Palestinians demonstrate against prospected move of US embassy to Jerusalem

RAMALLAH, Jan 19 (KUNA) -- Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank on Thursday protesting a pledge by the US designated president Donald Trump to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the Holy City of Jerusalem.
The protests were held in Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus in response to a call by the Palestinian mainstream organization, Fatah, with participation of various Palestinian factions.
"Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem is tantamount to shooting down the peace changes in the region," one placard raised by the demonstrators said.
Jamal Mohaisen, member of Fatah Central Committee, said such a step would aggravate tensions in the region and undermine the peace efforts. "All means are available for the Palestinian people to face this move," he said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). "We have various scopes for action at the political, legal and field levels," he added.
He warned that Palestinians, in case Washington took such a step, would eye the US not as a power aligned with Israel "but a participant in the aggression on the Palestinian people." For his part, Bassam Al-Salhi, Secretary General of the People's Party, called in a statement to KUNA on Arab and Muslim nations to use all possible means to "torpedo such partnership" between Washington and Tel Aviv.
"Freedom advocates in the world must reject this deception of moving the American embassy to Jerusalem which was occupied by Israel in 1948 because the world views it as an international zone," Al-Salhi said.
He called for a full-scale campaign against the Israeli occupation in all Palestinian territories.
Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, Secretary General of the National Initiative, called for decisive Arab and international actions because "this is a humanitarian cause rather than a Palestinian question." He also called for prosecuting Washington at international tribunals in case Trump followed through on his pledges to shift the mission to the sacred city.
The Palestinians seek to proclaim Jerusalem as capital of their aspired state. Israel annexed the city following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. (end) nq.rk