BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese Army forces on Sunday fired tear gas and water cannons into crowds that had gathered near the United States Embassy to protest President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Thousands of protesters chanted slogans against Mr. Trump’s orders, which involving moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with some throwing rocks and setting tires and a large trash container on fire.
Mr. Trump’s decision, which dealt a blow to the idea of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, has been widely condemned across the Arab world and beyond.
The Taliban, Hamas and Shia extremist leaders also vowed bloodshed after the move, though the Islamic State has played down its significance and criticized fellow extremist groups.
In Lebanon, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun both condemned Mr. Trump’s decision. Mr. Hariri said the United States move foreshadowed dangers for the region.
In a post on Twitter, Mr. Hariri wrote that Lebanon “declares on this day the highest degree of solidarity with the Palestinian people and its right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
In Indonesia on Sunday, 10,000 people rallied outside the American Embassy in the capital, Jakarta, and the Arab League held an emergency meeting that began on Saturday in Cairo in which the leaders denounced Mr. Trump’s announcement as a “dangerous violation of international law.”
Foreign ministers from Arab states called on Sunday for the United States to reverse its decision, which they said put Washington on the side of the “occupation.” In a two-page resolution, the ministers said they would seek a United Nations Security Council meeting to address the issue.
The Arab League’s chief, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said at a news conference afterward that the ministers had “ taken a political decision” not meant to reflect the protests in the streets, according to media reports.
He added: “Jerusalem has been occupied for 50 years. This is an extended battle, a battle that will be escalated.”
The Lebanese forces clashed with protesters who were trying to break through a roadblock to the American Embassy on the main road from Dbayeh, a coastal town, to Awkar. The embassy is in a highly secured gated compound in a suburb in the hills north of the capital, Beirut.
The protesters, who were bused there from in and around Beirut, included Lebanese and Palestinians. Some chanted, “Jerusalem is Arab! Palestine is Arab!” and other slogans. Many waved Palestinian flags and the flags of Lebanese parties, including those of Arab nationalists and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia and political party formed to fight Israel.
Lebanon is home to more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom fled what is now Israel and the West Bank during the wars of 1948 and 1967 or are descendants of those who did. They live under tight restrictions imposed by the Lebanese government, which has barred them from more than 30 professions as part of efforts to avoid normalizing their status in Lebanon.
There have been daily protests in the camps since Mr. Trump’s announcement, and Hezbollah has called for a larger demonstration in southern Beirut on Monday.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, protests mostly organized by the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party were held in several cities. The demonstration on Sunday was the third and largest in the country since Mr. Trump’s announcement, according to The Associated Press.
In the capital, protesters wearing traditional white Islamic robes carried Indonesian and Palestinian flags and banners reading “U.S. Embassy, Get Out From Al Quds,” “Free Jerusalem and Palestinians” and “We are with the Palestinians.” Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
In a statement, the Prosperous Justice Party described Mr. Trump’s decision as “a form of humiliation and provocation against Muslims all over the world.”
Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, has said that Mr. Trump’s move was a violation of United Nations resolutions. The country has been a longtime supporter of Palestinians and has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
Source: Newyorktimes
