Scores of people gathered at Ibn Rushd roundabout in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil, 30 km south of Jerusalem al-Quds, on Saturday in a demonstration called by the Workers’ Unity Bloc and the Democratic Change List.

The participants chanted slogans in condemnation of the delay and reaffirmed their right to hold democratic elections.

Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians staged rallies across the besieged coastal enclave to protest the postponement of the elections.

The protesters converged on the streets from various mosques upon the call of Hamas resistance movement.

Addressing a rally in the northern part of Gaza, Moshir al-Masri, a Hamas leader, slammed Abbas’ decision to delay the polls.

Suleiman Abu Sitta, a nominee on Hamas’ electoral list, said during a rally in the southern Gaza town of Rafah that the “masses today are angry at the decision of the Palestinian Authority.”

“Delaying the polls is a political sin,” he added.

A member of Hamas political bureau announced that the movement is consulting with various political parties and electoral lists to reach a roadmap and prevent the Palestinians from being deprived of their right to vote.

“Hamas respects all sectors of the Palestinian society, and wants to have real talks with everyone to reach a strategy for the next phase,” Hessam Badran said.

“There is a national consensus on the need to hold Palestinian elections. What happened in connection with the backtrack on the national path was achieved with a completely partisan decision by Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority,” Badran added.

He said dialogue is the most proper way to unite Palestinians, which should not be done through slogans.

Abbas on Friday postponed the planned elections amid a dispute over voting in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds and divisions in his Fatah party.

He issued a presidential decree postponing the May 22 parliamentary and July 31 presidential elections, blaming Israel for uncertainty about whether it would allow the elections to proceed in East Jerusalem al-Quds as well as in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

But many Palestinians regarded the al-Quds issue as an excuse to avoid elections that Fatah might well lose to Hamas, as it did in the last parliamentary ballot in 2006.

On Friday, a Palestinian official said Abbas was offered at least four solutions to allow the first Palestinian elections in 15 years to move forward as planned, but instead decided to delay them.

The delay drew immediate criticism from many Palestinians and from would-be voters – no Palestinian under 34 has taken part in national elections.

It came on the day that campaigning was due to begin and preparations were already well under way, with thousands of new voters and three dozen party lists registered.

Israeli authorities have made many efforts to either cancel or postpone the Palestinian elections.

Israeli forces have escalated an arrest campaign targeting key Hamas figures in the West Bank in recent months, detaining Mustafa al-Shanar, Adnan Asfour, Khalid al-Hajj, Omar al-Hanbali, Jamal al-Tawil and Khatam al-Qafisheh among others.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday blasted several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia for backing the US President Donal Trump’s so-called deal of century, condemning it as ‘treason.’

‘Some Arab countries that support such a plan commit treason against Jerusalem (al-Quds), as well as against their own people, and more importantly against all humanity,’ Erdogan told his party’s provincial heads in Ankara.

Erdogan, a strong advocate of Palestinian rights, singled out Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, DailyMail reported.

‘Saudi Arabia in particular, you are silent. When will you break your silence? You look at Oman, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi is the same,’ said the Turkish president.

‘Shame on you! Shame on you! How will those hands that applaud (the plan) give an account of this treacherous step?’

Turkey’s relations with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi deteriorated after the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on the order of the Saudi leadership.

On the conflict that engulfs Libya, Turkey supports the UN-recognized government in Tripoli while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates back eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, who controls three-quarters of Libyan territory.

‘Jerusalem (al-Quds) cannot be left to the bloody claw of Israel,’ he added.

Erdogan warned that everyone would be responsible for ‘grave consequences’ of any step that encourages Israel, which he called a ‘rogue state’ and a ‘terror state.’

The Turkish leader also said he would speak with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Today’s comments come a day after the top foreign policy adviser to Iran’s Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei coined the deal a continuation of the objectives of ‘crusaders and Zionists.’

Ali Akbar Velayati said the so-called deal of the century would involve the ‘selling and dismantling Muslim lands’.

On Tuesday night, Iran’s foreign ministry called Trump’s plan the ‘Deveal (devil+deal)’, which is descended to sow everlasting hatred and violence in West Asia.

Demonstrations were held in both Istanbul and Gaza this week, with communities coming out to condemn the plan.

The plan released on Tuesday was seen as heavily biased towards Israel and was angrily rejected by Palestinians, with one of the key bones of contention being its classification of Jerusalem (al-Quds) as Israel’s ‘undivided capital.’

Palestinians have long seen the city, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, as their capital.

Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem (al-Quds) held rallies and protests after dawn prayers, which was met with heavy response by Israeli police.

Thousands of Palestinians attended the Friday prayers at noon to take part at the demonstrations.

Clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in the West Bank have left at least 30 Palestinians wounded since Tuesday.

The Al-Aqsa mosque is one of Islam’s holy sites.

The Trump plan gives Israel the green light to annex the strategic Jordan Valley, which constitutes some 30 percent of the West Bank, as well as all Israeli settlements, which now number more than 200, including those in annexed east Jerusalem (East al-Quds).

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According To Iran News, Addressing the Friday prayers sermon in Tehran, Iranian senior cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahhedi Kermani said the US would “take the dream of implementing the so-called Deal of Century to the grave.”

He named Trump’s Deal of Century “a betrayal and a disgrace’, saying “it is a unilateral decision by the Israeli regime and the US and some Arab countries.”

“The Palestinian nation will reject the plan, for sure, and will continue the fight to end this occupation,” he added.

“Enemies seek to disarm the Resistance and put pressure on it but Americans must know that this may not come true,” the senior cleric noted.

Reiterating that the US plots are doomed to failure, he said “by getting united and supporting those who seek freedom, we will neutralize conspiracies of the occupiers, for we are not the terrorists here, but the ones fighting the terrorists.”

He further stressed that the United States would “take the dream of implementing the so-called Deal of Century to the grave.”

Trump on Tuesday unveiled his so-called deal of the century, negotiated with Israel but without the Palestinians.

Palestinian leaders, who severed all ties with Washington in late 2017 after Trump controversially recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the Israeli regime, immediately rejected the plan, with President Mahmoud Abbas saying it “belongs to the dustbin of history.”

Following the unveiling, thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip took to the streets to strongly condemn the plan.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani slammed the deal as “the most despicable plan of the century.”

The plan also raised strong condemnation from Bahrain, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

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Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo, slammed the move on Monday, stressing that it was proof that the US is a main supporter of the Tel Aviv regime’s occupation and aggression.

“The US wishes to remove solving Palestine’s problems from the UN’s agenda by twisting reality and misleading public opinion,” he said.

He added that it was also another example of Washington’s hostility towards Muslims and the free world.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi also censured the veto, noting that it was aimed at cracking down on Palestinians’ rights and goes against regional peace and security.

“With its unwise and provocative move of officially recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital, the US showed its lack of adherence to international resolutions,” he said.

Iran “severely condemns” this move and calls on the international community to halt its execution in order to calm regional tensions, he added.

The US’ veto of the resolution showed that it is violating the legitimate rights of all Palestinians, Qassemi added.

US has lost its objectivity: Turkey

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued a statement voicing its shock over Washington’s reaction, saying the US had “lost objectivity” and it was unacceptable for the UN Security Council to be left “ineffective” with such a measure.

Fourteen members of the 15-member council voted on Monday in favor of the Egyptian-drafted resolution, which did not specifically name the US or Trump but expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem,” while US Ambassador Nikki Haley wielded Washington’s veto against the call.

Washington’s key allies the UK, Italy, France, Ukraine and Japan were all among the 14 countries that voted in favor of the measure, which asserted that “any decisions and actions, which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem [al-Quds] have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”

On December 6, Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital and relocate the US embassy in occupied lands from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds.

The dramatic shift in Washington’s policy vis-à-vis the city triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco and other Muslim countries.

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