Palestinians celebrate ‘victory,’ vow more protests
Palestinians on Monday vowed to continue their protests in Jerusalem after the Israel Police said the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March would not pass through the Muslim Quarter or Damascus Gate in the Old City.
“The residents of Jerusalem have scored another victory,” said Ahmad Ruwaidi, a senior Palestinian official from east Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is not a united city; it is an occupied Arab city. We salute the residents of Jerusalem on this new victory.”
Several Palestinians who gathered at Damascus Gate on Monday afternoon expressed satisfaction over the decision to change the route of the march.
“We will prevent the Jewish settlers from entering the Old City of Jerusalem in the future,” said a woman who identified herself as Um Abed from the village of Silwan. “There’s no reason why Jewish settlers should be allowed to come to our city to provoke and attack us. They need to understand that Jerusalem is an Arab and Muslim city.”
Another east Jerusalem resident, Samir Abu Asab, said the clashes with the Israel Police and “settlers” would continue “until Israel withdraws from east Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine.”
Abu Asab, a resident of the Muslim Quarter, said the Israeli government “was forced to prevent the Jewish settlers from storming the Old City and al-Aqsa Mosque thanks to the fierce resistance of the
Jerusalem shabab [youths].”
Mahmoud al-Habbash, religious affairs adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, called on Muslim leaders, governments and people to support the residents of east Jerusalem, “who are defending their religion and all Muslims.”
The Israeli government was fully responsible for the “repercussions of its aggression on the people of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said, adding that the violence could ignite the whole region.
The Palestinian National Council, the PLO’s legislative body, accused Israel of “pursuing
its scheme to alter the political and historical identity of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.”
In opening remarks at the weekly meeting of the Palestinian cabinet in Ramallah, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said: “What is happening in Jerusalem reflects the spirit of criminality and hatred practiced by Israel.”
He accused Israel of working to “obliterate the identity of Jerusalem and falsify its Arab, Islamic and Christian history.”
Shtayyeh and other PA officials repeated their call to the international community to provide protection for the Palestinians, especially those facing “ethnic cleansing” in Jerusalem.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey “stands with the Palestinians in their defense of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites against Israeli assaults.”
He made his remarks during a phone call with Abbas on Monday, according to the PA’s official news agency, Wafa.
The Palestinians were holding “intensive contacts on the international level to halt the Israeli aggression,” Abbas told Erdogan, Wafa reported.