INTERNATIONAL: Thousands of Palestinians on Thursday staged demonstrations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against U.S. President Joe Biden's first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, slamming his biased stance on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
In the coastal enclave of the Gaza Strip, governed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), hundreds of Palestinians waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans at the square of the Unknown Soldier in western Gaza city to condemn Biden's visit which started on Wednesday.
"President Biden, your administration has always been biased to the Zionist entity and has always been denying our people's legitimate rights, so we denounce the flagrant American collaboration with the Zionist entity," Khalil al-Hayyah, Hamas deputy chief in the Gaza Strip, told the rally, referring the U.S. support to Israel.
Commenting on the Jerusalem Declaration signed by Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid to establish a strategic partnership between the two allies, Al-Hayyah denounced it as a "blatant confirmation of the unjust U.S. policy against the Palestinian people" and "a new promise to the Israeli occupation that will not change the reality of the Holy City."
He noted that Biden carried nothing in his pocket during the visit except the unlimited support for Israel and the focus on Israeli security and prosperity, and "in return, he carries a package of false promises to the Palestinians."
In another rally held in the West Bank city of Ramallah, protesters voiced similar opposition against the U.S. president, saying he did not take any concrete action or make any practical proposals to support the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his visit will not bring peace to the region.
Hundreds of Palestinians also took to the streets in the northern West Bank city of Nablus in protest against the visit.
