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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israelis-celebrate-jerusalem-palestinians-mourns-gaza-1200437883">http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israelis-celebrate-jerusalem-palestinians-mourns-gaza-1200437883</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">'Burn them, shoot them, kill them':
Israelis cheer in Jerusalem as Palestinians shot in Gaza</h1>
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<div class="field field-name-field-user-author
field-type-entityreference field-label-hidden"><a
href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/users/chlo-benoist">Hind
Khoudary, Lubna Masarwa, Chloé Benoist May 14, 2018<br>
</a></div>
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<p> A Palestinian carries a protester injured by Israeli
forces during a demonstration in Gaza on 14 May (AFP)</p>
<div>
<p dir="ltr">The contrast could not have been more jarring
on Monday between Jerusalem and Gaza, even as a mere 75
kilometres separated the two.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">As
American and Israeli officials inaugurated the move of
the US embassy to Jerusalem - an Israeli victory over
the international community’s rejection of its claim
to Jerusalem as its capital - Israeli forces gunned
down Palestinian protesters in Gaza, the death toll
rising inexorably throughout the day.</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">'Friends, what a glorious day, remember
this day. This is history. Mr Trump, by recognising
history, you made history'</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exuberantly hailed
the embassy move as a “historic” moment.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">"Friends,
what a glorious day, remember this day,” the Israeli
leader said in a triumphant address on Monday. “This
is history. Mr Trump, by recognising history, you made
history.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">"All
of us are deeply moved and grateful. The embassy of
the most powerful nation on earth, the United States
of America, opened here."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">Trump's
son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner also gave
a speech at the ceremony, during which he hailed US
support for Israel, seemingly casting aside concerns
about the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza occurring at
the same time as his speech.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">"We stand with Israel because we both believe
in human rights, democracy worth defending, and believe
that we know that it is the right thing to do,” Kushner
said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, just outside the new embassy, Palestinian
demonstrators in Jerusalem were brutally repressed by
Israeli forces.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">MEE
witnessed dozens of unarmed Palestinians beaten and
arrested by Israeli security forces outside the
embassy, eliciting cheers from Israeli demonstrators
who came out to support the embassy’s opening.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">“Burn
them”, “shoot them”, “kill them”, the Israelis
chanted.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">Meanwhile,
former Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner complained
on social media, implying Palestinian deaths in Gaza
were an attempt to rain on Israel’s parade.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">My feed is a mixture of people in
Jerusalem celebrating the <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EmbassyMove?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#EmbassyMove</a> and people in <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#Gaza</a> trying to ruin that
celebration.</p>
<p>— LTC (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) <a
href="https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/996006744215048192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">May 14, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">But
in Gaza, Palestinians expressed their deep anger and
disbelief at the celebration occuring in Jerusalem as
hundreds were indiscriminately shot by Israeli forces.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">As of 7:30pm local time, 52 Palestinians had
been killed and 2,410 had been wounded by Israeli
forces, the bloody culmination of the six-week “Great
March of Return” in Gaza which had already claimed 49
lives before Monday.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In total, 101 Palestinians have been killed
durin<span>g demonstrations in Gaza since 30 March.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">The
scenes in Gaza in the zone close to the fence
separating the small Palestinian enclave from Israel
were ones of chaos and blood since the morning, with
numerous demonstrators shot in the head, neck or
chest.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">A
number of bodies were trapped close to the fence, army
fire too heavy for ambulances to reach them.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">“A
lot of Palestinians died today for the sake of
Palestinians peacefully protesting, and we won’t give
up on the blood they shed,” Wadee Masri, 52, told
Middle East Eye. </span>“I came here to participate in
the march, to prove that I am a person that has a right
to return to my land.</p>
<div><img
src="http://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_large/public/images/CrutchesHajjar.MEE_.jpg"
alt="" height="413" width="620"><br>
<small><br>
Protester near the Gaza border on Monday (MEE/Mohammed
al-Hajjar) </small></div>
<p>“Celebrations today in Jerusalem make me feel sad for
what the US did against Palestinians,” he added. “There
is no peace without Jerusalem. We will live and die
fighting for Jerusalem.”</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">International
groups decried the situation in Gaza as a “bloodbath”.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">“The
policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of
whether there is an immediate threat to life on
Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, caged in for a
decade and under occupation for half a century, has
resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have
foreseen,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">Jamal
Zahalka, a political leader for Palestinian citizens
of Israel, told MEE that Israel and the US bore
responsibility for the violence in Gaza.</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">'Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, and
Trump and the USA cannot decide to give our land to
Zionists'</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>- Samira Mohsen, 27, protester in Gaza
City </em></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">"This
is a violation of international law. Trump and the US
are responsible for all the blood that has been shed
since the US decision," Zahalka said.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">"Those
who are celebrating today [the US embassy inaguration]
have blood on their hands."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">But
despite the trauma of the deadliest day in Gaza since
the 2014 war, Samira Mohsen, a 27-year-old protester
east of Gaza City, remained defiant despite the heavy
toll of the day’s demonstrations.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-3126508c-5f6a-a052-4b79-bc4a0997442f">“One
day we will be celebrating in Jerusalem, we will pray
there, no one will ban us,” she told MEE. “My dream is
to see Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of
Palestine, and Trump and the USA cannot decide to give
our land to Zionists.”</span></p>
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