JERUSALEM (AP) – The Latest on the fallout from the U.S. decision to declare Jerusalem Israel’s capital (all times local):
11:20 a.m.
Scores of Lebanese and Palestinian demonstrators have clashed with security forces outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Protesters try to remove barbed wires that block a road leading to the U.S. embassy during a demonstration in Aukar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017. Scores of demonstrators, including Palestinians, pelted security outside the embassy with stones and burned an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump in a protest to reject Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The protesters gathered hundreds of meters (yards) away from the embassy on Sunday, where they burned an effigy of Trump, U.S. and Israeli flags, as well as piles of garbage, sending plumes of smoke into the air. As they hurled stones, security forces responded with tear gas and water cannons.
The U.S. decision has ignited protests across the Middle East, where it is widely seen as a blatantly pro-Israel move that threatens the decades-old peace process.
Lebanon is home to 450,000 Palestinian refugees, nearly 10 percent of the population.
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11:15 a.m.
Israel’s prime minister says he is ready to defend President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital against its European critics.
Upon leaving on a diplomatic mission to Paris and Brussels late Saturday, Netanyahu said he “will present Israel’s truth without fear and with head held high.”
Trump’s announcement sparked protests across the region. It also triggered denunciations from around the world, even from close allies like France, that suggested he had needlessly stirred more conflict in an already volatile region.
An international consensus has long held that Jerusalem’s final status should be determined through negotiations. Israel claims the entire city as its unified capital, while the Palestinians want east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, to be the capital of their future state.
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9:40 a.m.
Israel’s defense minister is calling for a boycott of Arab businesses where residents carried out violent protests against President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Avigdor Lieberman tells Israel’s Army Radio Sunday that the Arabs of Wadi Ara in northern Israel are “not part of us” and Jewish Israelis should no longer visit their villages and buy their products. Hundreds of Israeli Arabs protested Saturday along a major highway. Dozens of masked rioters hurling stones at buses and police vehicles. Three Israeli were wounded and several vehicles were damaged.
The protests were part of a Palestinian “day of rage” following Trump’s announcement that he planned to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Lieberman has long called for Wadi Ara to be incorporated into a future Palestinian state.
Protesters try to remove barbed wires that block a road leading to the U.S. embassy during a demonstration in Aukar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017. Scores of demonstrators, including Palestinians, pelted security outside the embassy with stones and burned an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump in a protest to reject Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A protester throws back tear gas canister that was fired towards them by Lebanese riot police during a demonstration in front of the U.S. embassy in Aukar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017. Scores of demonstrators, including Palestinians, pelted security outside the embassy with stones and burned an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump in a protest to reject Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Protesters burn an Israeli flag in front of the U.S. embassy during a demonstration in Aukar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017. Scores of demonstrators, including Palestinians, pelted security outside the embassy with stones and burned an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump in a protest to reject Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Protesters try to enter the U.S. embassy during a demonstration in Aukar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017. Scores of demonstrators, including Palestinians, pelted security outside the embassy with stones and burned an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump in a protest to reject Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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