'Death to America': Lebanese press issues threats after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, while Turkey says US has thrown the Middle East into a 'ring of fire'...
A pro-Hezbollah newspaper in Lebanon has declared 'Death to America' on a front page showing a burning US flag after Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The US President has sparked fury across the Middle East with his announcement yesterday which changed decades of American policy.
Lebanon's al-Akhbar paper today called the decision 'America's new Balfour' referring to the Balfour Declaration in which Britain endorsed the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East a century ago.
'Today in Palestine there is a capable, empowered resistance that owns thousands of rockets that can strike Tel Aviv,' it said. Hezbollah, a heavily-armed military and political organisation, has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since it was formed in 1982.
It comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Trump of throwing the Middle East into a 'ring of fire' by declaring the divided holy city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Erdogan also compared the US President to a 'blender' stirring up trouble in the region, saying it was 'not possible to understand' Trump's motives.
Trump's White House speech yesterday was greeted by demonstrations and a threat from Hamas, who called Thursday and Friday 'days of rage' and said that Trump had 'opened the gates of hell' with his 'flagrant aggression'.
The powerful Palestinian Islamist group called for a new uprising against Israel with leader Ismail Haniyeh warning: 'We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy.'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump had 'bound himself forever' to the history of Jerusalem with his announcement and claimed other states are now considering following the U.S. lead.
Netanyahu said that 'we are already in contact with other states that will make a similar recognition.'
He says the 'time has come' and expressed confidence that others will follow suit and move their embassies to Jerusalem.
Last night, he hailed the move as 'historic' and said any peace deal with the Palestinians must concede that Jerusalem is Israel's capital.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it will be deploying additional troops to the West Bank ahead of Friday, when mass Palestinian protests are anticipated in response to Trump's move.
The army statement on Thursday says it will deploy several battalions to the territory while other troops have been put on alert to address 'possible developments.'
Palestinians went on strike across the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip on Thursday and protests are expected on Friday after midday prayers.
This morning, two senior White House officials admitted Trump's move could temporarily derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
According to CNN, one of the unnamed sources said the President's peace team had not spoken to angry Palestinian officials since the announcement but that they were 'pretty sure' that 'derailment' of the peace process would be 'temporary'.
One official said: 'A lot of people put their heads into this decision to see how do we make this happen without at the same time throwing the peace process out of the window,'
The second added: 'In terms of a moment where it could happen, where it could be the least disruptive at a moment in time, this is the moment. We know there will be some short term pain, but think it will help in the long run.'
In a speech in Washington, Trump said his announcement marked the beginning of a new approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, urged Arabs and Muslims to 'undermine the US interests in the region' and to 'shun Israel.'
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said the Palestinian people 'know how to respond properly to the disregard of their feelings and sanctuaries.'
He added that the decision 'will not change the facts of history and geography.'
President Trump recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital yesterday - a historic decision that overturns decades of US policy and risks triggering a fresh spasm of violence in the Middle East.
'Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital,' the US leader declared from the White House. 'Acknowledging this as a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace.'
'It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,' Trump said, urging calm and 'the voices of tolerance to prevail over the purveyors of hate.'
The declaration - met by fierce regional condemnation - ends seven decades of deliberate diplomatic ambiguity about the final status of a holy city vociferously claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians.
Although welcomed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a 'courageous and just decision,' Trump's move also left the already faltering peace process in deep doubt.
Mahmud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization said Trump has destroyed the two-state solution, warning the United States could no longer hope to be a peace broker, while Hamas - the Palestinian Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip - said Trump's decision opens 'the gates of hell on US interests in the region.'
Making the announcement, Trump also kicked off the process of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
That makes good on a campaign promise dear to evangelical Christian and right wing Jewish voters - as well as donors - in what he said marked the start of a 'new approach' to solving the thorny Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump's predecessors - from Bill Clinton to George Bush - made similar campaign promises. But they quickly reneged upon taking office and assuming the burden of war and peace.
Having taken office with no foreign policy experience and denouncing experts, Trump was determined to show his arrival in Washington spells the end of business as usual.
'Many presidents have said they want to do something and they didn't do it,' Trump said in the run-up to his historic address.
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