Hezbollah urges new Palestinian uprising, escalation of 'resistance'
The leader of Hezbollah is calling for a sustained campaign by Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims to pressure US into reversing its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The Lebanese Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah said on Thursday it supported calls for a new Palestinian uprising in response to the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and urged support for "resistance" against the move.
"We support the call for a new Palestinian intifada (uprising) and escalating the resistance which is the biggest, most important and gravest response to the American decision," Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised speech.
"The Israeli enemy and its leaders do not respect international resolutions, it is proven," Nasrallah began, claiming all Israel cares about is the approval of the United States.
"For decades, successive Israeli governments have tried to Judaize Jerusalem and expropriate it in all aspects," he continued, warning that Trump's move could now lead to Palestinian in the city living under an even worse form of occupation, and further embolden Israel to build in Palestinian-claimed territories.
"What will be the fate of east Jerusalem residents after the American decision?" he pondered. "Will they be deported? Will they be forced to carry Israeli identity cards? What will be the fate of Palestinian property in Jerusalem? Will it be expropriated? Destroyed?
"We will witness Israeli construction without restraint. Jerusalem may expand into the West Bank. What will happen to the Islamic and Christian assets, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the fate of the Palestinian issue as a whole?"
"I call on everyone to take part in a mass popular demonstration to protest and denounce this American aggression and this unjust... decision," Nasrallah said.
The demonstration is to be held on Monday in Beirut's southern suburbs, a bastion of Nasrallah's Shiite movement.
"I am calling on men, women, young and old, the southern suburbs, Beirut and all those who wish to join in from across Lebanon," he said, also inviting residents of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps.
Nasrallah concluded by saying that all Mideast negotiations must be halted until US President Donald Trump walks back his declaration, which the Hezbollah leader said was an "undisguised American aggression" against the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah lawmakers said US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital constituted an aggression against Palestine and resistance was the only way to recover lost rights.
Trump’s decision marks the "worst and most dangerous" to come from any American administration, Lebanese Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc said.
The Hezbollah parliamentary bloc "calls on Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims ... to move swiftly and efficiently," lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said in a televised statement.
"The only way to recover rights is the way of resistance", and Trump’s declaration has eliminated negotiation as a method, the statement said, adding the US decision would have "catastrophic repercussions that threaten regional and international security and stability."
It "represents a treacherous and wicked aggression against Palestine, its people, Islamic and Christian shrines, and the Arab and Islamic worlds".
Palestinian factions called for a "Day of Rage" on Friday, and Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians to abandon negotiations and launch a new uprising against Israel.
Israel views Iran-backed Hezbollah as the biggest threat on its borders. The Shi‘ite political and military movement has sent arms to the Palestinian territories, its leader Nasrallah said last month.
