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Palestinian organizations have called for a series of protests across the country in rejection of statements by the White House about U.S. President Donald Trump's intention to "mediate" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
An official of the White House announced Saturday that Trump would send three special advisers, including Jared Kushner, to the Middle East in order to mediate the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Secular and Islamist movements gathered in the Palestinian city of Ramallah to call on other cities to protest against Trump and the visit of his special envoys to the Middle East, scheduled for late August. The groups called for the unity of all Palestinian forces.
The convening groups alleged that the U.S. unfairly pressures the Palestinians to resolve the conflict with Israel without offering anything in return. In their first meeting in May, Trump pressed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to do more to stop "incitement to violence" against Israelis and, according to the White House, urged him in private to halt payments to families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a demand long pressed by Israel.
The groups say the United States maintains a hostile attitude toward Palestine, while its position toward Israel is the exact opposite, encouraging and only mildly criticizing its abuses.
Internationally, the groups want to draw attention to the United Nations role in resolving the conflict, while Internally, they are demanding that Israel stop demolishing Palestinian homes.
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