Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is calling on Palestinians to launch a new intifada (uprising) against Israel this Friday.
According to the Associated Press, Haniyeh said that Trump’s decision to claim Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was an “aggression” and “war” against Palestinians and that they should be “ready for any orders.”
“We want the uprising to last and continue to let Trump and the occupation regret this decision,” he said.
Hamas, the terrorist group that has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, was known for killing Israeli citizens via suicide bombers in the early 2000’s, but due to precautions and responses taken by Israel, security has tightened and many of the Hamas leaders have been captured or killed.
Regardless, according to AP, Israel has said they would deploy several battalions to the West Bank ahead of Friday, and keep their troops on alert for “possible developments.”
AP reported that after Trump’s decision, Palestinians shuttered schools and shops in order to conduct three “days of rage,” or protests that were conducted outside of the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, and West Bank cities:
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.
While Hamas believes Jerusalem should be under Islamic control, others quote both historical and biblical context as to why it should be under Jewish control.
Ben Shapiro talked with Fox and Friends on Wednesday and outlined why Jerusalem is better off in the hands of Israel, and not Palestine.
“What Trump is doing is not only a recognition of reality, it’s also an act of political usefulness,” said Shapiro. “Because all of the negotiations that have been happening for the last 20 years — for most of my lifetime — all those negotiations have been preconditioned on stupidity. That Israel was going to give up its eternal capital is insane.”
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