THOUSANDS of Palestinians took to the streets across the West Bank and Gaza yesterday in protest at the United States’ impending announcement of the relocation of its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and its recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Protests took place in Ramallah, Jenin, Tubas, Hebron, Nablus, Gaza, Rafah and Khan Younis and thousands chanted slogans that condemned US President Trump for intending to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in a speech scheduled for yesterday evening.
The protesters, who included students, representatives of political factions, civil society figures, scouts and Palestinian security personnel, waved Palestinian flags and banners that called for recognising Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.
Trump, with his intransigent and provocative support for Israel, has united all Palestinian factions and the whole Palestinian people who will rise up to make Jerusalem their capital, a rising that will have the support of the Arab masses and the working class of the world, including the USA.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Netanyahu against the rights of the Palestinian people will backfire on Trump and will bring millions onto the streets, especially the oppressed masses of the United States who have just seen Trump slash business taxes to hand Wall Street billions of dollars, at the same time as the numbers of US homeless reached record levels.
Trump is telling the Palestinian people that the only state that the US ruling class is prepared to allow them is a ‘Greater Israel’, where they will enjoy ‘serfdom’ for the benefit of the Israeli ruling class. Trump is however not acting in the interests of the Jewish people, only Israel’s Zionist ruling class.
In response to Trump’s vetoing of the two-state solution, Israel will be required to take action against Hezbollah in the Lebanon and to lead the attack on Iran, which will bring new disasters onto the Jewish people of Israel, despite the fact that such a military venture will have the support of the Gulf brigand regimes.
In making his announcement, Trump is declaring war not just on the Palestinian people but also on the Arab peoples and especially Iran. However, it is the Israeli people who will occupy the front line of the fighting and will suffer massive casualties in the process. Israel is to spearhead the attack on Iran and on Hezbollah in the Lebanon. Only the Saudi and Gulf brigands will rally behind them.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Foreign Minister Riyad Malki warned on Wednesday that any change in the status of Jerusalem will heighten tension and violence in the region. The premier said these steps ‘will inflame the conflict and increase violence in the region since Jerusalem is not only a Palestinian concern but it concerns all Arab and Islamic peoples.’
Hamdallah informed the diplomats about the telephone call between President Mahmoud Abbas and Trump on Tuesday, in which Abbas rejected the US decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem because it would kill the peace process and the two-state solution.
He called on EU member states to recognise Palestine in order to salvage the peace process and to push for the implementation of United Nations resolutions pertaining to Palestine and particularly Jerusalem.
The UK working class and its trade unions must demand that the UK government condemn the criminal recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The government must immediately respond by recognising the state of Palestine and recognising East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
The current Tory regime, which celebrated 100 years of the Balfour Declaration will no doubt refuse these just demands. The trade unions must therefore tell the government that in the face of the US action, that will bring war to the Middle East and no doubt cause the death of millions, they will call a general strike to bring it down and bring in a workers government that will recognise the state of Palestine, recognise Jerusalem as its capital, and support the right of all Palestinian refugees to return.
