BEIRUT — Thousands of Hezbollah supporters joined a fiery rally in Beirut on Monday as the movement’s leader urged Palestinians to rise up after President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
Demonstrators packed the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs in a carefully managed march. Crowds chanted “Death to America, death to Israel!” and waved Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.
Israel’s military, meanwhile, reported that two rockets were fired Monday at its territory from the Gaza Strip, the third volley since Trump said last week that he would break with decades of U.S. foreign policy to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. That announcement has sparked protests across the Arab world.
Hundreds of protesters clashed with Lebanese security forces near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Sunday, hurling rocks and bottles toward the compound as the army beat back the crowd using tear gas and water cannons.
But so far, more-serious violence has not materialized, and Palestinian concerns about Jerusalem have failed to energize most Arab governments. Many leaders here seem more focused on conflicts in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere that are roiling the region.
Addressing the crowd Monday via video link, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah described Trump’s policy change as a “foolish decision” that would mark the “beginning of the end” of the Jewish state.
Lebanon harbors more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom fled their homes in what is now Israel and the West Bank during the wars of 1948 and 1967. The Lebanese state has never formally recognized their status as refugees, and Palestinians are barred from dozens of professions.
Trump’s decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has drawn widespread condemnation from allies around the world, many of whom had seen the city’s eventual status as a matter to be settled in a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday that the 28-member bloc delivered a “clear and united” message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Brussels, and that the only “realistic” solution is for two states, with Jerusalem as their shared capital.
