“There is not a Palestinian or an Arab who will accept that Jerusalem is in Israel“Firas Ladadwa, a young Palestinian man with his eyes riveted on television broadcasting in Ramallah, throws in a cafe the presentation of the American peace plan for the Middle East.
In the center of this city, seat of the Palestinian Authority, as in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians have conspired Trump and his plan. Clashes with Israeli forces left at least 13 people injured in the occupied West Bank.
Qualified for “best friend that Israel has ever had“By Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday invited the Palestinians to a”better life“, reduce unemployment among young people and create a demilitarized Palestinian state, in its plan announced from Washington and without a Palestinian leader by its side.
But one particularly sensitive point quickly raised eyebrows for Firas Ladadwa: the status of Jerusalem, “al-Quds” in Arabic.
President Trump, who had already altered the US position in December 2017 by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli state, said on Tuesday that the city would “remain the indivisible capital of Israel“.
At the same time, he called for the creation of a Palestinian state with a capital to “Eastern Jerusalem“, which can be understood as East Jerusalem. But it can also be understood as East Jerusalem, or localities, like Abu Dis, technically located in Jerusalem, but on the eastern side of the security barrier separating Israel from Palestinian territories.
In short, out of what many Palestinians really regard as Jerusalem.
“Anyone who accepts this plan is a traitor“, says Mr. Ladadwa, 23 years old.
“This plan will not pass, like those before, it cannot succeed until it is in tune with the aspirations of the Palestinian people“, judge for his part Mohammed al-Najjar, 69 years old.
“What Trump has announced has not been accepted by any Palestinian, these are empty words that no Arab or Palestinian side can accept, especially with regard to Jerusalem“, adds this man who has a bit startled at the announcement that”al-Quds“would be entirely Israeli according to the American plan.
And Mohammed was in agreement with his president Mahmoud Abbas who affirmed that the American plan does not “will not pass“.
“It is impossible for any child, Arab or Palestinian, to accept not having Jerusalem“as the capital of a Palestinian state,” said Abbas.
The billions?
The American president has promised billions in investments in the future Palestinian state, which would notably be cut off from the strategic Jordan Valley.
In central Ramallah, around 200 people gathered on Tuesday evening to burn a giant counterfeit green note. Others gathered outside the city, burning photos of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu and others throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who responded with tear gas.
These clashes left a dozen injured.
Protests have also resumed in other areas of the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, which also rejected Trump’s plan.
“Today we say that we reject this plan. We will not accept substitute for Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine“Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, told AFP.
Officials in Ramallah and Gaza said the Hamas chief spoke on the phone with Mahmoud Abbas in the evening about a concerted reaction to the American project.
Rarely, Hamas, yet hostile to the Palestinian Authority, participated in a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah. The Palestinians have called for a united response to the American project.
Other demonstrations are planned for Wednesday against the American plan which could rekindle an Israeli-Palestinian conflict which remained in the shadow of “arab spring“, the conflict in Syria and the crisis with Iran in recent years.
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