08 December 2017•Update: 08 December 2017
CAIRO
More than 2,000 people staged a demonstration after Friday prayers outside the Al-Azhar Mosque in eastern Cairo to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's decision -- announced Wednesday -- to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Following Friday prayers, protesters set out from major mosques across the capital shouting anti-Israel and pro-Palestine slogans.
Demonstrators raised banners reading, “Jerusalem belongs to the Arabs; Jerusalem is Palestinian”, “Down with Trump” and “where are our Arab leaders?”
In his Friday sermon, Al-Azhar spokesman Abbas Shuman described Trump’s announcement as “legally void”.
“What he is doing is the real terrorism,” he asserted.
“The U.S. has lost much capital [with this move] and awakened the minds of those who don’t know it,” Shuman said.
“No Muslim today will believe the U.S. is looking out for their rights,” he added.
In an earlier statement, the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments and the Al-Azhar both said that Friday sermons across Egypt would be devoted to stressing Jerusalem’s Arab identity and condemning Trump’s decision.
The U.S. move, Shuman said in his sermon, “is an affront to the sentiments of both Muslims and Christians”.
He added: “Jerusalem is -- and will remain -- Arab.”
On Wednesday, Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate Washington’s Israel embassy to the holy city.
The dramatic shift in U.S. policy sparked demonstrations on Thursday in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and in some other Muslim countries.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Reporting by Sobhy Megahed:Writing by Sobhy Megahed
