Clashes
between hundreds of Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops erupted
across the West Bank on Thursday while demonstrators in Gaza burned
posters of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, as well as Israeli and U.S. flags.
The
leader of the Hamas militant group, which runs Gaza, called for a new
armed uprising in a widespread show of anger over Trump’s move to
recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In
the West Bank, crowds of protesters set tires on fire and hurled stones
at anti-riot troops. In the biblical town of Bethlehem, troops fired
water cannons and tear gas to disperse a crowd, in clashes that could
cloud the upcoming Christmas celebrations in the town of Jesus’ birth.
In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, protesters set
tires on fire, sending a thick plume of black smoke over the city.
Trump’s
dramatic break on Wednesday with decades of U.S. policy on Jerusalem
counters long-standing international assurances to the Palestinians that
the fate of the city will be determined in negotiations. The
Palestinians seek Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in
1967, as a future capital.
Anger at the U.S. has rippled across the Arab world.
U.S.
Embassies across much of the Middle East and parts of Africa warned
American citizens of possible protests following Trump’s move. (AP)
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