Al-Aqsa protesters decry US embassy move to Jerusalem

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Friday to stress their rejection of the recent U.S. decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital.

Waving Palestinian flags and raising images of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, protesters marched through the mosque’s courtyards shouting slogans in support of Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause.

“Jerusalem is Arab,” they chanted. “With our souls and blood, we are ready to sacrifice for blessed Al-Aqsa.”

Dozens of Turkish nationals, some of them waving Turkish flags, also took part in the protest march.

Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Islamic Endowments (waqf) Authority, told Anadolu Agency that some 45,000 worshippers had performed weekly prayers at the iconic mosque on Friday.

In his Friday sermon, Al-Aqsa imam Sheikh Mohamed Salim slammed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision on Dec. 6 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Emphasizing the holy city’s Arab and Muslim character, Salim expressed thanks to those countries that supported a UN General Assembly resolution calling on the U.S. to reverse its decision on Jerusalem.

On Thursday, 128 of the assembly’s 193 member-states voted in favor of the resolution, while nine voted against and 35 abstained.

Three days earlier, the U.S. vetoed a proposed UN Security Council resolution -- which had enjoyed the support of the council’s 14 other members (both permanent and non-permanent) -- calling for a ban on the establishment of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.