Strongly protesting against Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem burned posters of President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening.
Hundreds of Palestinians who gathered in Gaza and Ramallah and burned posters featuring Donald Trump’s face and the text “Jerusalem, Palestine’s heart, is not up to negotiations.”
According to Reuters Palestinians also switched off Christmas lights at Jesus’ traditional birthplace in Bethlehem on Wednesday night in protest at U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A Christmas tree adorned with lights outside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born, and another in Ramallah, next to the burial site of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, were plunged into darkness.
Daily Caller has quoted Rami Hamdallah, the prime minister of the Palestinian state said as saying, Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem will “destroy the peace process and the two-state solution.” Several other Palestinian officials and world leaders echoed Hamdallah, saying that the move will preempt any peaceful solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
Even Pope Francis urged world leaders to respect “the status quo of the city, in conformity with the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations.”
Expressing opposition to the move, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson, and several Islamic leaders also warned that that it could spark violent backlash among Palestinians.