US does not own Jerusalem to give it to Israel — women Islamists

AMMAN — Islamic Action Front’s (IAF) women wing staged a sit-in outside their party’s headquarters on Saturday in protest against President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.  

“No east and west for Jerusalem… It is all for Arabs, Jerusalem is not a farm for the US but the capital of all Arabs,” protesters chanted.

“We believe that the US has violated all international resolutions regarding Jerusalem, and this is why we are here to condemn such act and say it loud and clear that we only see Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,” Amman Third District MP Dima Tahboub told The Jordan Times during the protest.

“We believe that this step will create chaos in the world, and we see it as an act of state terrorism because America has given something that does not belong to them to people who do not deserve it,” Tahboub said, adding, “Palestine is an occupied country, and the world should finish the longstanding Israeli occupation and give Palestinians their rights and their land.”

The Islamist MP also stressed the role of Jordan in the Palestinian cause, saying that “the international community sees Jordan as the custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem, and, therefore, the Kingdom has to take action towards this American unilateral step.”

“The relationship between Jordan and Palestine is deep and strong,” one of the protesters said at the sit-in, calling on the government to scrap the Jordanian-Israeli 1994 Wadi Araba Peace Treaty.  

When asked about the IAF’s female members’ position on the issue, Tahboub said that they “wanted to voice their own opinion to show their solidarity with the Palestinian women and children, who are being subjected to extreme cruelty due to the occupation”.

The IAF will continue to protest Trump’s decision in the following weeks, according to the MP, who noted that members of the party will contact lawmakers and ask them take a stand against the decision and work on spreading awareness through seminars and symposiums.