Thousands Of Palestinians Continue To Protest Trump's Jerusalem Move
25 December 2017
Daily Sabah
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza and the occupied West
Bank for the fourth Friday in a row in protests against U.S. President Donald
Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Palestinian health officials said at least 20 protesters were wounded by live
fire, mostly along the Gaza border. An Israeli military spokeswoman said
soldiers had shot at "main instigators" who posed a direct threat to the
troops and who were trying to damage the border security fence.
The spokeswoman said about 4,000 Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza,
some throwing rocks and fire bombs and setting tyres alight, confronted
Israeli soldiers who responded mainly by firing tear gas.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and aircraft struck the Gaza Strip.
The military said it targeted posts that belonged to Hamas, the resistance
movement that controls the Palestinian enclave.
Trump outraged Palestinians and sparked anger in the Middle East and among
world powers with his Jerusalem declaration on Dec. 6, which reversed decades
of U.S. policy on one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital. Palestinians
want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city's
eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed
in a move never recognized internationally.
Most countries regard the status of Jerusalem as a matter to be settled in an
eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, although that process is now
stalled.
A U.N. General Assembly resolution passed on Dec. 21 rejected Trump's
Jerusalem declaration. A total of 128 countries voted for the U.N. resolution.
Nine opposed it and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote.
Medical records show paraplegic Palestinian shot in the head during protest
Palestinian medical records in the Gaza Strip show that a paraplegic man who
died during a violent protest along the Gaza border earlier this month was
killed by a bullet that struck him in the head.
The records, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, shed new light on a
case that has become a rallying cry among Palestinians since President Donald
Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Ibrahim Abu Thraya, who lost his legs in a separate incident several years
ago, was killed on Dec. 15 in clashes that broke out along the Israeli border.
Witnesses say Abu Thraya was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper — a claim
the military has denied.
The medical records, which include a hospital report and a death certificate,
say that Abu Thraya, 29, was struck by a bullet above his left eye and died
from bleeding in the brain. The same findings were detailed in a report by the
Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service reviewed by the AP.
The reports did not specify who fired the bullet or what caliber it was.
While the Dec. 15 clash turned violent, with protesters hurling stones,
firebombs and burning tires at the border fence, witnesses have said there was
no gunfire from the Palestinian side.
The protest came amid a wave of violence that has erupted in the Palestinian
territories since Trump's Jerusalem declaration. Twelve people have died so
far, almost all in Gaza.
A picture of the 29-year-old Abu Thraya on a wheelchair, raising the
Palestinian flag and flashing a "victory" sign, has become ubiquitous in Gaza.
He has emerged as a symbol of resistance to Trump's Jerusalem move, which the
Palestinians largely see as siding with Israel.
An Israeli military investigation after the shooting said Abu Thraya had
participated in an "extremely violent" protest. The investigation, which the
military closed after one day, said that live fire was employed against the
main instigators but was not directed at Abu Thraya and that it was impossible
to determine the cause of his death.
The investigation cleared troops of any wrongdoing and said it found no "moral
or professional failures" in the soldiers' conduct. The military says it has
repeatedly requested information about Abu Thraya's injuries through official
channels and would examine any information provided.
The AP showed the report from Gaza's Shifa hospital and the death certificate
to the army.
In a statement, the military said the report "was not known" to it. "If it
will be received through the relevant professional channels, it will be
evaluated appropriately," it said.
Alyona Synenko, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross,
said the organization has an "ongoing dialogue" with authorities in Israel and
Gaza. She said all talks are confidential and that she could not elaborate.
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