Clashes across Gaza, West Bank over Trump's Jerusalem call

  • 09/12/2017

Hundreds of Palestinian protesters have clashed with Israeli security forces in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah.

The clashes began after Friday midday prayers in a show of rage over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Protesters threw stones at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

In Gaza, thousands took to the streets and marched on Friday to denounce Mr Trump's proclamation.

In Bethlehem, masked youth burned tyres and threw stones at Israeli troops. Some tear gas was used in response.

There were also protests in Ramallah. Several people have been detained.

Thousands of Palestinian worshippers also are rallying outside Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, a flashpoint site in the holy city.

Israel has always regarded Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem - occupied by Israel in the 1967 war - as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Mr Trump reversed decades of US policy on Wednesday by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, angering the Arab world and upsetting Western allies.

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.

Outrage across Asia

Thousands of protesters in Muslim-majority countries in Asia have rallied to condemn the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as authorities tightened security outside US embassies.

Leaders in Indonesia and Malaysia have joined a global chorus of condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision.

Protesters, some shouting anti-US slogans and burning an effigy of Mr Trump, gathered in front of the American embassy in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

In Indonesia, a few hundred demonstrators rallied outside the US embassy in Jakarta, capital of the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.

"We're standing here in the name of justice and humanity. We've gathered to defend our Palestinian brothers and sisters," one rally leader said in Jakarta.

The US embassy in Jakarta advised its citizens to avoid demonstrations and said its consulate in Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya had suspended public services on Friday.

In Bangladesh, about 3000 people gathered in front of the main mosque in the capital, Dhaka, to protest.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, small groups of people protested in Srinagar, the capital of the Muslim-majority region.

"We condemn the idiot Trump's decision," said a placard on an effigy of the US President.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday called on Muslims worldwide to strongly oppose any recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Reuters