Clashes today in the Gaza Strip where a Palestinian was killed by the Israeli military. The wounded, instead, are 15, while they are more than 200 in the West Bank, where Palestinians took to the streets in Bethlehem, Hebron, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Nablus and Beit Khanun and threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded by throwing tear gas, rubber bullets, and in some circumstances live fire.
More than 150 demonstrators intoxicated by gas, while about fifty those hit by rubber bullets and at least 7 demonstrators hit by gunshots. Meanwhile, protests are mounting in various Arab countries: demonstrators in the streets from Egypt to Jordan, from Iraq to Turkey, from Bahrain to Sudan, in Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia and also in Tunis. And in a statement entrusted to the official Egyptian agency Mena, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed Al Tayyib, the highest expression of Sunni Islam, asked the countries of the Islamic world, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and immediate and decisive action to the United Nations to "block the application of the US decision to transfer the American embassy to Jerusalem".
Transfer which will take more than 2 years, explained US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in reiterating that the final status of Jerusalem will be defined by negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The Grand Imam of al-Azhar has also made it known that he will refuse to meet with US Vice President Mike Pence, whose mission in the region was announced by President Donald Trump. According to reports from the Palestinian ministry of health, the first victim is Mahmoud al-Masri, 30. At first, the ministry had reported another victim, but later corrected itself by saying that a second protester did not die, but is dying. The Israeli army confirmed that in Khan Younis the military fired at two people at the border, accusing them of being the "main instigators" of the "violent riots". In Jerusalem, tens of thousands of people gathered on the Temple Mount, where there were only a few scuffles and about 200 protesters were beaten by police. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers deployed to garrison the sacred places of the holy city and sent in reinforcement to the West Bank, where, according to the daily haaretz, approximately 3.000 people took to the streets. Protests also in the Israeli cities of Umm al-Fahm and Kalansaua. Russian President Vladimir Putin will be in Ankara on Monday to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president seems to have been identified as the main standard bearer of the Palestinian cause and distrust is growing in the Territories in President Abu Mazen, who despite the heated tones expressed after the announcement of Donald Trump, is seen by many as an increasingly weak figure. Abu Mazen was invited by Trump to the White House but meanwhile the Palestinian Legislative Council has asked the PNA to cancel the recognition of the State of Israel on any territory occupied since 1948. The PNA reiterated that US Vice President Mike Pence, whose mission to the region was announced by Trump, is not welcome in the Territories. "We will not receive it in the Palestinian territories," said an exponent, Jibril Rajoub, as reported by al Jazeera. The High Representative for European Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, who today met the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi, announced that Abu Mazen will attend the meeting of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers on 22 January. French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a new call for "calm and responsibility". Trump instead boasts on Twitter, writing that “I have kept my election promise. Others, no ".