Israel strikes Hamas military targets in Gaza Strip
December 9, 2017
At least two members of the Islamist group Hamas have been killed in airstrikes targeting military facilities. Israeli Defense Forces said it responded to rocket fire coming from the Gaza Strip during the "day of rage."
An Islamist militant group calling itself the Salahedin Brigades claimed responsibility for one of the attacks. However, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it holds Hamas responsible for "all hostile acts against Israel emanating from the Gaza Strip."
"In response to the projectiles fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip … Israel air force aircraft targeted a Hamas training compound and an ammunition warehouse in the Gaza Strip," the IDF said in a statement.
The targets included "two weapons manufacturing sites, a weapons warehouse and a military compound," according to the IDF.
Muslims worldwide respond to Palestinian call for protests
Thousands of Muslims worldwide have demonstrated against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Protesters marched the streets, burned flags and shouted anti-Israel slogans.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Gharabli
Clashes with police
A Palestinian protester hurls stones toward Israeli police during clashes near the Jewish settlement of Beit Al, close to the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinians called for a "day of rage" in response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. At least two protesters were killed on Friday during clashes with security forces.
Image: Reuters/M. Torokman
Protests following prayers
Jerusalem itself has seen some of the largest protests, as here in front of the Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City. Hundreds of additional police were deployed to control the masses of protesters after Palestinian calls for protests after Friday prayers.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Gharabli
Protests reach Iraq
And those calls for protest have received a response from Shiite Muslims in Iraq. These men have taken to the streets in the southern city of Basra. Palestinians are angry because they want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state; Trump's move, supported by Israel, could thwart that desire.
Image: Reuters/E. al-Sudani
Israeli and US flags burned
Indian-controlled Kashmir also saw protests, with Muslim men seen here burning Israeli and US flags during a rally in Budgam, southwest of Srinagar. Protesters marched in several places in Srinagar and other parts of the region after Friday prayers, chanting slogans such as "Down with America" and "Down with Israel."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Photo/D. Yasin
'Long live Islam'
In Malaysia, more than 1,000 Muslims protested outside the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur against Trump's decision. The protesters, led by Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, marched from a nearby mosque after Friday prayers to the US Embassy, halting traffic as they chanted "Long live Islam.”
Image: Reuters
Turkey: Protesters voice their indignation
These Turkish women are venting their anger in support of the Palestinian cause. But Trump's decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem has been condemned by many governments of non-Muslim countries as well.
Image: Reuters/O. Orsal
Trump's picture burned
Protesters in Egypt burn a picture of US President Donald Trump with his face crossed during a protest in front of the Syndicate of Journalists in Cairo. The picture reads, "Journalists are telling you Trump, Jerusalem is Arab." Hundreds of protesters also gathered in Al-Azhar mosque and outside in its courtyard.
Image: Reuters/M. A. E. Ghany
'Stop your blind support'!
In Jakarta, Indonesia, protesters in the world's most populous Muslim nation wear Palestine headbands. More than 300 protesters shouted "Go to hell Israel!" and called on Trump to stop his "blind support" for the Jewish state.
Image: Reuters/Beawiharta
Massive marches in Iran
The streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran, have also been the scene of huge protests at the US decision. As an arch-enemy of Israel, the Iranian government is likely to view the US move as particularly offensive.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/Stringer
Muslims in Germany join the outrage
Germany has also seen protests, with mostly Muslim demonstrators attending a rally at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate while waving Palestinian and Turkish flags. The German government has been among those to warn urgently against Trump's move.
Trump's decision has sent shock waves throughout the region and across the globe, with US allies condemning the move, saying it undermines the peace process.
However, the US remained defiant, with US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley saying: "The United States will not be lectured to by countries that lack any credibility when it comes to treating both Israelis and Palestinians fairly."
The status of Jerusalem has been a key stumbling block during previous peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, in particular regarding the question of how to divide sovereignty and oversee holy sites.
While Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital, a majority of the international community rejects that claim, saying the city's status should be settled in peace talks with the Palestinians.
City of strife: Jerusalem's complex history
Jerusalem is one of the oldest and most contested cities in the world. Jerusalem is revered as a sacred city by Jews, Muslims and Christians alike. For this reason, there has been controversy over the city to this day.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress/S. Qaq
Jerusalem, the city of David
According to the Old Testament, David, king of the two partial kingdoms of Judah and Israel, won Jerusalem from the Jebusites around 1000 BC. He moved his seat of government to Jerusalem, making it the capital and religious center of his kingdom. The Bible says David's son Solomon built the first temple for Yahweh, the God of Israel. Jerusalem became the center of Judaism.
Image: Imago/Leemage
Under Persian rule
The Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (3rd from the left) conquered Jerusalem in 597 and again in 586 BC, as the Bible says. He took King Jehoiakim (5th from the right) and the Jewish upper class into captivity, sent them to Babylon and destroyed the temple. After Persian king Cyrus the Great seized Babylon, he allowed the exiled Jews to return home to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple.
The Roman Empire ruled Jerusalem from the year 63 AD. Resistance movements rapidly formed among the population, so that in 66 AD, the First Jewish–Roman War broke out. The war ended 4 years later, with a Roman victory and another destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The Romans and Byzantines ruled Palestine for approximately 600 years.
Image: Historical Picture Archive/COR
Conquest by the Arabs
Over the course of the Islamic conquest of Greater Syria, Muslim armies also reached Palestine. By order of the Caliph Umar (in the picture), Jerusalem was besieged and captured in the year 637 AD. In the following era of Muslim rule, various, mutually hostile and religiously divided rulers presided over the city. Jerusalem was often besieged and changed hands several times.
Image: Selva/Leemage
The Crusades
From 1070 AD onward, the Muslim Seljuk rulers increasingly threatened the Christian world. Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade, which took Jerusalem in 1099 AD. Over a period of 200 years a total of nine crusades set out to conquer the city as it changed hands between Muslim and Christian rule. In 1244 AD the crusaders finally lost control of the city and it once again became Muslim.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
The Ottomans and the British
After the conquest of Egypt and Arabia by the Ottomans, Jerusalem became the seat of an Ottoman administrative district in 1535 AD. In its first decades of Ottoman rule, the city saw a clear revival. With a British victory over Ottoman troops in 1917 AD, Palestine fell under British rule. Jerusalem went to the British without a fight.
Image: Gemeinfrei
The divided city
After World War II, the British gave up their Palestinian Mandate. The UN voted for a division of the country in order to create a home for the survivors of the Holocaust. Some Arab states then went to war against Israel and conquered part of Jerusalem. Until 1967, the city was divided into an Israeli west and a Jordanian east.
Image: Gemeinfrei
East Jerusalem goes back to Israel
In 1967, Israel waged the Six-Day War against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Israel took control of the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Israeli paratroopers gained access to the Old City and stood at the Wailing Wall for the first time since 1949. East Jerusalem is not officially annexed, but rather integrated into the administration.
Israel has not denied Muslims access to its holy places. The Temple Mount is under an autonomous Muslim administration; Muslims can enter, visit the Dome of the Rock and the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque and pray there.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Gharabli
Unresolved status
Jerusalem remains to this day an obstacle to peace between Israel and Palestine. In 1980, Israel declared the whole city its "eternal and indivisible capital." After Jordan gave up its claim to the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1988, the state of Palestine was proclaimed. Palestine also declares, in theory, Jerusalem as its capital.