Middle East leaders react ahead of Trump's Jerusalem announcement
Palestinian PM says expected U.S. shift 'will fuel conflict and increase violence'
Criticism is pouring in from Tehran to Ankara to war-ravaged Syria ahead of President Donald Trump's anticipated announcement Wednesday that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
U.S. officials have said Trump will instruct the State Department to begin the multi-year process of moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They expect a broad statement from Trump about Jerusalem's status as the "capital of Israel."
Jerusalem includes the holiest ground in Judaism. But it's also home to Islam's third holiest shrine and major Christian sites, and forms the combustible centre of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Any perceived harm to Muslim claims to the city has triggered volatile protests in the past, both in the Holy Land and across the Muslim world.
In Gaza, hundreds of Palestinian protesters burned U.S. and Israeli flags. They also waved Palestinian flags and banners proclaiming Jerusalem as "our eternal capital" and calling it a "red line."
'A dangerous crossroad'
Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza and which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, has called for more protests over the coming days.
Hamas official Salah Bardawil said the Palestinians were "on a dangerous crossroad today; we either remain or perish." He added that "Trump or anyone thinking that our people, nation and resistance are unable to push back his plans is wrong."
Hamas's politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, told Al Jazeera that "our Palestinian people will have a suitable response. As a people, we cannot accept this American pattern."
In Beirut, a few hundred Palestinian refugees staged a protest in the narrow streets of the Bourj al-Barajneh camp, some of them chanting, "Trump, you are mad."
"We came here to tell Trump that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine," said Nada Adlouni, a Palestinian refugee.
Front-page rebukes
Two leading Lebanese newspapers issued front-page rebukes to Trump over his expected announcement.
An-Nahar compared the U.S. president to the late British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour, who 100 years ago famously promised Palestine (as it was known at the time) as a national home to the Jewish people, in what is known as the Balfour declaration.
The paper's Wednesday headline read: "Trump, Balfour of the century, gifts Jerusalem to Israel."
The Arab League said it will hold an emergency meeting for foreign ministers Saturday, and Turkey announced it would host a meeting of Islamic nations next week to give Muslim leaders an opportunity to act together and co-ordinate following Trump's move.
Abbas to convene meeting
Palestinian officials, meanwhile, declared the Mideast peace process "finished." The Palestinian prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, met with European diplomats on Wednesday and told them that the expected U.S. shift on Jerusalem "will fuel conflict and increase violence in the entire region."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to convene advisers after Trump's expected announcement Wednesday to decide on a way forward.
Syria's Foreign Ministry called it a "dangerous step" that will fuel global conflict. It described the move as the "culmination of the crime of the seizing of Palestine and the displacement of the Palestinian people," and urged Arab states to stop normalizing relations with Israel.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the "whole world is against" Trump's move and argued that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be a "grave mistake."
Cavusoglu's remarks came just before a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.
He said such a move would "not bring any stability, peace but rather chaos and instability."