RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will refuse to meet US Vice-President Mike Pence later this month following Washington’s controversial policy shift on Occupied Jerusalem, an Abbas aide said on Saturday, as protests gripped the Occupied Palestinian areas for a third straight day.
The Israeli regime’s air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed two Hamas members before dawn, as unrest simmered over President Donald Trump’s controversial declaration of occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
A total of four people have now been killed and dozens wounded since Trump announced the move, which drew criticism from every other member of the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting on Friday.
“There will be no meeting with the vice-president of America in Palestine,” Abbas’s diplomatic adviser Majdi Al Khaldi told AFP.
“The United States has crossed all the red lines with the [Occupied] Jerusalem decision,” he added.
There were fresh clashes on Saturday as Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank hurled stones at Israeli occupation troops, who responded with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live rounds.
In the Gaza Strip, mourners vented their anger at the funerals of two people killed by Israeli occupation troops during clashes at the border fence on Friday and the two Hamas fighters killed early on Saturday.
A woman was wounded by the Israeli regime’s army fire during clashes at the border following one funeral attended by thousands in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.
There have been fears of a much larger escalation of violence after Hamas leader Esmail Haniya called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, and analysts have been anxiously watching what happens next.
Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group both renewed that call on Saturday.
Dozens of protesters were wounded by rubber-coated steel bullets or live fire in clashes in the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Occupied Jerusalem that followed Friday prayers.
Tens of thousands also protested in Muslim and Arab countries, including Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia.
Saturday’s predawn air strike on a base of Hamas’s military wing in Nusseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, was one of several, the Israeli regime said.
The Hamas health ministry in Gaza said the two dead men were members of the movement’s armed wing.
On Friday night, a rocket hit the southern Israeli city of Sderot although Israeli public radio said it did not explode and did not cause any casualties.
A previously unknown Salafist group calling itself the Salahedin Brigades claimed responsibility for one of the attacks.
But the Israeli army said it held Hamas responsible for all attacks from territory under its control.
Many analysts question how a balanced agreement can be reached by granting such a major Israeli regime demand before negotiations have even started.
