Monitoring Desk
GAZA CITY: Palestinian resistance movement Hamas held a rally in Gaza City on Thursday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its establishment.
Held in the city’s Al-Katiba Square, the event was attended by thousands of the group’s members and supporters. In a speech delivered to the group’s supporters, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh condemned last week’s decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “Hamas hopes to force Washington to reverse this decision and to drop its plans for a so-called ‘deal of the century’,” he said.
The term “deal of the century” refers to a regional peace plan that the U.S. administration is expected to begin promoting early next year with a view to resolving the decades-long Palestine-Israel conflict. “Trump’s decision [to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital] is no less dangerous than the [1917] Balfour Declaration,” he added.
Haniyeh also urged the Palestinian people and Arab and Muslim nations to continue their “uprising” in support of Jerusalem “with a view to thwarting the recent U.S. decision”. He also called on Palestinian political factions to “agree on a unified national strategy to support the ongoing uprising against the Israeli occupation”.
