The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday said it was deploying battalions to the West Bank as reinforcements, as clashes and scuffles broke out across the West Bank and East Jerusalem in anger over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Palestinian were fuming over Trump’s Wednesday speech, in which he defied worldwide warnings and insisted that, after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue. He described his decision as an acknowledgement of reality, as Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s government.
Trump also revealed he had instructed the US State Department to prepare for moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Palestinians marched in several West Bank cities and threw rocks and firebombs at troops in some places. Scuffles were also reported at the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem.
In Gaza, at least two Palestinians were reported injured by Israeli fire.
Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising. The Palestinian Authority also canceled classes for its West Bank school system for Thursday, in an apparent attempt to get more young Palestinians to clash with Israeli troops.
In light of a “situational assessment by the IDF General Staff,” that army said it “decided that a number of battalions will reinforce the area of [the West Bank], as well as combat intelligence and territorial defense units.”
The military would not specify the number of additional battalions being sent in the West Bank as reinforcements.
As of Thursday morning, the army had not called up reserve units, which would have indicated an expectation of greater violence.
On Wednesday, the Israel Police also announced that it would be deploying officers widely throughout the capital, including sites where violence is regularly expected.
“The Israel Police is prepared for an immediate operational response to a wide range of scenarios if necessary,” a police spokesperson said.
Outside the Old City of Jerusalem, small demonstrations — nonviolent, as of Thursday afternoon — were taking place between local residents and Border Police troops.
Palestinian leaders in the Fatah-controlled West Bank responded to Trump’s speech with outrage, declaring that the United States could no longer serve as Middle East peace broker.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the change in longstanding US policy “deplorable.”
Schools and shops were closed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as Palestinians protested Trump’s recognition and political groups called for protest marches in West Bank town centers at noon.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“This Zionist policy supported by the US cannot be confronted unless we ignite a new intifada,” the head of the armed Palestinian terrorist group that runs the Gaza Strip said in a speech in Gaza City.
Several thousand Palestinians marched in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, burning US and Israeli flags while chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
In the West Bank, The Palestine Liberation Organization announced a strike in protest across the territory, shutting schools and businesses. Marches were planned in major Palestinian cities at noon.
Rioters threw Molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli cars on a road near the West Bank village of Rantis, outside Ramallah. There were no reports of injuries.
Israel said it would beef up security with “a number of battalions,” preparing for the possibility of violence following Trump’s announcement.
Haniyeh called for quickly finishing a reconciliation process with Palestinian Authority President Abbas’s Fatah party in order to create a united front against Israeli and American policy, rejecting the idea of an Israeli state or Israeli capital.
“Jerusalem is united; there’s no eastern or western [Jerusalem]. It is an Arab Palestinian Islamic capital of the State of Palestine,” Haniyeh said, decrying “the blatant and blind bias of the American administration and this satanic alliance.”
“I say today that Palestine is also one and united from the sea to the river. It cannot be divided into two states or two entities. Palestine and Jerusalem are ours. We do not recognize the legitimacy of the occupation and the existence of Israel on the land of Palestine in order for it to have a capital,” he said.
Hamas had issued warnings in recent days as news of Trump’s intentions spread, and it reacted to his Wednesday speech with another.
“This decision will open the gates of hell on US interests in the region,” Hamas official Ismail Radwan told journalists after Trump’s announcement.
He called on Arab and Islamic states to “cut off economic and political ties with the US embassy and expel American ambassadors to cripple” this decision.
Fuming Palestinian leaders in the Fatah-controlled West Bank responded to Trump’s speech with outrage, declaring that the United States could no longer serve as Middle East peace broker.
President Mahmoud Abbas called the change in longstanding US policy “deplorable.”
“These deplorable and unacceptable measures deliberately undermine all peace efforts,” Abbas said in a speech after Trump’s announcement.
Israeli officials downplayed threats of a diplomatic backlash in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the country’s capital, saying other countries were eager to follow suit and international ties would not be affected.
Speaking at a diplomatic conference a day after Trump made his historic announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was in contact with other countries that want to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move their embassies there.
“We are holding contacts with other countries who will also recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I have no doubt than when the US Embassy will move there, and even before that, many embassies will relocate to Jerusalem. It’s about time,” he said.
Trump on Wednesday night made a speech declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, shattering decades of unwavering US neutrality on the city.
“Good morning and welcome to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish State of Israel,” Netanyahu told the attendees of the Foreign Ministry’s International Conference in Digital Diplomacy. “If you weren’t aware of that until yesterday, you are now. But we’ve been aware of it for 3,000 years.”
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