Hamas: Trump's decision on Jerusalem is the announcement of the war

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has called on all Palestinian factions to jointly oppose Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said about the decision of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel that it was "the publication of a war directed against the Palestinians" and called for the creation of a new "Intifada".

Haniya said in a speech in Gaza that the US president acknowledged the "Israeli-Palestinian" peace process.

"This decision killed the peace process, killed Oslo, killed an agreement to build a settlement," he said.

"The decision of the United States is aggression, the publication of a war directed towards us, directed against the sacred places of Christianity and Islam that are in the heart of Palestine," he added.

"We will work on raising the Intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy," says Haniya.

Call for the unification of Palestinian factions

Haniya emphasized the fact that the Palestinians see Jerusalem as a unified and capital city of their future state.

"Jerusalem, all Jerusalem is ours," he added.

"Today we are at a critical juncture in the history of the Palestinian question, and the heart of this problem is Jerusalem, in a critical place for Arab and Muslim nations following a provocative decision, an unfair decision adopted by the US administration," Haniya says.

He called on all Palestinian factions to unite urgently "in order to create a strategy of confrontation with occupation and American politics in occupied territories."

"We invite, ask and emphasize the necessity of reorganizing the Palestinian situation in order to counter this dangerous plan and to emphasize that our priority is to deal with this provocative and unjust decision," Haniya added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized US President Donald Tamp's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying it could throw the entire region into a "fire circle".

The decision that casts the region into the 'fire circle'

"Such steps will throw the region into a firebox. What did you want to achieve with this decision, Mr. Trumpe? What is that position?" Erdogan said at Esenboga airport before he leaves for Greece.

US President Donald Trump acknowledged yesterday Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"I decided that the time has come for us to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." The previous presidents made various promises that they later failed to fulfill, and today I am fulfilling my promise, "Trump said at a press conference in Washington.

He said that this is a step that will help the peace process and that every country has the right to decide on its capital city, and so does Israel.

"I ordered the State Department to start preparing to transfer our Embassy to Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," Trump said.

• 7 Dec, 2017
• 921 views