Angry Palestinians Chase U.S. Delegation in Ramallah

Date: 23 February 2018 - 22:08

News ID: ۵۰۳۹۸

RAMALLAH (Dispatches) -- A U.S. delegation visiting Ramallah on Thursday was evacuated after they were attacked by angry Palestinians who pelted them with eggs while shouting anti-American slogans.
A delegation including New York City Council members and civil society groups was in Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Center for Policy and Research Survey (PCPRS), a local polling company.
Several dozen Palestinians attempted to enter the building, shouting slogans like "America is the head of the snake”, "Americans are not welcome in Palestine”, and "Al-Quds is the capital of Palestine”.
Palestinian Authority anti-riot policemen, some of them wearing masks covering their faces, escorted the U.S. delegation to a police van while some of the protesters threw eggs at the delegation.
The U.S. State Department released a statement condemning the riot.
"The United States absolutely opposes the use of violence or intimidation to express political views,” it said. "This type of action is unmistakably counterproductive to Palestinian interests; it serves only to ensure that Americans are unable to hear or consider Palestinian perspectives.”
This incident mirrors a pair of protests that took place in Bethlehem three weeks ago. President Trump and Vice President Pence were hung and burned in effigy in Bethlehem and a few days late, a delegation that arrived to give a workshop in internet marketing was chased out by angry protesters.
Palestinians are angry at a U.S. decision last December to recognize Jerusalem Al-Quds as the "capital” of the Zionist regime.
A U.S. official told Reuters Friday the United States is expected to open its embassy in Al-Quds in May, a move that reverses decades of U.S. policy.
A May opening appears to represent an earlier time frame than what had been expected. While speaking in the Zionist parliament last month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the move would take place by the end of 2019.
The opening will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the occupying regime of Israel's founding, said the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Since the U.S. recognition, Ramallah-based Palestinian officials have been refusing to meet with representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Trump’s pro-Israel policy shift on Jerusalem Al-Quds also prompted President Mahmoud Abbas to officially announce that Palestinians would no longer accept Washington as an honest mediator in any future Israeli-Palestinian talks on a so-called two-state solution to their decades-long conflict.
One of the protesters, Salah al-Khawaja, said he had come to show his opposition to Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem Al-Quds.
"Today there was a reaction from the Palestinian people and popular activists, a reaction to this dishonorable and awful reception” by the polling company, Khawaja said.
Jamal Juma’ah, one of the organizers, also said the rally was meant to send a message to the Americans that they were "unwelcome in Palestine.”
He slammed the U.S. administration for "publicly endorsing the Zionist project,” stressing, "There’s no place for Americans in Palestine.”