“We are certain that our Palestinian people will not let these conspiracies pass. So, all options are open. The (Israeli) occupation and the US administration will bear the responsibility for what they did,” senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said as he participated in one of several protests that broke out across the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Protesters burned tires and pictures of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, AP reported.
In separate comments, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, “Trump’s statement is aggressive and it will spark a lot of anger.”
“Trump’s statement about Jerusalem is nonsense and Jerusalem will always be a land for the Palestinians ... The Palestinians will confront this deal and Jerusalem will remain a Palestinian land,” Abu Zuhri added.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also held an emergency meeting with other Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to discuss a unified response to the plan.
Abbas said “a thousand no’s” to the Mideast peace plan announced by Trump, which strongly favors Israel.
The Palestinians remain committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state with its capital in east Jerusalem, Abbas said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered.
“After the nonsense that we heard today we say a thousand no’s to the Deal of The Century,” he said.
“We will not kneel and we will not surrender,” Abbas said, adding that the Palestinians would resist the plan through “peaceful, popular means.”