Hamas leader Haniyeh calls for Intifada against Israel over Jerusalem status

When Sadat took over the presidency in Egypt in 1970, he offered a peace settlement with Israel along the lines of UN Resolution 242, which, more or less, cemented Israel’s military victory.

There were further demonstrations in Gaza on Saturday and Israeli airstrikes killed two Palestinian gunmen.

Nonetheless, it still has cells in the West Bank and possesses a large arsenal of rockets in its Gaza stronghold.

The emergency meeting of foreign ministers from 22 Arab states was held in Egypt’s capital on Saturday night.

Some 300 people were wounded in riots that broke out across the West Bank, including Hebron and the Ramallah area, on Thursday and Friday following President Donald Trump’s declaration Wednesday that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and will begin preparations to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The lawmakers said that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel outside the framework of a final status agreement between the parties does more to sabotage than to advance peace.

The Palestinians, however, envisage the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state.

An Israeli security guard was seriously wounded Sunday in a Jerusalem stabbing that police said appeared to be a terrorist attack. In the past, Israel has imposed age restrictions at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound where violence often erupts during tense times.

Local media reports said about 250 Palestinians were injured in clashes across the territories, most by tear gas and rubber bullets fired by Israeli soldiers.

The site is known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Israeli officials said Friday prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque, along with the expected unrest in the West Bank, would set the tone for the coming days. In Gaza, Hamas called for a third uprising.

“There is no way Trump could have undertaken this decision without studying and making sure that the Arabs will not really mind”. Jerusalem has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the quest and it was widely believed that a solution would be reached in the peace process negotiations. The notion that their opposition stems exclusively from a desire to foster peace would be more credible if they were prepared to acknowledge that the status quo actually encourages Palestinian violence rather than advancing hopes for a resolution to the conflict. It accused the United States of giving Israel “cover for these crimes”.

Despite the verbal recognition, Trump signed a waiver keeping the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv for at least the next six months, rather than moving to Jerusalem.

“I told Secretary Tillerson that some of their friendly countries should maintain embassies there so that some channels of communication are kept open”, she said. “I’m not saying that they aren’t, but I’m not aware of them”.

“Trump has to understand that Jerusalem is not his to give and the decision for whatever status of Jerusalem should not come from America”, said Ulya Aqamah bin Husamudin, a leader of the political party BERSATU.

The State Department updated its “worldwide caution” advice late Wednesday and sent a internal cable deferring non-essential travel to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank through December 20, officials told NBC News.

Trump’s announcement also put in motion a move of the USA embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv – a process that aides have said could take several years.

Saudi Arabia condemned Trump’s decision in a rare public rebuke by the US ally.

The embassy won’t move for at least three years, according to USA officials.

USA embassies around the world were on alert for protests after the announcement, which sparked uproar among world leaders and upended decades of American policy.

Haley said several top American lawmakers have described Trump’s decision as “provocative” and “counterproductive”.

“This is a risky precedent”, the Egyptian ambassador said. But its symbolic value among nationalist circles in Israel, and also among many ordinary Israelis, should not be underestimated.