Thousands of Palestinian Arabs on Saturday took part in mass demonstrations in Beit Lahiya and Al-Marazi in Gaza in support of “the occupied city of Al-Quds” and in protest against the United States’ decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader who spoke at the demonstration, said that the Palestinian people, who have known revolutions and intifadas, are ready to enter another confrontation for Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa, stressing that there was a religious, national and moral obligation to protect them.
"The renunciation of Al-Quds is like the renunciation of Mecca and Medina and the defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is like the defense of the two mosques in Mecca and Medina. He who gives up on Al-Aqsa may give up the holy mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina," Masri said.
He called on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to withdraw its recognition of Israel, to cancel the Oslo Accords, to stop the diplomatic process and the security coordination with Israel, and to oppose President Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century.”
The PLO has denounced the American administration's decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, coinciding with Israel’s 70th Independence Day, saying it proved that the U.S. “chose isolation and to distance itself from peace for the sake of the occupation, and that it chose hostility to Arabs and Muslims throughout the world, and chose to ignite further tension and instability in the region."
After the State Department announced the date of the embassy move, senior PLO official Saeb Erekat blasted the decision and said, "The American administration's decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and choose the Palestinian people's Nakba as the date for this step is a blatant violation of international law.”
Moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a central campaign promise of President Donald Trump’s. In December, he announced that he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and ordered the State Department to begin preparations for the embassy move.