Palestinians protest and strike over US peace plan

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated yesterday throughout the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip against the launch of the US administration’s Middle East peace plan.
Around 3,000 people protested in Nablus in the northern West Bank, with dozens attending demonstrations in Ramallah and Hebron, AFP journalist said.
The US is set to roll out economic proposals at a conference in Bahrain aimed at paving the way towards a peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
But the Palestinians are boycotting the event, accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of pro-Israel bias.
Rallying calls from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and other groups raised fears of widespread clashes, but they did not materialise.
A general strike was called for in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and most shops and restaurants in the enclave were closed, an AFP journalist said. Demonstrators at a small female-led protest in northern Gaza burned pictures of Trump, an AFP journalist said.
The Palestinians again rejected the proposals yesterday, accusing the US and Israel of trying to bully them and quash their desire for independence.
“Such inciting campaigns aim at making the people and leadership of Palestine accept the dictations, threats, and tyranny of both the US and Israel — and they are doomed to fail,” Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the PLO, said in a statement.
“Our position is clear: we will not compromise on the necessity of a permanent, comprehensive, and lasting political solution.”