US isolated at UN over Jerusalem!

GAZA: Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed two Palestinians on Saturday after rockets were fired from the enclave, in violence that erupted over President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Gaza fighters launched at least three rockets towards Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip — which is controlled by Hamas — after dark on Friday. The day had been declared a “day of rage” by Palestinian factions protesting against Trump’s announcement on Wednesday.

IAF (Israeli Air Force) aircraft targeted four facilities belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip: two weapons manufacturing sites, a weapons warehouse, a military compound, the Israeli military said in a statement.

A Hamas source confirmed the two men killed in the pre-dawn air strikes belonged to the group, which has urged Palestinians to keep up the confrontation with Israeli forces.
Palestinian protests on Saturday were far less intense on than on previous days.

In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, protesters set fire to tyres and threw stones at Israeli troops, who used tear gas. In East Jerusalem about 60 people demonstrated near the walled Old City, where paramilitary border police and officers on horseback tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas.

With Trump’s decision having drawn near universal condemnation, the United States saw itself isolated at the Security Council session in New York.

Five European countries on the council insisted the new US policy was not consistent with past UN resolutions, including one that considers east Jerusalem to be Israeli-occupied.

But the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told delegates that the White House was serious about the search for peace.

“Let me again assure you, the president and this administration remain committed to the peace process,” she said.

The meeting was convened by eight of the 14 non-US members of the council but was largely symbolic — no vote on a resolution was planned, as the US has veto power.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas hailed the international concern, according to a statement carried by official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Hamas had called for a “day of rage” and its leader Ismail Haniya for the start of a new intifada, or uprising.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in protest and two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza border. Scores more were wounded there and in the West Bank. Across the Arab and Muslim worlds, thousands more protesters had gathered to express solidarity.

Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is leading efforts to restart the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks, efforts that so far have shown little progress.

A senior United Arab Emirates official said on Saturday that Trump’s move was a boon to radicals.

— Reuters/AFP