escalating violence,” just following the decision.
During the session, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, in a video from Jerusalem, said that Palestinians are observing “three days of anger” from December 6 to 9. He warned of “religious extremism” and called on world leaders to “show wisdom” to restore calm to the region.
Jerusalem is the most complex issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he said, adding that Jerusalem is a symbol of Islamic, Christian and Jewish religions. He stressed that negotiations between the two parties is the means to determine the fate of the Holy City.
According to WAFA, the emergency meeting of the Security Council was held under the request of Egypt, Senegal, Uruguay, Bolivia, Sweden, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog said that Resolution 2334, adopted on December 23, 2016, affirms that the Security Council “will not recognize any changes in the borders of June 4, 1967, including Jerusalem, unless the two sides agree through negotiations.”
Egypt’s UN ambassador, Omar Abu al-Atta, said the US decision has alarmed the world and spiked fear of the consequences of unilateral decisions that violate international law and threaten the system of political relations.
He added that what the world is witnessing, today, is a test of the system and the rule of law, stressing that success will not be achieved, unless collective action within the framework of international law is taken.
Representatives of the member states of the UN Security Council – England, France, Italy, Bolivia, Uruguay, Senegal, China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Russia – rejected the unilateral decision of the US administration, as it is seen to be a violation of international resolutions.
They called for abiding by these laws and the status quo in Jerusalem.
They said that the decision would fuel violence in the region, calling on all parties to exercise restraint and not to take any steps that would change the situation in the city. They praised the role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in protecting holy sites in Jerusalem.
They affirmed that their countries oppose the US step and will keep their embassies in Tel Aviv, and that there is no need for such decisions that would affect security in the region and in the world. They stressed that everyone should work to the effects of this decision and return the parties to the table of negotiations.