Angered by Trump, Palestinian Protesters Disrupt U.S.-Backed Seminar

Palestinians protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy on Yerushalayim halted a U.S.-coordinated Palestinian marketing workshop on Tuesday, damaging an American diplomatic vehicle as it sped away.

Protesters threw tomatoes at the vehicle, which had U.S. consular license plates, kicked one of its doors and ripped the plastic casing off a side mirror as it drove off under Palestinian police escort from the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce.

Samir Hazboun, the chamber’s director, told Reuters that a digital marketing workshop was underway when about five protesters barged in.

“We hosted an American expert on this issue. Some people who have been trying to express their point of view and protest the American decision regarding Jerusalem and the political situation … interrupted the workshop and we stopped the workshop,” Hazboun said.

Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement recognizing Yerushalayim as Israel’s capital overturned decades of U.S. policy that its status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. His declaration drew universal condemnation from Arab leaders and stirred Palestinian street protests.

In the Aida refugee camp near Beit Lechem on Saturday, effigies of Trump and Pence were hanged and burned in a protest attended by about 30 Palestinians.