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<h1 class="title">'Resistance is not terrorism': Palestinians burn
effigies of Trump in Gaza</h1>
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<div class="stamp">May 23, 2017 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777250">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777250</a></font><br>
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GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continued
to express outrage over US President Donald Trump calling out
the Hamas movement -- Gaza’s de facto leading party -- in a
list of terrorist organizations during a speech in Riyadh on
Saturday </span><a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777189"
style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">before 50
leaders of Arab and Muslim-majority countries.</a><br>
<br>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Palestinians in Gaza from across
the political spectrum united in denouncing the remarks, which
have been interpreted as a blanket condemnation of all forms
of Palestinian resistance.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">"No description of the suffering
and depravity can begin to capture its full measure. The true
toll of ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and so many others,
must be counted not only in the number of dead. It must also
be counted in generations of vanished dreams," Trump said, in
his first speech delivered abroad since taking office.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Shortly after the speech was
broadcast, Hamas <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777203"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reacted
</a>by accusing Trump of "complete bias" toward the policies
of the Israeli occupation by designating the movement as a
terrorist organization.<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">The designation “denies the
Palestinian people's legitimate right to resistance to
liberate their land and holy places,” Hamas, which identifies
as a Islamist national resistance movement, said.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Hamas denounced Trump’s message
at the summit in Saudi Arabia -- which focused heavily on what
he called “the crisis of Islamist extremism” -- for attempting
to divide the Muslim world, as Trump meanwhile “ignores the
Zionist crimes of killing children and women and demolishing
the roofs over their heads.”<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">
<div><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size:
14.6667px;">Israeli officials have routinely claimed that
Palestinian armed resistance is part of an international
rise in Islamist extremism, while</span><span
style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.6667px;"> many
Palestinians have instead pointed chiefly to the
frustration and despair brought on by Israel's
decades-long military occupation of the Palestinian
territory and the absence of a political horizon.<br>
<br>
</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family:
Helvetica; font-size: 14.6667px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">The Palestinian Popular
Resistance Committees organized a rally in Rafah city in the
southern besieged coastal enclave Monday evening protesting
Trump’s remarks.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Dozens of supporters crowded at
Shuhada Square in the center of the city and torched US flags,
as well as photos and an effigy of Donald Trump.<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">"Palestinian resistance is a
source of pride for the nation fighting its enemy and occupier
and trying to liberate its country," leader of the Popular
Resistance Committees Abu Fares al-Shamali said.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Trump's remarks, al-Shamali
added, were blindly throwing US support behind the interests
of Israeli occupation, "which is the true source of terrorism
and violence in the region and in the world," he said.<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
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On Tuesday, anti-Trump protests raged on in the small
Palestinian territory. <br>
<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Hundreds of supporters of the
leftist and secular Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) rallied in Gaza City to protest Trump’s
remarks made in Riyadh, demonstrating that the comments were
being interpreted as offensive to Palestinian resistance
movements at large, irrespective of political or religious
affiliation. <br>
<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Demonstrators waving Palestinian
flags, PFLP flags, as well as Hezbollah and Iranian flags
rallied from Palestine Square to the prisoners' solidarity
sit-in tent at Saraya Square, chanting against US policies in
the region.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Two masked PFLP gunmen aimed
their guns at an effigy of Trump tied up in ropes in Saraya
Square, behind a banner that simply stated: “Resistance is not
terrorism.”<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Member of the PFLP's politburo
Kayid al-Ghoul told Ma'an that the rally reflected the group's
support for the demands of hunger-striking Palestinian
prisoners and firm solidarity with their plight, as well as
opposition to Trump’s policies, which he said were
“predictably in support of Israel’s conditions for the
so-called peace process.” <br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Al-Ghoul said that, "today, we
are sending a message that the Palestinian people refuse to
give up any of our rights, and refuse to go back to
US-sponsored negotiations."<br>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">The Islamic Jihad movement also
organized a rally in central Gaza City <span style="font-size:
14.6667px;">condemning "Trump's statements against
resistance factions," with the group stressing that they
completely rejected the US president's characterization of
Hamas as a terrorist organization, r</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">aising </span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">a banner that said: “Our dignity is
our most valuable possession. Trump, resistance is not
terrorism -- we will triumph and you will leave.”<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Member of the Islamic Jihad's
politburo Muhammad al-Hindi said that “Palestinian resistance
factions are holding on to Palestinian rights stronger than
ever, despite all the conspiracies being planned against the
Palestinian cause.”Al-Hindi said that “Trump’s visit to Saudi
Arabia and his description of the resistance as terrorism, in
front of all of the Arab and Islamic world leaders, is a
reflection of the ongoing deterioration in the region,"
referring to a growing alliance between heads of state in the
region, the United States, and Israel at the expense of the
Palestinian cause.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Al-Hindi denounced the leaders
-- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas among them -- for their
silence to Trump's message, particularly as the US president
famously hinged his presidential campaign on inflammatory,
anti-Muslim rhetoric.<br>
<br>
</div>
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normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><img
class="content"
src="http://www.maannews.com/Photos/433433C.jpg" alt=""><br>
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normal; font-weight: normal;"><img class="content"
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;"><br>
Ahead of Trump's visit to Riyadh -- which was marked by the US
signing a $110 billion weapons deal with the Saudi regime --
Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International
Philip Luther said that the "potential for President Trump to
build toxic alliances with leaders who share his disdain for
human rights during his first foray into foreign diplomacy is
deeply worrying.<br>
<br>
"Touching on Trump's ambitions to secure “the ultimate deal”
for Middle East peace, Amnesty International's statement also
deplored successive Israeli governments for large-scale
violations throughout the 50-year-long occupation of the
Palestinian territory, which "have inflicted mass suffering on
Palestinians.<br>
<br>
"The international rights group highlighted how the state of
Israel has been "emboldened" by the new Trump administration
to accelerate the expansion of illegal settlements in
violation of international law as well as step up Palestinian
home demolitions.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Trump’s visit to Israel and the
occupied Palestinian territory was also met with a widely
observed <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777210"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">general
strik</a>e and <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777244"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">protests</a> in
the occupied West Bank, with a combined message of support for<a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777234"
target="_blank"> a mass hunger strike under way in Israeli
prisons</a>, and also to voice opposition to the resumption
of peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel
under US sponsorship.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-style:
normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;">Protests Monday erupted into<a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777224"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> violent
clashes</a>, as a <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777183"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">“Day of
Rage”</a> has also been called for on Tuesday.</div>
</div>
</div>
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