08 December 2017•Update: 08 December 2017
By Wassim Seifeddine
BEIRUT
Palestinians on Friday staged demonstrations in Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp to protest a U.S. decision – announced earlier this week -- to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Located southeast of the Lebanese city of Sidon, the camp is home to some 80,000 Palestinians, many of whom expressed their displeasure with the U.S. move by shooting into the air and setting car tires alight, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent at the scene.
Palestinian factions also organized a military parade inside the camp to accompany the demonstration, which began shortly after Friday prayers.
Earlier, Palestinian leaders in Lebanon had called for a "day of rage” in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps (of which Ain al-Hilweh is the largest).
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move Washington’s Israel embassy to the city.
The following day, demonstrations against the move were reported in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and in a handful of other Muslim countries.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.
