RAMALLAH/GAZA, Jan 30 (NNN-WAFA) – For the second day in a row, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, joined mass protests against the U.S. Middle East peace plan, also known as the Deal of the Century.
Officials and eyewitnesses said, clashes broke out between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers, in several West Bank towns, mainly in the areas of the Jordan Valley.
The U.S. deal “is serving Israel’s interests and ruins their dreams of having an independent Palestinian state, on all the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” they noted.
Dozens of Palestinian demonstrators and foreign peace activists rallied in the Jordan Valley area, before clashes broke out with Israeli soldiers, when they were banned from reaching the territory, witnesses said.
Jihad Abu el-Assal, Palestinian governor of the Jordan Valley, told reporters, the rally was organised to express clear rejection of Israel’s decision to annex the territory.
“The lands of the Jordan Valley are owned by its citizens and no one has the right to annex it,” he said.
“The territory is vital and strategic for the Palestinians, and U.S. President, Donald Trump, doesn’t have any right to give it to Israel,” he added.
The Jordan Valley, which represents 30 percent of the West Bank, was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. The territory is important for Palestinian economy, agriculture, and tourism.
Clashes also broke out in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, al-Beereh, Tulkarem, and Hebron, where demonstrators burned tires and threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that at least 41 Palestinian demonstrators were injured: four were shot by Israeli soldiers’ rubber gunshots, while others suffered suffocation after inhaling tear gas.
Meanwhile, a general strike dominated the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, where all stores closed, as hundreds of young men and schoolchildren took to the streets in protest against the U.S. peace plan.
The office of Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, said that, Haniyeh, who is currently in Qatar, welcomed Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to send a delegation from the West Bank to Gaza next week.
“Sending a Fatah delegation to the Gaza Strip, to discuss unity, after the U.S. Deal of the Century was declared, is a positive step that prepares for a new stage in the Palestinian dialogue for unity,” the statement said.
