احتمالية الحرب الإقليمية الشاملة بين 3 ضوابط

2023, 30 أيلول

هل فعلاً من مصلحة قوى التحرر العربي والإسلامي انتظار مجيء التسويات الدولية الكبرى لتكرار تجربة 1922 سيئة الذكر؟

الحروب الإقليمية.

عمرو علان

رغم انشغال العالم بالحرب العالمية الثالثة المنضبطة الدائرة على الأراضي الأوكرانية، التي تحاول من خلالها القوى الدولية العظمى والقوى الفاعلة ترسيم توازنات النظام العالمي لسنين مقبلة، والتي غطت تداعياتها بقدر كبير على مجريات الأحداث في منطقتنا التي لا تزال الأكثر اشتعالاً منذ عقود، فإن حقائق الجغرافيا وعقَد المواصلات البرية والبحرية عادت لتفرض حضور منطقة المشرق العربي وامتداداته في منطقة غرب آسيا كساحة رئيسة في أي عملية تحول جذري في التوازنات العالمية. 

يمكن قراءة عودة اهتمام القوى الدولية بمنطقة المشرق العربي ضمن معركة صياغة عالم ما بعد الأحادية القطبية في أكثر من مفصل مؤخراً، كان منها حضور الصين المفاجئ كراعٍ للتفاهم السعودي الإيراني في آذار/مارس 2023. 

كذلك، كان من تلك المظاهر إعادة نشر مقاتلات أميركية متطورة في المشرق العربي مؤخراً، بصرف النظر عن أن إعادة الانتشار تلك لم تكن مؤشراً على تحول في الاستراتيجية الأميركية العامة المبنية على عدم التورط في حرب جديدة في المنطقة. 

أخيراً، جاءت زيارة الرئيس بشار الأسد والوفد السوري المرافق لبكين في أيلول/سبتمبر 2023، بناءً على دعوة من الرئيس الصيني، وذلك لحضور حفل افتتاح دورة الألعاب الآسيوية، بحضور نحو 12 من رؤساء الدول الآسيوية، ولتوقيع الرئيسين الصيني والسوري على اتفاقية الشراكة الاستراتيجية بين البلدين.

وقد قرأ البعض في تلك الزيارة رفيعة المستوى سعياً لتغيير المشهد الجيوسياسي الإقليمي، ونزعة صينية متزايدة لتحدي الهيمنة الأميركية التقليدية في المنطقة، لكن ضمن المحددات العامة للسياسة الخارجية الصينية التي تتسم بالحذر المدروس وبالتقدم البطيء نسبياً في المحافل الدولية.

يأتي ازدياد الحضور الصيني في ساحة المشرق العربي، لينضم إلى مجموع المؤثرات الدولية الأخرى القائمة في المنطقة أصلاً، فقد استعادت روسيا موقعها كمؤثر رئيس في مجرى أحداث المنطقة خلال الأعوام القليلة الماضية، لتصبح على قدم المساواة مع الحضور الأميركي المستمر والتقليدي في المنطقة من جهة التأثير. 

وبهذا، صارت هذه العوامل الدولية مجتمعة تشكل واحداً من 3 ضوابط مفصلية تتحكم في توقيت الحرب الإقليمية الشاملة بين محور المقاومة والكيان المؤقت، بحسب ما يرى هذا المقال.

تعد فكرة الحرب الإقليمية أو ما يسميه البعض الانتقال إلى مرحلة الهجوم المعاكس الشامل من أكثر المواضيع تداولاً في الصالونات السياسية هذه الأيام، فالتساؤلات تدور عما إذا كانت هناك في الأفق حرب إقليمية مقبلة؟ ومتى تقع؟ وكيف ستكون طبيعتها؟ 

ولا يمكن واقعياً الجزم بالإجابة عن هذه التساؤلات، ولكن من الممكن محاولة حصر العوامل التي تشكل الإطار الحاكم لاحتمال نشوب حرب إقليمية شاملة، ووضعها ضمن 3 ضوابط أساسية: اثنان يدفعان نحو الحرب، وثالث آخر مثبط، على النحو الآتي:

الضابط الأول: اختلال موازين القوى 

تشير الوقائع وطريقة تعاطي الأطراف الإقليمية مع الأحداث إلى حصول تبدل ملموس في موازين القوى التي كانت تحكم الإقليم لعقود، فإحجام الكيان المؤقت عن شن حرب واسعة على حزب الله في لبنان منذ 2006 من أجل القضاء على قوته أو تحييد خطره على أقل تقدير، وذلك رغم مراكمة الحزب المطردة لعناصر القوة العسكرية التي وصلت فيما وصلت إليه إلى حد امتلاكه الصواريخ الدقيقة وإنشائه “مطار الجبور” العسكري في جنوب لبنان على بعد 20 كيلومتراً فقط من الحدود مع فلسطين المحتلة. 

يُضاف إلى ذلك عدم قدرة “جيش” الاحتلال على اجتياح قطاع غزة برياً لإنهاء وجود فصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية المسلحة فيه، بل على العكس، باتت الفصائل الفلسطينية تقيم المناورات العسكرية تحت مرأى ومسمع من “جيش” الاحتلال من دون أن يقوم بأي رد فعل يذكر، وذلك بسبب مجموعة حسابات معقدة عن الخسائر والأرباح لم يكن الكيان المؤقت ليقيم لها بالاً في الماضي القريب.

لقد جاءت حادثة خيمة حزب الله التي نصبها في مزارع شبعا لتختصر صورة الديناميكيات الجديدة التي باتت تحكم محدودية قدرة الكيان المؤقت على توظيف “جيشه” في مواجهة قوى التحرر العربي والإسلامي، ناهيك بعدم قيامه بعملية عسكرية ضد المشروع النووي الإيراني رغم تهديداته المتكررة بذلك، وحصره المواجهة في هذا المجال بالعمليات الأمنية والاستخباراتية، وذلك تفادياً لحرب لا يستطيع التنبؤ بمداها ونتائجها.

لطالما كانت حسابات الأطراف المتقابلة لتوازنات القوة فيما بينها العامل الأول المؤثر في نشوء الحروب في التجارب التاريخية عموماً، ويبدو أن أركان محور المقاومة باتت تشعر بفائض قوة يمكنها من الضغط على العدو في أكثر من ساحة وتجاوز خطوط كان يَعدها العدو حمراً في الماضي. كان هذا يجري تحت سقف رسمته لنفسها قوى محور المقاومة -أقله حتى اللحظة- يقضي بعدم الدخول في حرب مفتوحة في الإقليم ضمن معادلة “لا نريد الحرب، لكننا لا نخشاها”.

لكن لأي مدى يمكن أن يستمر اللعب على خطوط التماس من دون خروج الأمر عن دائرة التحكّم؟ كيف إذا كان تبدل موازين القوى لا يمكن رصده فعلياً من دون اختباره في الميدان بصورة عملية من خلال الحرب، ناهيك بإمكانية تبدل معادلة محور المقاومة طبقاً للظروف لتغدو: “نريد الحرب ولا نخشاها”؟

الضابط الثاني: صلابة مواقف الأطراف

ترى قوى التحرر العربي والإسلامي في المدى المتوسط إمكانية واقعية لإزالة الكيان المؤقت الذي تعده عنصراً أساسياً في إدامة منظومة الهيمنة الغربية التي تعرقل التنمية في المنطقة واستقرارها، حالها في ذلك حال باقي دول “الجنوب العالمي” التي ترزح تحت الهيمنة الغربية. 

تتجلى الشواهد على ذلك في صراع امتد لعقود، كان آخرها مثلاً رفض الجمهورية الإسلامية القاطع لعروض قدمتها لها بعض الدول، تقضي بمقايضة تخفيف الغارات الجوية الإسرائيلية المتكررة على قواتها في الأراضي السورية، في مقابل تخفيف الدعم الذي تقدمه لفصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية المسلحة، ولا سيما في ساحة الضفة، ما عدته الجمهورية الإسلامية طرحاً يتناقض مع طبيعتها وأسس تكوينها العقائدي.

مواضيع متعلقة

وكان رد محور المقاومة العملي في المقابل البدء بنقل بعض المنشآت العسكرية الإيرانية في سوريا إلى أماكن محصنة تحت الأرض، في محاولة لتقليص آثار الغارات الجوية الإسرائيلية، كما رشح من بعض المصادر.

كما أن خطوة إنشاء حزب الله “مطار الجبور” العسكري بالتعاون مع الجمهورية الإسلامية جاءت في السياق ذاته، إذ يمكن استخدامه -إضافة إلى كونه منصة هجوم على مواقع الاحتلال في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة- كمهبط لطائرات نقل عسكرية متوسطة الحجم إذا اقتضت الحاجة ذلك، ما يؤمن لحزب الله خط إمداد آخر إلى جانب الخط البري الواصل عبر الأراضي السورية، متجاوزاً بذلك تهديد الغارات الإسرائيلية على شحنات السلاح المزعومة.

أما فلسطينياً، فمِن الواضح أن فصائل المقاومة المسلحة الفلسطينية ليست في وارد الدخول في تسويات مع الكيان المؤقت، منطلقةً بذلك من تكوينها العقائدي، ومن تجربة خدعة السلام ومسار “أوسلو” الذي انعكس ضرراً كبيراً على مسار التحرير. ويتجلى هذا المسار في تركيزها على تصعيد العمل المقاوم في الضفة وتطويره، بما تمثله الضفة من ساحة اشتباك استراتيجية مع الاحتلال.

نجد في المقلب الآخر أن الكيان المؤقت لا يستطيع التراجع طوعاً، ولو خطوة واحدة، إلى الوراء، فأي تراجع من ناحيته سيعد ضربة جديدة تقربه من تفككه، ناهيك بكينونته الاستيطانية والإحلالية وطبيعته الوظيفية في المنطقة اللتين تحولان دون تحوله إلى جسم منسجم مع محيطه الإقليمي.

لا يحتاج هذا الأمر إلى كثير من التدليل؛ فيكفي النظر إلى مخططاته المعلنة الرامية إلى تهجير العدد الأكبر من فلسطينيي الضفة وأراضي فلسطين 1948 على حد سواء، وعزمه الصريح على تهويد القدس، وهدم المسجد الأقصى، وتهديد الأماكن المقدسة الإسلامية والمسيحية في فلسطين المحتلة. كل هذا برغم ما قدمته له السلطة الفلسطينية مع دول التطبيع من تنازلات ترقى إلى مستوى الخيانات الوطنية، ورغم ما أبدته هذه الأطراف أمامه من انبطاح وخنوع.

إذاً، طبقاً لهذا الوضع الجيوسياسي الهش بين الأطراف المتقابلة، ستبقى خطوط التماس غير مستقرة، وستزداد مع الوقت احتمالات اشتعال الجبهات، إذ لن يستقر الإقليم إلا بإحدى حالتين: 

– تسوية كبرى لا تلوح في الأفق، فكل ما شهدته المنطقة في العامين أو الأعوام الثلاثة الماضية كان مجرد تسويات موضعية أشبه ما تكون بالمسكنات التي تؤخر الانفجار الكبير.

– صدام إقليمي ترسم نتائجه شكل الإقليم المقبل وتوازناته، وهذا ما يبدو أقرب إلى الواقع حتى حينه.

الضابط الثالث: العامل الدولي

يعدّ الضابطان الأول والثاني دافعين نحو وقوع الحرب الإقليمية الشاملة، فيما يؤدي العامل الدولي دور الضابط المثبط في هذه المعادلة المتشابكة، إذ لا يمكن تجاهل تأثير الولايات المتحدة القوي في المنطقة واستراتيجيتها المبنية على منع تفجر الأوضاع في الإقليم في هذه الحقبة. 

وقد تجلت تلك الاستراتيجية في أكثر من محطة، كان منها على سبيل المثال لا الحصر الموقف الأميركي الضاغط نحو التهدئة في معركة “سيف القدس” عام 2021، والوساطة التي قادتها لإبرام اتفاق ترسيم الحدود البحرية بين الدولة اللبنانية وكيان الاحتلال 2022، ضمن سياسة تفكيك الألغام القابلة للانفجار في المنطقة عبر التسويات المحدودة والموضعية، إضافة إلى رفضها المستمر للسير وراء الضغوط الإسرائيلية الداعية إلى مهاجمة الجمهورية الإسلامية عسكرياً على خلفية المشروع النووي الإيراني. 

أما بالنسبة إلى روسيا، التي بات لها وجود إقليمي لا يقل أهمية عن الحضور الأميركي، فهي ليست معنية باشتعال الأوضاع في المنطقة أو بأن تكون جزءاً مباشراً في الصراع العربي-الإسلامي الإسرائيلي.

يبدو هذا واضحاً من سلوكها في التغاضي عن الغارات الإسرائيلية المستمرة على الأراضي السورية، أقله حتى هذه اللحظة، فروسيا بغنى عن الدخول في صدام مع الحليف الأول لأميركا والغرب عموماً في المنطقة، إضافة إلى علاقاتها مع الكيان المؤقت التي تضعها بالحسبان ضمن استراتيجياتها العامة.

ولعل روسيا تطمح إلى أداء دور عراب “السلام” في المستقبل بين الكيان المؤقت ودول المنطقة، ذلك بمعزل عن مدى صحة هذه القراءة الروسية للوضع الإقليمي وفرص نجاحها.

يبقى الحضور الصيني المتزايد والمستجد في الإقليم الذي لا بد من أنه سيكون من ضمن أولوياته تهدئة الأوضاع، وذلك بهدف تأمين بيئة آمنة للاستثمارات الصينية التجارية في الإقليم ومشروعها الاستراتيجي “الحزام والطريق”.

يشكّل العامل الدولي ثقلاً كبيراً لا يستهان به ضمن معادلة الضوابط الثلاث الحاكمة لنشوب حرب إقليمية شاملة، لكن ما دام العامل الدولي لم يرتقِ إلى مرتبة القدرة على عقد تسويات كبرى في المنطقة، فإنه سيظل عامل تثبيط مؤقتاً من دون أن يصل إلى مستوى تحقيق الاستقرار الدائم، وهذا ما يرجح أن تكون عليه الحال. 

ضابط إضافي؟

يرى البعض في كون الطبقة السياسية الحاكمة في الكيان حالياً، التي يسيطر عليها المستوطنون والصهيونية الدينية الأكثر تطرفاً، عاملاً آخر يدفع نحو الحرب. هذا التقدير يحمل الكثير من الصحة في طياته بقدر أن رعونة وحمْق الطبقة الحاكمة في الكيان يمكن أن يدفعاها إلى خطوة في الأراضي المحتلة تؤدي إلى إشعال الجبهات، لكن مع هذا، يظل كيان الاحتلال محكوماً بمؤسسات متجذرة ترتبط بأجهزة “الجيش” والاستخبارات التي تصوغ تقديراتها وتوصياتها عادة بناءً على حقائق الميدان وبحِرفية.

ولا يمكن بحال تجاهل التأثير الأميركي الوازن في قرارات الكيان المرتبطة بشن الحروب، ويعد الحد من حجم النفوذ الأميركي في الكيان وتأثيره جزءاً من المعركة الداخلية المحتدمة بين المعارضة وحكومة الاحتلال هذه الأيام، لكن هذه المعركة لم يتم حسمها بعد، والأرجح ألا يكون هناك أي تبدل لمستوى النفوذ الأميركي على قرارات الكيان لأسباب لا محل لنقاشها هنا.

خاتمة

تعيش المنطقة العربية والإسلامية حالة من عدم الاستقرار منذ 1922، مما اصطلح عليه ديفيد فرومكين عبارة “سلام ما بعده سلام”، إذ دخلت المنطقة منذ ذاك الحين مرحلة شاذة تتنافى مع تكوينها العمراني وعمقها التاريخي الذي جعل منها منطقة مشتعلة على الدوام، وقنبلة موقوتة تنتظر الانفجار متى توفرت الظروف الملائمة لذلك، وليس هناك سبيل موضوعي كي تستعيد المنطقة استقرارها -أقله النسبي- إلا بخروجها من الحالة الشاذة التي تعيشها منذ نحو قرن من الزمن وإزالة الكيان المؤقت الذي يعد أحد أبرز أسباب إدامة عدم الاستقرار في المنطقة، بما يمثله من امتداد للوجود الغربي الاستعماري داخل الإقليم.

إذا كانت حال المنطقة تحاكي قنبلة موقوتة، فإن مجموع العوامل والظروف الإقليمية في هذه الحقبة تقترب أكثر فأكثر لتوفير صاعق التفجير.

يسابق الزمن هذه الأيام بين أمرين؛ نضوج ظروف التسويات الكبرى الدولية في معركة رسم عالم ما بعد الأحادية القطبية التي ستنعكس حتماً على المنطقة، بصرف النظر عن رضا الأطراف، ونضوج الظروف تماماً لحرب إقليمية شاملة أو وقوع خطأ في التقدير من أحد الخصوم الإقليميين يخرِج الأوضاع عن السيطرة، فأي الظروف ستنضج أولاً، علماً بأن التسويات الكبرى الدولية ليست قريبة، وطريقها ما زال متعرجاً ومليئاً بالمفاجآت؟

يظل السؤال العالق الذي يؤرق بال الكثيرين: هل فعلاً من مصلحة قوى التحرر العربي والإسلامي انتظار مجيء التسويات الكبرى الدولية لتكرار تجربة 1922 سيئة الذكر؟

ن الآراء المذكورة في هذه المقالة لا تعبّر بالضرورة عن رأي الميادين وإنما تعبّر عن رأي صاحبها حصراً

The Third Intifada: A new chapter in the Palestinian struggle for liberation

June 29 2023

Photo Credit: The Cradle

As resistance activities intensify across the West Bank, indicating another potential uprising with similar causes as the previous two intifadas, the evolving armed resistance suggests a heightened level of sophistication and adaptability among the resistance groups.

By Ali Abou Jbara

The occupied Palestinian territories have undergone a series of significant changes since last year, with the most notable being the escalation of resistance operations in the occupied West Bank. This development has transformed the territory into a frontline between Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation state, reminiscent of the atmosphere during the Second Intifada over two decades ago.

That the occupation army has reactivated its assassination policy through targeted air strikes against resistance figures has solidified this line of argument.

The question that has been circulating for some time now is whether this signifies the onset of a third Palestinian intifada. Alternatively, a more realistic inquiry would be to determine when exactly the current uprising began.

Following the battle of Sayf al-Quds (“Sword of Jerusalem”) in May 2021, the frequency and organization of resistance attacks significantly increased. What initially started as individual actions by Palestinian youth groups evolved into coordinated operations supported by various resistance factions across the West Bank.

Growing support for another Palestinian uprising

The intensification of resistance operations led to over 28 Israeli deaths by the middle of 2023, in comparison to 31 deaths the previous year. This dealt a significant blow to the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who, alongside his far-right allies, boasted during their election campaign that only they could prevent such attacks. However, the passage of time proved otherwise for “Mr. Security” (as Netanyahu is often referred to).

On 20 June, 2023, four Israelis were killed near the illegal Eli settlement in the West Bank. Just a day earlier, during the storming of the Jabriyat neighborhood in the Jenin refugee camp, a booby-trapped device exploded, injuring seven Israeli soldiers. The operation, claimed by the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), compelled the Israeli army to deploy combat helicopters for the first time since the Battle of Jenin in 2002.

Israeli Channel 14 published statistics on the first six months of 2023. The report claims that 147 operations took place in the occupied West Bank against the occupation forces and settlers, 80 percent of them (120 operations) shooting operations. As for the entirety of 2022, a total of 202 operations were carried out, 74% of which (150 operations) involved the use of firearms.

Meanwhile, the year 2021 witnessed 117 operations in total, 51% of which (60 operations) were carried out with firearms. In just one week of June 2013, 15 shootings were recorded in the occupied West Bank.

The numbers clearly indicate that resistance operations in the occupied territories have been on the rise, along with the percentage of the usage of firearms.

Aside from resistance developments on the ground, Palestinian public sentiment also suggests another intifada is imminent. In March, an opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research revealed a significant increase in the percentage of individuals supporting armed confrontations and an intifada.

Just over 60 percent in the West Bank expected the outbreak of a third armed intifada, while almost 70 percent expressed support for the formation of resistance factions, such as the Nablus-based Lions’ Den.

Another 70 percent of respondents also felt that “punitive measures” by the occupation forces against Palestinians would lead to further escalations and retaliatory attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Under the current extremist Israeli government, attacks against Palestinians have surged, exemplified by recent assaults by settlers on the towns of Turmusaya and Huwara. These attacks resulted in the death of two Palestinians and the destruction of numerous homes and vehicles, all under the watchful eye of the Israeli occupation forces.

This intifada will be different

Over the past year, the Israeli occupation forces killed 167 Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, 50 in the Gaza Strip, and four in the occupied Palestinian territories. The grim reality continues for Palestinian prisoners, with approximately 4,700 individuals, including more than 500 Jerusalemites, enduring harsh and inhumane detention conditions.

Among them, about 700 are suffering from various illnesses, and tragically, four prisoners have lost their lives due to the occupation’s policy of medical negligence. Furthermore, the year 2022 witnessed the arrest of 7,000 Palestinians, including 850 children and 160 women.

On the other side of the conflict, the number of settlers killed in Palestinian resistance attacks has risen to 31 this year, a significant increase compared to 5 in 2019, 3 in 2020, and 4 in 2021. This surge in Israeli casualties evokes memories of 2002, when the Israeli army launched Operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank in an attempt to suppress resistance and quell martyrdom operations.

The Israeli Prime Minister at the time, war criminal Ariel Sharon, dubbed the month of March as “black,” when 105 Israelis were killed, including 26 soldiers, in martyrdom operations. Under the illusion of ending the Al-Aqsa Intifada (which he provoked in the first place by visiting the mosque’s compound), Sharon gave the green light for an invasion of the West Bank.

According to Daoud Shehab, a spokesperson for the PIJ, there have been attempts in the West Bank to extinguish the national spirit and create a new generation that embraces coexistence with the occupation and normalizes its presence. However, these efforts have proven unsuccessful. Shehab tells The Cradle that, “Today, it has been proven that all these attempts failed.”

In a March report by Reuters, it was argued that any new Palestinian uprising will be completely different from previous ones, as it will be disconnected from traditional Palestinian leadership, yet informed about Palestinian suffering through social media.

The report highlighted the escalation of “spontaneous” armed attacks in the West Bank against the occupation forces and settlers, the endeavor of some young people to announce their affiliation with Palestinian factions, and the emergence of armed groups such as the Lions’ Den and Jenin Brigade are all indications that something out of the ordinary is happening.

The Nablus-Jenin nexus

The Lions’ Den has garnered widespread popular support, transforming into more than just a group of individuals. It has become an idea that unites Palestinian across political parties and affiliations. Together with the Jenin Brigade, these groups pose a significant threat to the Israeli army, which can no longer storm Nablus and Jenin without encountering armed resistance.

Moreover, both groups have transitioned from a defensive stance to an offensive one – taking the initiative in attacking occupation checkpoints and settlements surrounding the two cities in an unprecedented manner not seen since the Second Intifada.

Confrontations with enemy soldiers have evolved beyond gunfire, now involving the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), raising serious concerns among the Israeli army and the Shin Bet security service. On 14 March, Haaretz newspaper reported the growing unease within the army and Shin Bet regarding the rising attempts to manufacture local IEDs:

“During the second intifada, in the first years of this century, terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were intensively involved in preparing explosive charges and explosive belts, which were the most lethal and effective weapons against Israel.”

Despite operating under siege and facing numerous challenges, the resistance groups have succeeded in transforming the occupied West Bank into a battlefield where the occupation army faces attrition.

The De-facto Intifada

Under the current Israeli government, the Palestinian people’s awareness of the occupation’s plans for Judaization and settlement is growing, along with their determination to confront the far-right.

On 13 March 2023, the spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, Abu Hamza, called for a renewed intifada, stating:

“We call on all the fighters among our people and the free people in the West Bank and in Israel to mobilize for this war, so that there will be an overall intifada that will create the basis for the end of our enemy and its expulsion from all of Palestine.”

Hamas refugee affairs official Issam Adwan agrees on the likelihood of another uprising, informing The Cradle that “the people are the ones who resist and the pace will increase … neither the Palestinian Authority [PA] nor the Israeli occupation will be able to curb it.”

Developments are not restricted to the situation on the ground – Israel sends political messages to the Palestinian people, from which one can understand that the only option to liberate the land is through ‘revolutionary violence.’

In addition to the continuation of building settlements and the seizure of Palestinian property in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Hebrew media revealed on 26 June 2023 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Knesset that the idea of a Palestinian state must be “eradicated.”

His statement expresses the systematic Israeli policy towards the Palestinians for 3 decades – that the only option before them is to surrender. But recent events have revealed that the Palestinian people reject kneeling.

In February, CIA Director William Burns expressed his concern over the situation in the West Bank resembling the prelude to the second Palestinian intifada, signaling Washington’s apprehension about the Palestinian Authority losing control. He stated that the CIA is working in coordination with the PA and Israel to achieve stability.

However, it is not necessary for the current circumstances to resemble those preceding the previous two intifadas for them to be labeled as such. Clear distinctions existed between the first and second intifadas. The first, which erupted in December 1987, started as a popular struggle primarily characterized by stone-throwing incidents and became known as the “Stone-throwing Uprising.”

In contrast, the Second Intifada involved armed acts of resistance, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or through special operations in the 1948 territories. It witnessed the participation of both the public and the Palestinian resistance factions, along with a significant portion of the official PA apparatus.

Israel closely monitors the developments in the Palestinian landscape and is deeply concerned about the level of confrontation with the occupation. The “Intifada of Knives” that emerged in 2015 has transformed into acts of resistance that are affecting Israelis across all of Palestine. While a precise name for the current situation may not yet exist, it is evident that a new uprising is in the making – and its true nature will become clearer with time.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

Strong condemnations of Israeli decision to hasten settlement process

18 Jun 2023

Source: Agencies

The illegal Israeli settlement of “Halamish” behind a Palestinian flag in the occupied West Bank (AFP)

By Al Mayadeen English

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry says the illegal settlement expansion and forcible expulsion of Palestinians from their houses is a “flagrant violation” and a “grave breach” of international law.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry considered on Sunday that the Israeli occupation government’s plans to hand Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich the authority to approve new construction of illegal Israeli settlements represent a serious development in the way to complete Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

In a statement, the Ministry warned of the dangers of such a decision, which it described as another step toward applying Israeli occupation law to the West Bank and facilitating the “quiet, noiseless” approval of settlements.

The statement called for “real international and American action” to pressure the occupation government to retract the decision, and to take the necessary practical steps to force the Netanyahu government to end its illegal unilateral violations that undermine the opportunities to achieve a so-called “two-state solution”.

Despite an “Israeli commitment” during the Aqaba meeting between the US, “Israel”, Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority, to “stop discussing the establishment of any new settlement units for 4 months, and to stop approving any new settlement outposts for a period of 6 months,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously confirmed that “the construction of settlement outposts in the West Bank will continue without any change.”

It is noteworthy that under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal, and the United Nations Security Council has condemned Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in late February that Israeli-built settlements are “illegal” and they “must stop”.

Jordan

On its part, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Israeli occupation government’s plan to expedite the process of approving settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

The Ministry’s spokesperson, Sinan Majali, underlined in a statement that illegal settlement expansion and forcible displacement of Palestinians from their houses is a “flagrant violation” and a “grave breach” of international law.

Majali referred to Security Council Resolution No. 2334, which calls on the international community to take swift action to stop unilateral Israeli occupation measures.

The Jordanian official rejected and condemned the Israeli occupation’s measures that represent a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and undermine the “foundations of peace” and chances to realize the so-called “two-state solution”.

Hamas

In the same context, Hamas said it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the frenzied campaign launched by the Zionist occupation authorities to Judaise our Palestinian land as settler-colonial projects that will not grant the Israeli occupation legitimacy over our land.”

“Hamas calls on the international community, particularly the United Nations, to take serious, swift action to put an end to these Judaisation projects that will escalate the situation and pose a threat to world peace and security,” the Resistance movement indicated in a statement.

It also called for “criminalizing colonial settlement expansion as it blatantly violates international laws and resolutions.”

Earlier, Hussein Al-Sheikh, the Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), announced that the Palestinian Authority decided to boycott the meeting of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) with the Israeli occupation, which was scheduled to be held on Monday.

It is noteworthy that last week, three Israeli and US officials told Axios that the Israeli occupation government informed President Joe Biden’s administration that it intends to announce in late June the building and planning of thousands of new “housing units” in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Axios cited one source briefed on the matter as saying that the Israeli occupation plans include at least 4,000 “housing units” in several illegal settlements in the West Bank.

An Israeli official told the news website that the so-called “Israeli civil administration planning and zoning committee” will meet in late June to approve the plans.

According to Axios, Israeli and US officials revealed that the US administration is pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to postpone the announcement or to reduce it as much as possible.

Reacting to the Axios report at a White House briefing, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, claimed that for a long time, the US administration has been voicing its worries to the Israeli government about illegal settlements expansion.

Kirby alleged that Washington does not wish to witness acts that make the so-called “two-state solution” more difficult to accomplish or that raise tensions.

In the same context, a US State Department spokesperson underlined that it is “critical for all parties to uphold the commitments made at regional meetings in Aqaba and Sharm El Sheikh to avoid measures that undermine the prospects for a two-state solution.”

Despite the US publicly criticizing the Israeli occupation’s plans, the Israeli news website Haaretz revealed in 2015 that at least 50 organizations in the United States were involved in fundraising for illegal Israeli settlements.

According to Haaretz, part of the funds also went “toward providing legal aid to Jews accused or convicted of terrorism, and supporting their families” through “Honenu”, a “legal aid society.”

“Among those who benefited from the group’s support in 2013 were the family of Ami Popper, who murdered seven Palestinian laborers in 1990, and members of the Bat Ayin Underground, which attempted to detonate a bomb at a girls’ school in East Jerusalem in 2002,” the Israeli news website highlighted.

Read more: IOF military complicit with settlers to aggravate Huwara attack: CNN

Palestinian Resistance in West Bank Moves from Mere Defense to Decisive Attacks

 June 17, 2023

One of the Palestinian youths was injured early Saturday during clashes with the Zionist occupation forces in Jenin, West Bank.

Ibn Sina Hospital announced that the Zionist gunfire hit the young man’s right hand.

Palestinian sources reported that clashes erupted between the Palestinian youths and the Zionist occupation forces near Jenin camp, adding that the resistance fighters used guns and explosives to target the enemy troops.

Jenin Brigade mentioned that its fighters frustrated the enemy’s scheme to entice them into certain ambush positions, adding that the resistance men dealt major blows to the enemy.

Fatah Movement Commander Jamal Haweel indicated that Jenin fighters worked in accordance to the message of the Islamic Jihad Chief Ziad Nakhalah’s message to move from defense to attacks.

Suspension Bridge

Meanwhile, the Zionist enemy is scheduled to inaugurate the suspension bridge linking Al-Thawri neighborhood and Al-Rababa Valley in the south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, occupied Al-Quds, in the  context of the Judaization schemes.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

GCC foreign ministers urge international action to stop Israel’s settlement construction plans

Monday, 12 June 2023 1:03 AM  [ Last Update: Monday, 12 June 2023 2:36 AM ]

US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (L) talks with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a rally with fellow Democrats before voting on H.R. 1, or the People Act, on the East Steps of the US Capitol on March 08, 2019 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)
This file photo shows a partial view of the Israeli settlement of Ariel, near the city of Nablus in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. (via AFP)

Foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have strongly condemned Israel’s plans to build new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, urging international action to stop such plans.

The foreign ministers voiced the condemnation during the body’s 156th ministerial meeting in the Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh on Sunday.

The ministers rejected the regime’s efforts to annex the settlements or impose its sovereignty over them, saying such efforts are against the resolutions adopted by international organizations, most notably the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.

The resolution, which was adopted in December 2016, describes Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds as “a flagrant violation under international law.”

The GCC foreign ministers also urged the international community to mount pressure on the occupying regime to reverse its settlement policies.

They reaffirmed their support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over the occupied territories, calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.

In late February, the UN secretary-general called for an end to Israel’s settlement activities, stressing the illegality of all structures built in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“All settlement activity is illegal under international law. It must stop,” Antonio Guterres said while addressing the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

In late May, a European Union representative condemned the Israeli regime’s plans for the construction of nearly 600 new illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank, calling on Tel Aviv to reconsider the decision.

Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, the EU’s ambassador to Palestine, made the remarks during a visit by a delegation of 20 European ambassadors and consuls to the historical town of Sebastia, north of Nablus.

He also denounced the occupying regime’s support for Israeli settlers to return to evacuated settlements in the northern West Bank.

Israel has built over 230 settlements since its 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, including East al-Quds. The settlements house more than 600,000 Israeli settlers.

Palestinians want the West Bank to serve as part of their future state, with East al-Quds as its capital.

In another part of their statement, the ministers condemned incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound by Israeli settlers and officials as an extension of the regime’s plans to Judaize the occupied city of al-Quds.

The compound, which is located in the Old City of al-Quds, is Islam’s third holiest site.

According to an agreement signed between Israel and the Jordanian government following the former’s occupation of East al-Quds, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.

Illegal Israeli settlers, however, regularly storm the compound amid strict protection provided for them by Israeli forces.


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Israeli Provocations: Ben-Gvir Raids Al-Aqsa, Controversial Weekly Meeting Underground

 May 21, 2023

Today, on Sunday, the Israeli occupation government is set to convene its weekly meeting in the tunnels of the Al-Buraq Wall, located beneath the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque. This marks the second time they have chosen this location for their meeting, the first being in 2017.

The Israeli occupation government has announced that the meeting will be overseen by the self-proclaimed Ministry of Jerusalem, aimed at endorsing projects to Judaize the city. Of primary concern is a five-year plan from 2023 to 2027, focusing on the so-called Judaizing holy wicker project.

To add on, under heavy police protection, dozens of extremist Israeli settlers, led by hard-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, forcefully entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem this morning.

This is the second occasion where this hawkish Israeli minister has trespassed into this Islamic holy site since assuming his ministerial position.

Asserting his authority, Ben-Gvir proclaimed, “We are in charge here,” as he roamed the site. He expressed his delight in ascending to the Temple Mount, a site of utmost significance to the Jewish people.

Following Ben-Gvir’s unauthorized entry, additional groups of Israeli Jewish settlers were permitted into the compound, where they conducted rituals under the watchful gaze of the police.

Situated in occupied Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque holds tremendous sanctity for Muslims and is recognized as the third holiest site in Islam. Historically, it served as the original Qibla, the direction to which Muslims turned for prayer, before Mecca in Saudi Arabia became the new Qibla.

Wide Condemnations

The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs has unequivocally condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir’s violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem. Ambassador Sinan Al-Majali, spokesperson for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, labeled Ben-Gvir’s intrusion as “provocative, condemned, dangerous, and unacceptable.” He emphasized that it constitutes a blatant transgression of international law, as well as the established historical and legal status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

Al-Majali cautioned against the continuous assaults by Israel on Islamic and Christian sacred places in Jerusalem. He also highlighted the unilateral measures of settlement expansion and daily incursions into Palestinian communities, warning that such actions could lead to further escalations, demanding immediate intervention from the international community to prevent them.

Furthermore, Al-Majali emphasized that the Al-Aqsa Mosque, encompassing its entire 144-dunum area, is a sacred place of worship for Muslims. He reiterated that the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, is the legitimate authority with exclusive jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, including determining who is granted access.

Al-Majali called upon Israel, the occupying power, to cease all practices and violations in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to refrain from any measures intended to alter the existing historical and legal status quo of this revered site.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, vehemently condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir’s trespass into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, deeming it a flagrant assault on this holy place, which will bear severe consequences.

Abu Rudeineh affirmed that attempts by Ben-Gvir and other extremists to alter the status quo of the Al-Aqsa Mosque are unequivocally condemned and rejected, and are destined to fail. He underscored that the Palestinian people will vigilantly protect their sacred site.

The presidential spokesperson stressed that Ben-Gvir’s violation demands immediate action from the international community, particularly the United States administration, to preserve the status quo in Jerusalem.

“Harming the Al-Aqsa Mosque is akin to playing with fire, and it will ignite a religious war with unimaginable consequences that will affect everyone,” he concluded.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

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75 Years on Establishment of ‘Israel’: The Last Generation?

 May 1, 2023

Protests swept through the Zionist entity over the far-right government’s plan to overhaul judiciary system.

Yahya Dbouk*

Translated by Areej Fatima Al-Husseini

On the 75th anniversary of its ill-fated establishment, the occupation regime is not at its best. Where, in addition to the mounting risks in its strategic surroundings, there is a potentially more imminent menace encircling it from within, shaking it and bringing it even closer to the edge of a “brothers’ war“ whose nightmare hangs over the Israeli elites. Indeed, the two parties to the conflict may eventually reach a temporary “conflict freeze” that will save the entity from a new political and public conflict, similar to the one that accompanied Yoav Gallant’s dismissal. Yet, the aforementioned will not signal the end of the crisis; rather, it will merely be postponed until its rebirth is more forceful and thorough. Perhaps what reinforces such forecasts is that the religious people who are leading the “revolution” today will become a vast majority within a few decades, implying greater effectiveness and wider influence.

“Israel” fails to leave the scene of its months-long turmoil, as solutions falter and the advantages of temporary settlements fade. This is added to deferring hard dues exacerbates and deepens the conflict.

On its 75th year, Israel is no longer able to manage the conflicts of its social components, or so-called tribes, after previously controlling them through “understandings” that combined an emphasis on common denominators with the use of security threats to promote “Jewish cohesion,” in what represents a recipe that has already shown relative success.

However, these disputes were destined to erupt within two or three decades, as the religious “Haredi” component, as well as the national religious component, grew in number, potency, influence, and power. This will compel them to breach such understandings and choose their ideology over other Jews.

During the previous government, led by Yair Lapid, which brought together all of Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents, the latter sensed an impending threat to him. The threat was to imprison Netanyahu and halt his political career on corruption and bribery charges. On the other hand, the Haredim found themselves without funding for their institutions or social gifts, with the possibility of being forced to enlist in the Israeli army, as well as the adoption of laws and procedures that revoked some of their status and exclusivity.

The previous administration reminded the fascist extreme right, or “religious Zionists,” that settlements on the so-called “Jewish land in the West Bank” are still viable and have not been fully eliminated from the lexicon of certain groups of Israelis. It also cautioned them that their ambition to Judaize and Talmudize the ‘state’ at the cost of liberals and traditional Jews would not be readily realized.

This combination of threats and dangers compelled those targeted to collaborate, allowing Netanyahu to evade prosecution for his crimes. Such combination also empowered the religious groups, of all types, to enforce their will through laws and legislation that are not susceptible to veto or rejection by the judiciary, which retains power and rejects any attempt to favor one Jewish community over another.

As a result, interests have been focused on eliminating the Supreme Court’s authority to nominate justices and restricting the latter’s capacity to evaluate laws, which is a topic of discord. However, in a “normal” state, such a dispute would not have resulted in the division that Israel is experiencing nowadays. Thus, the current scenario foreshadows civil war, with predecessors that can only be explained by the presence of significant contrasts in visions, aspirations, and ideologies.

After two or three decades, the religious Jews will become the numerical majority, bolstering their position and ability to influence and fight political battles.

As a result, it is evident that the heart of the battle is to prevent or offer an opportunity for Jewish social components to impose their will on other Jewish groups. It is worth noting that proponents of change today seek to monopolize power and implement Talmudic governance by breaching the “defensive wall” represented by the judiciary. Whereas, the opposing camp refuses to harm the judiciary and demands that its powers remain unchanged to prevent any change in the social contract in place for the past seven decades.

The various religious “Haredi” parties are in the first camp, with religious Zionists (the national religious current) on their side, as well as Netanyahu’s right-wing and liberal Likud party.

The second camp is comprised of liberals from multiple parties and movements (right, left, centrist, and even traditional, including an important segment of the “Likud” base). It also includes the majority of Israeli women and youth, as well as homosexuals, who have become prominent number among Jewish organizations. In addition to economists, sociologists, industrialists, diplomats, and others with economic, social, and political contacts overseas.

The division reached the social, economic, political, and diplomatic sectors, as well as military and security institutions. The reservists – the most significant, effective, and influential component in the Israeli army – are at risk of disintegration as the number of individuals refusing to serve has grown, as well as reservists in the Air Force, intelligence, and the Mossad.

On the economic front, the split manifests into warnings of a “gloomy future” for ‘Israel’ as a result of capital flight, evacuation of institutions and corporations, and investor withdrawal. Hence, the protest wave grew to the point where Netanyahu could no longer contain it, especially after he decided to fire his security minister, Yoav Galant (of the Likud), to teach the “Likudists” a lesson. This decision, however, had disastrous ramifications, compelling him to suspend the “judicial overhaul” plan rather than cancel it.

This suspension prompted a decrease in demonstrations, but it wasn’t sufficient to stop them. Rather, opponents are waiting for Netanyahu at the “junction” to re-occupy the squares, while the future coalition is not entirely clear, despite the approaching deadline for postponing the overhaul, which is set for May 1st. Will the coalition then return to the “reform” path, attracting larger and broader protests? Or retreat without admitting failure? Also, what will the opposition’s stance be in both cases? Will they be content with Netanyahu’s retreat, or will they demand more?

Whatever occurs, it will not end the divide, which has deepened as a result of the current crisis. Accordingly, if the religious are unable to dismantle the internal equations and excessive social contracts that exist among Jews, ‘Israel’ will be at a later date, in the near future, with the renewal of the coup attempt, when the numerical status of these people has been further strengthened.

In 2022, religious groups in ‘Israel’ reached 36% of Jews, as opposed to a Jewish majority comprised of secular and non-religious or semi-religious traditionalists. However, this minority, which now controls the government coalition, is likely to grow in number, eventually outnumbering secularists and others. This indicates that within two or three decades, the religious will become the numerical majority, strengthening their position and power to influence and wage political wars.

Therefore, ‘Israel’ is on the verge of further division and maybe civil war, unless decision-makers take action to delay the eruption and let the conflicts be managed for a longer period, especially because agreement on a key consensus is not feasible. Further, if the “brothers’ war” isn’t already bloody, it will be shortly, unless solutions, that are still too vague to discuss, emerge.

* Yahya Dbouk is a Lebanese journalist who writes for Al-Akhbar Lebanese newspaper. This article was published by the daily on Thursday, April 27, 2023.

Source: Al-Akhbar Newspaper (Translated by Al-Manar English Website Staff)

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All-out resistance only means of liberation: Resistance factions

30 Mar 2023

Source: Agencies

Palestinian women wave flags during a rally marking the 47th anniversary of Land Day, east of Gaza City, occupied Palestine, March 30, 2023 (AP)

By Al Mayadeen English 

Palestinian Resistance factions called Thursday for national unity and the bolstering of comprehensive Resistance to defend the country against continuous Israeli violations.

The factions said in a press release on Land Day that this day was a momentous turning point in the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian people’s confrontation with the occupation’s colonial plans.

The factions underlined the unity of the land, the people, and the Resistance, highlighting that historic Palestine is an endowed land “of which we cannot give up a single grain of sand, and it belongs to Palestinians. The Zionist occupation will inevitably vanish.”

Furthermore, the factions said the right to return was well-established and could never be given up. “The Palestinian people have given sacrifices for more than 75 years, and it still is, in an effort to regain their right to return and their overall rights.

Palestinians commemorate Land Day on March 30. This has been ongoing since 1976 when the Israeli occupation confiscated large swaths of Palestinian land in occupied Palestine, which sparked protests that led to numerous martyrdoms and injuries.

Palestinian Resistance faction Hamas said it was adhering to national unity and comprehensive Resistance as a sole means of regaining the Palestinian people’s rights, as well as reclaiming occupied Palestinian territories and religious sanctities.

Hamas “will not give up an inch of historic Palestine. The occupation’s plans and criminality will not pay off in allowing it to steal our land, nor will it allow it to colonially infiltrate our culture and alter historic facts.”

The Resistance movement called on Palestinians to go to Al-Aqsa Mosque and station themselves there to prevent Israeli settlers from raiding it as they seek to divide the mosque.

The Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) condemned major powers’ provision of protection and aid to Israelis and their political cover for their crimes, which is in violation of international law.

The PFLP underlined that the Israeli occupation sought to escalate against occupied Palestine by forming a new gang under the banner of the “National Guard”.

“Netanyahu is now holding a meeting with Ben-Gvir and ministers from his Likud party to discuss developments,” Israeli media said Monday, highlighting that “Netanyahu pledged to Ben-Gvir that the cabinet would approve the establishment of a National Guard as a subordinate to the Police Ministry.”

The PFLP underlined the need for unity and Resistance as a means of safeguarding Palestinians in their confrontation against “Israel”, calling for an escalation in the confrontation with the occupation, as well as drawing up a united political strategy to confront it.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on the other hand, condemned the Palestinian projects and agreements that provide political cover to the Israeli occupation. 

“These projects contributed to providing a political cover to Israel to carry out its colonialist project in the majority of the West Bank and expedite the Judaization of Al-Quds,” the DFLP said. 

The faction also called on the Palestinian Authority to halt the discussions regarding the political projects, the last of which was the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, demanding that it also undertakes resistance as a path toward liberation.

Sharm El-Sheikh hosted earlier in March a five-sided meeting between the PA, the Israeli occupation, Egypt, Jordan, and the United States aimed at “de-escalation” in the region.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority (PA) agreed during a security meeting in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh to establish a mechanism to “curb violence” and counter “inflammatory statements and actions.”

It is noteworthy that the same provision was included in the concluding statement of the Aqaba meeting that was held by Jordan a couple of weeks ago. However, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed that “the construction of settlement outposts in the West Bank will continue without any change.”

Under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal, and the United Nations Security Council has condemned Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

According to the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting statement, the two sides reaffirmed their “commitment to all previous agreements between them, in particular, the legal right of the Palestinian National Authority to carry out the security responsibilities in Area (A) of the West Bank.”

The Israeli occupation and the PA also agreed to “establish a mechanism to take the necessary steps towards improving the economic conditions of the Palestinian people, per previous agreements, and to significantly enhance the fiscal situation of the Palestinian National Authority.”

Judaizing Jerusalem: Israel’s ‘demographic’ plan to ethnically cleanse the Holy City

The most right-wing government in Israel’s history is committed to advancing the Judaization of Jerusalem, including demolishing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and diminishing the Arab demographic in Al-Quds.

February 21 2023

By The Cradle’s Palestine Correspondent

Jerusalem has been a sticking point in attempts to find a political solution between Palestinians and their occupiers ever since the onset of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet, the situation involving the Holy City and its Al-Aqsa Mosque has reached a critical turning point since the recent ascension of ultra-right-wing Zionist parties to power in Israel.

On 3 January, Itamar Ben Gvir, the head of the Otzma Yehudit party, fulfilled his election promises by storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under official Israeli security cover. In doing so, the extremist minister of national security became the first official figure to take such a step since former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s similar action in 2000, which triggered the Second Intifada (also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada).

Storming Al-Aqsa, a calculated move

Many political analysts agree that Ben Gvir’s storming of the mosque – which was coordinated by the Israeli police and General Security Agency (Shin Bet), and with the prior knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – signals the new government’s policy towards the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.

They say that the most right-wing and extreme government in the history of Israel is in the process of strengthening illegal settlements and changing the historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Analyst Ayman al-Rafati tells The Cradle that the storming of the mosque’s courtyard, as well as the prevention of Jordanian Ambassador Ghassan al-Majali from entering the mosque in mid-January, have two implications:

“The first is an attempt to break psychological deterrence that was established after the Battle of Sayf al-Quds (Sword of Jerusalem) in 2021, which erupted due to practices like this; The second is to reduce the margin of Jordanian guardianship over Al-Aqsa.”

The occupation authorities also seek to replicate the Ibrahimi Mosque experience in the West-Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil) by dividing Al-Aqsa in time and space between Muslims and Jews.

Israel hopes that the storming of the mosque will pass over without any significant backlash from the occupied-West Bank and Jerusalem, from the resistance fighters of Gaza, or from the Israeli left and center parties who raise concerns about its potential impact on state security and stability.

However, the actions of Ben Gvir and the Israeli police, while dangerous, do not align with the aspirations of the Jewish Temple group extremists who seek to build a structure on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Judaizing Al-Aqsa

On the day Ben Gvir assumed office as minister of national security, Aviad Fisoli, the attorney for the new Sanhedrin council (the central rabbinical institution of extremist Temple settler groups) sent a letter to the Israeli police commissioner in Jerusalem requesting an audience with the minister to inform him of their demands and to determine the level of support they could expect from the government and police.

The letter stipulated 11 demands, all of which would lead to the division of Al-Aqsa Mosque. These include:

  1. Extending the hours in which the extremists could storm the mosque;
  2. Allowing them to perform prayers and religious rituals inside the mosque;
  3. Opening the mosque to raids throughout the week; Allowing “sacred tools” into the mosque, including Torah scrolls, the Ark of the Covenant, trumpets, and plant and animal offerings;
  4. Establishing a Jewish synagogue inside Al-Aqsa Mosque;
  5. Ending police escorting of extremists;
  6. Allowing storming from all doors, not just the Mughrabi Gate controlled by the occupation authorities since 1967;
  7. Not barring the mosque from intruders during Islamic events;
  8. Declaring “equal rights” for all religions at Al-Aqsa;
  9. Cancelling the policy of ejecting Jews from the mosque;
  10. Opening the door of the synagogue in the historical Tanziah school – which overlooks the Al-Aqsa grounds – and is currently controlled by the Israeli Ministry of Security, to all Jews.

In April 2022, the temple group extremists began a campaign to obtain permission for performing the Passover sacrifice in Al-Aqsa.

The “Returning to the Temple Mount” movement, led by an extremist Jewish settler named Raphael Morris, sent a message to Ben Gvir in early January, asking for his help in facilitating the slaughter of the “Passover offering” in the courtyards of the mosque.

In their letter, the group stated that the formation of a real right-wing government “is a golden opportunity to return the crown to its former glory and to renew the Passover sacrifice for the first time in about two thousand years.” They believe that this act “will be recorded in the pages of history as the beginning of the building of the third Temple.”

‘Development:’ a pretext for demographic engineering

On the ground in Jerusalem, the settlers’ ambitions are being matched by ongoing state-sponsored excavations and the construction of roads and bridges. Mahmoud Abu Arqoub, a Palestinian guard stationed at Al-Aqsa Mosque, reveals to The Cradle that the Israeli police are preventing Jerusalemites and “Mourabitoun” (guards tasked with protecting Islamic holy sites from hostile non-believers) from restoring the dilapidated parts of the mosque.

Meanwhile, multiple projects are being implemented to accommodate the increasing number of settlers who storm the mosque.

According to the Palestine Information Center “Maata,” last year, around 55,000 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, compared to 34,000 in 2021. Abu Arqoub also noted that in 2022, the Israeli government initiated a project to expand the wooden Mughrabi Bridge that connects Mughrabi Gate to Al-Buraq Square, which is used by settlers and “tourists” to enter the mosque courtyards.

Adnan al-Husseini, the head of the Jerusalem Affairs Department in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), believes that the bridge expansion project aims to increase the number of settler intrusions and paves the way for the implementation of a large settlement project by facilitating access for motorized vehicles.

Abu Arqoub predicts that “major unrest may break out in the month of Ramadan (next March) around the Damascus Gate. The occupation is imposing more restrictions on this region in preparation for its Judaization and annexation.”

Under the guise of developing the transportation network, the Israelis are racing against time to seize more land from Jerusalemites. In mid-January, the local planning and construction committee in the Jerusalem municipality approved plans to build a light-rail transit track connecting east and west Jerusalem.

They claim that the project is part of the “modern transportation revolution in Jerusalem to ease traffic congestion.” However, Jerusalemite researcher Nevine Najeeb posits that the track, set to be completed in 2028, will provide an excuse for the occupation municipality to seize more land and properties belonging to Jerusalemites. As Najeeb explains to The Cradle:

“In the future, the occupation municipality will demand the demolition of homes that Jerusalemites have owned for hundreds of years because they stand in the way of the train, or to strengthen security measures around its track. This scenario was previously implemented by the occupation in the town of Shuafat nine years ago, when dozens were forced to leave their homes under the same pretext.”

In parallel, the occupation authorities and temple groups continue to excavate tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque. On 10 January, sources in Jerusalem revealed the discovery of a new tunnel that penetrates the wall of the Old City, four meters wide, extending from the town of Silwan to a point near the Mughrabi Gate.

“The goal of the tunnels is to provide conditions for the demolition of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a result of natural factors, such as an earthquake, in order to avoid a comprehensive confrontation with the occupying power,” Najeeb explains.

‘Strangers in Jerusalem’

The most dangerous Israeli development, however, is the implementation of the “Greater Jerusalem” plan, which seeks to change the demographic balance in the Holy City in favor of the Jewish population, as revealed by the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ).

In a report published in late 2022, the institute indicated that Israel had begun adding four large settlement blocs – Givat Ze’ev, Ma’aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, and Psagot – to Jerusalem. This move is expected to decrease the percentage of Palestinians in the city’s population from 37 percent to 21 percent.

In a press release, ARIJ director Jad Isaac stated that in 2022, the Israeli government approved several settlement projects, including the construction of 4,900 settlement units in Jerusalem, 9,000 units in the Atarot area north of the city, and the “Silicon Valley” settlement project spanning over 710,000 square meters in the Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood.

Additionally, there are plans to transform the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Silwan town into mixed neighborhoods by increasing the number of settlers residing there and issuing orders to evict Palestinians or demolish their homes.

In 2022, ARIJ documented 138 cases of house demolitions and 273 settler encroachments on the lands of Jerusalemites. Furthermore, the Israeli occupation authorities initiated the “Land Settlement and Registration” project to seize more property, which may result in 80 percent of the land being registered as “absentee property,” making Palestinians “strangers in Jerusalem,” as noted by Isaac.

The existential threat to Al-Quds

Palestinians in the city are facing systematic alienation, with the occupation authorities attempting to prevent Palestinian schools from teaching the Palestinian curriculum. Last year, two schools had their licenses revoked under the pretext of teaching curricula that allegedly included “incitement against the Israeli state and army.”

Approximately 45,500 students in Jerusalem, attending 146 schools affiliated with the Palestinian education system, are at risk of being forced to study the Israeli curriculum, according to the Faisal Husseini Foundation.

Since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, all Israeli governments, both right and left, have pursued projects to Judaize the city. However, the current Israeli government, described by Israelis themselves as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, poses a greater threat to the city.

There is an unprecedented opportunity for right-wing groups to Judaize the city and demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Such a step is likely to ignite another conflict that may escalate into a major regional war, as leaders of resistance movements in Palestine, Lebanon, and elsewhere have repeatedly warned.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

Ilan Pappe on the Socio-Political Formations behind Israel’s Neo-Zionist Government

January 6, 2023

A cabinet meeting of the new Israeli government. (Photo: Prime Minister of Israel’s TW Page)
– Ilan Pappé is a professor at the University of Exeter. He was formerly a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa. He is the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, The Modern Middle East, A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, and Ten Myths about Israel. Pappé is described as one of Israel’s ‘New Historians’ who, since the release of pertinent British and Israeli government documents in the early 1980s, have been rewriting the history of Israel’s creation in 1948. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

By Ilan Pappe

Two months after the election of the new government of Israel, the blurred picture is becoming more transparent, and it seems one can offer some more informed insights about its composition, personalities, and possible future policies and reaction to them.

It would not be an exaggeration to define Benjamin Netanyahu as the least extreme member of this government, which tells you about the personalities and policies of all the others.  

There are three major groups in the government, and I am not referring here to various political parties, but rather to socio-political formations.

Zionization of Ultra-Orthodox Jews

In the first group are the ultra-orthodox Jews, both the European and Arab Jews orthodoxies. What characterizes them is the process of Zionization they underwent since 1948. 

From a marginal role in politics, only for the sake of their communities, they belong now to the captains of this new state. From being moderate and adhering to sacred Jewish precepts that do not allow Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land, they now emulate the Israeli secular right: supporting colonization in the West Bank, the siege on the Gaza Strip, employing racist discourse towards the Palestinians where they are, advocating harsh and aggressive policies and, at the same time, trying to take over the public space and Judaize it, according to their own strict version of Judaism.

The only exception is Neturei Karata, loyal to their long-term anti-Zionism and solidarity with the Palestinians.

National Religious Jews

In the second group are the national religious Jews, mostly living in colonies, on expropriated Palestinian land in the West Bank, and recently creating “learning centers” of settlers in the midst of mixed Arab-Jews towns in Israel.

They support both the criminal policies of the Israeli army and the actions by settler vigilantes that harass Palestinians, uprooting their orchards, shooting at them, and disputing their way of life. 

Their aim is to give both the army and these vigilantes a freer hand in oppressing the occupied West Bank, with the hope of pressuring more Palestinians to leave. This group is also the backbone of the Israeli secret service command and dominates the cadre of senior officers in the army. 

The two groups mentioned so far share the wish to impose stricter apartheid inside Israel against the 48 Arabs and, at the same time, begin a crusade against the LGBT community while demanding a more strict marginalization of women in the public space.

They also share a messianic vision and they believe they are now in a position to implement it. At the center of this vision is the Judaization of sacred sites that are now “still” Islamic or Christian. The most coveted site is Haram al-Sharif. 

The first precursor was the provocative visit by the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir to the Haram. The next step will come on Passover, with an attempt to fully invade the Haram with Jewish prayers and ministers. Similar actions will be taken in Nablus, Hebron, and Bethlehem. How far they will go is difficult to predict. 

Marginalization of Likud’s Secular Jews

The second group also has representatives in the major party of the government, the Likud. But most of the Likud members are part of a third socio-political group: the secular Jews who are also adhering to traditional Jewish practices. 

They try to distinguish themselves by claiming that economic and political liberalism is still an important pillar in the Likud’s political platform. Netanyahu used to be one of them but now seems to desert them when it comes to dividing the spoils, namely marginalizing them in the government. He needs the others more than his own party, to avoid trial and remain in power.

The Zionist Project

The prominent members of all these groups arrived with pre-prepared legislation initiatives and policies: all of them, without any exception, are meant to allow an extreme right-wing government to dispense of whatever has remained of the charade called the Israeli democracy.

The first initiative already began, sterilizing the judicial system in such a way that it could not, if it ever wished to, defend the rights of minorities in general or that of the Palestinians more specifically.

To be honest, all the previous Israeli governments were informed by this overall disregard for the civil and human rights of Palestinians. This is just a phase of making it more constitutional, more mainstream, and more apparent, without any attempt to hide the aim behind it: to have as much historical Palestine as possible with as few Palestinians in it as possible.

However, if this materializes in the future, it will take Israel further into its neo-Zionist destiny; namely, the truthful fulfillment and maturation of the Zionist project: a ruthless settler colonial project, built on apartheid, ethnic cleansing, occupation, colonization and genocidal policies. 

A project that, so far, escaped any significant rebuke from the Western world and one which is tolerated by the rest of the world, even if it is censured and rejected by many in the global civil society. So far, it is only due to Palestinian resistance and resilience that it failed to be triumphant.

End of ‘Fantasy Israel’

This new reality brings to the fore a series of questions, that one has to ask, even if at the moment we cannot answer them. 

Will the Arab and Muslim governments, which only recently joined the immunization of this travesty, realize that it is not too late to change course?

Will new governments of the Left, such as the one elected in Brazil, be able to lead the way for a change of attitude from above that would reflect democratically the one that is demanded from below?

And will Jewish communities be shocked enough to wake up from the “fantasy Israel” dream and realize the danger of present-day Israel, not only to Palestinians but to Jews and Judaism as well?

These are questions that are not easy to answer. What we can stress is, once more, a call for Palestinian unity so as to enhance the struggle against this government and the ideology it represents.  Such unity would become a compass for a powerful global front that is already there, thanks to the BDS movement, and is willing to continue its work of solidarity and enhance it further and wider: galvanizing governments, as well as societies, and bringing back Palestine to the center of global attention.

The three components of the new Israeli government did not always coexist easily; so there is also a possibility of an earlier political collapse since all in all we are talking about a group of incompetent politicians when it comes to running such an intricate economy as the Israeli one. Probably, they will not be able to arrest the high inflation, rise in prices, and swelling unemployment. 

However, even if this is going to happen, there isn’t an alternative fourth socio-political group that can lead Israel. So, a new government would be formed by another combination of the same forces, with the same intent and policies. 

We should treat this as a structural challenge, not a one-off, and prepare for a long struggle, based on even more enhanced international solidarity and tighter Palestinian unity. 

This rogue government, and what it represents, will not be there forever; we should do all we can to shorten the wait for its replacement with a much better alternative not only for the Palestinians but also for the Jews, and everyone else that resides in historical Palestine. 

Israel deprives 13,000 Palestinians of Jerusalem residency permits

Palestinians stripped of their residency, could be deported to the West Bank, or the Gaza strip

December 20 2022

A Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Burqa confronts Israeli soldiers following attacks by settlers, on 17 December, 2021.
(Photo credit: AFP)

ByNews Desk 

Israel has refused to grant some 13,000 Palestinians residency in occupied Jerusalem for nearly four decades, Haaretz revealed on 19 December.

Over the years, several human rights organizations have submitted petitions to the Israeli Supreme Court, arguing that the Ministry of the Interior has denied many Jerusalemites their right to residency or completely denied it.

The Supreme Court repeatedly ruled that Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are native people with equal rights, and they should not be classified as immigrants.

Meanwhile, Haaretz stated that the deportation of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah al Hamouri on 18 December was a warning to Jerusalem’s Arab residents; if they did not submit and comply with Israeli authorities, they would be stripped of their residency and legal rights.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the forced deportation of Hamouri, an activist working for the human rights organization Addameer.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry considered this measure a war crime and a violation of international and humanitarian law.

The newspaper denounced that many Palestinians could be deported to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, which it “used as a penal colony since the second Intifada.”

On the other hand, on 29 November, acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid sent a letter to more than 50 world leaders, demanding them to oppose a Palestinian bid at the United Nations regarding an advisory position of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

“This resolution is the result of a concerted effort to single out Israel, discredit our legitimate security concerns, and delegitimize our very existence,” Lapid said in the letter.

With a majority of 98 votes in favor and 17 against, a committee of the UN General Assembly approved a resolution on 11 November requesting the ICJ to “urgently” issue a stance on the effects of Israel’s illegal occupation and colonization of Palestinian territories, The New Arab reported.

New Era of “Israel’s” War Crimes Accountability

November 29, 2022 

Source: Al Mayadeen English

By Ruqiya Anwar 

Notably, ongoing violence and crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including limited access to health care, education, and livelihood activities, affect socioeconomic conditions.

Notably, ongoing violence and crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including limited access to health care, education, and livelihood activities, affect socioeconomic conditions. Plans to change the demographic mix, character, and status of the holy city of Jerusalem “were also mentioned. The resolution queries the court on how these Israeli policies and activities” impact the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal ramifications that arise for all states and the United Nations from this position. The Palestinian UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, recommended mobilizing “all elements of the international law-based order, including international justice”.

Significantly, the first report to the General Assembly from the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including “East Jerusalem and Israel”, was published earlier. It affirms that there are compelling reasons to believe that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is now illegal under international law due to its permanence and the Israeli Government’s de facto annexation policies. Furthermore, the Commission has concluded that “Israel’s” continued use of force to occupy Palestinian territory creates international obligations and keeps “Israel” responsible for past atrocities on Palestinian civil and political rights.

The ICJ addresses international conflicts between nations or offers legal advice on problems that the UN Security Council or General Assembly refers to it. An ICJ legal opinion typically takes at least a year to obtain. “Israel’s” separation wall and settlements in the occupied West Bank were found illegal by the International Court of Justice in a 2004 legal ruling. Israelis fear that the ICJ would support the Palestinian position that the occupation equates to annexation, which would undermine efforts by governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to boycott, divest and sanction “Israel”. To prevent the Palestinians from enacting the resolution, the Israeli Government has recently begun an all-out offensive.

In this scenario, International support for the special committee’s mandate is required to spread the message that the Israeli occupation is the root cause of all Middle Eastern problems and to inspire global action to end the suffering. It should call attention to the violent eviction and transfer of Palestinian families, the trespassing and intimidation of Palestinians by Israeli settlers, and the efforts to hasten al-Quds’s Judaization at the expense of the city’s Christian and Muslim Palestinian inhabitants.

The Israeli Government’s policies have severely and in many ways affected many facets of Palestinian life, including women’s access to clean, inexpensive water, negatively influencing the whole Palestinian agriculture industry. Moreover, the erosion of economic, social, and cultural rights causes a great deal of “silent harm” and psychological distress, some of which may not be immediately obvious. Nevertheless, the effects of these incapacitating processes, both now and in the future, are devastating.

Furthermore, “Israel” cannot continue to promote its narrative that it has done nothing wrong while also pursuing annexationist policies and denying the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination; it is now abundantly evident. Essentially, international law stands on the side of the Palestinians, and all they needed was the ultimate political environment for the world to applaud such a courageous act.

The situation on the ground has gotten worse in the occupied territories. Palestinian human rights have consistently been violated by “Israel”, which has continued its policy of repression. Human rights organizations worldwide agree that the ongoing Israeli occupation has established apartheid-like conditions.

The Palestinian diplomats’ ultimate goal was for the United Nations Security Council to vote to recognize Palestine as a full member state without any veto interference from the United States. Recognizing Palestine as a full UN member state, even while it is occupied, would signify that the international community is committed to the two-state solution.

Additionally, the rules of conduct for nations under temporary occupation are specified in international humanitarian law. However, because this is a 55-year-old occupation, it is not a temporary one. Therefore, the highest court in the world must rule that it is an occupation that leads to illegal annexation — a decision that will have global ramifications. In demanding such a legal requirement, the Palestinians astounded the Israelis and their allies.

Most importantly, the repeated statements before the United Nations have not stopped severe breaches of Palestinian rights. While nations continue to express outrage and resolutions are passed, nothing appears to change. No amount of occupation by the occupying power of Palestinian territory will ever lead to peace.

The Palestinian people’s intrinsic rights, such as the right to self-determination and the right of return, have been violated blatantly by “Israel” in violation of its commitments under international law. Bringing an end to this miserable situation was the international community’s responsibility. Although the international community has repeatedly stated that Palestinians have a right to freedom, security, and prosperity, Israel has persisted in denying it.

This appears unlikely given the inherent bias towards Israel and vested interests of the international community, the United States and Europe, in particular. Until there is a fundamental shift in the balance of power, the status quo of a constant conflict punctuated by periodic escalation and carnage will stay, as there is no indication that international political will is present or will emerge.

Now, the UN has adopted a Palestinian resolution calling for the ICJ to weigh in on “Israel’s” protracted occupation quickly. Nevertheless, there is hope because the UN has called “International Justice” for a legal advisory opinion on the nature of the Israeli occupation. But will the UN follow through and actually hold “Israel” accountable? 

References:

Fourth Committee Hears Support for Referring Question of Palestine to International Court of Justice for Advisory Opinion | UN Press

Report-COI-OPT-14Sept2022-EN.pdf (ohchr.org)

OHCHR | The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-occupied-palestinian-territories

The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

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How it Feels to Visit an Apartheid Country

An advertisement alongside the separation wall in East Jerusalem. Here the wall divides a Palestinian neighbourhood so as to limit the numbers of Palestinians in official Jerusalem. Photo by Philip Weiss.

Philip Weiss

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° 

Racial profiling in Israel is rampant. Abuse and invective are normal. This is the daily machinery of separating Jews from Arabs

Every time I visit Israel and Palestine I come home so struck by the injustice that I say to myself, Well you are a writer, you should be able, in 1,000 words or so, to convey the enormity of what you have seen so that the system falls apart like a house of cards for an American reader. This is my latest effort to do just that.

The main impression I had on this visit, is the feeling of Separation. I was bowled over by how separate the Israeli Jews are from the Palestinians, and the huge efforts undertaken to prevent mixing of cultures. When you go through the airport or West Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, you feel like you are in a city in Eastern Europe. I saw no men in the airport in traditional Arab dress. I saw a few women wearing the hijab. You don’t see many Arabic signs. You don’t see displays of Arab crafts or furnishings, you don’t see the sights and smells of Arab markets or street life. No, the Zionists brought their own society to the Middle East.

All the time you are here you reflect that you are plunk in the middle of the “Arab world.” Not long ago, the culture here was largely Muslim. A few decades ago, you could catch a bus from Jerusalem to Damascus, or Beirut, or Cairo, or Amman or Baghdad. Now you can’t do any of that. Jerusalem has been declared the “eternal capital of the Jewish people,” and there are high walls topped by concertina wire to separate it from the Arab masses. A historic Palestinian neighbourhood was bulldozed so that Jews could sanctify the Western Wall, ala the Vatican. And even liberal Zionists idealize this separation. The late novelist Amos Oz said that Jews and Palestinians need a “divorce” and separate houses, and he is a hero to J Street and Americans for Peace Now.

Israel really has established an outpost of civilization, as it conceives these matters, in a very traditional colonial mindset.

Any time you cross over into that other world, you must go through militarized checkpoints, and the culture is entirely different. The roads are narrower, the signs are mostly in Arabic. Many people wear traditional dress, and the street life strikes this foreigner as Arab.

The amazing thing about Israel is that it has pulled off colonization in an anti-colonial era. But I am not trying to analyze it, just to convey the feeling. It feels weird and unfair that the Zionists have imposed this order, and they understand this. They know it’s unfair, and so there are guns everywhere and the voters have lately elevated a racist fascist, Itamar Ben-Gvir, because Israelis know that Palestinians don’t like being a subject people, so they must preserve the order through brute force and power politics. You see the brute force all around. All the young soldiers on the buses or in the roads with their guns dangling at their sides. They’re not here for the Syrians or the Egyptians or the Jordanians, or Iraqis, Israel’s enemies of old. No, they’re here for the Palestinians on the other side of those concrete walls, because Palestinians resist the whole idea of a “Jewish state.”

As you would too if it were established in your city.

The racial profiling is rampant before your eyes. I sauntered through Damascus Gate at midnight. The young Palestinian just behind me got stopped by soldiers demanding his ID card.

Of course, Israelis speak of what a bad neighbourhood they live in. The only answer to that propaganda is that if you throw people out of their houses and off their land and live there for 75 years without any gesture to make things right, no you just keep on taking their property, I promise you—you will live in a bad neighbourhood.

Here is a simple proof of the unfairness. Every day Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories use money on which is imprinted the portraits of men who directed their ethnic cleansing and massacres. They travel inside Israel on roads named after these men too. I found this unsettling and embarrassing, being a witness to such humiliation. In talking to Palestinians in Haifa, I caught the name Ben-Gurion Avenue in my throat—I was afraid the mere utterance would damage their dignity.

I often thought about the promotion back in the U.S. of the “startup nation,” with its biotech and cyber industries that are said to help the world. The miraculous startup nation justifies its presence with its material advantages and Nobel Prizes (one Nobelist came to a shiva I attended in Jerusalem) as if that makes its rule acceptable to Palestinians. But of course it doesn’t. They have fewer or no rights, and it is rubbed in their faces all the time. There is something crude and dispiriting about this; you don’t perpetuate apartheid without consequences to all concerned. The journalist Tom Dallal shared with me this photo of riding a train with a soldier who pointed his gun between his legs the whole time without regarding it as rude or unusual.

When a Palestinian in Ramallah asked if it was offensive to American Jewish visitors to compare Israeli soldiers to Nazis, my colleague Scott Roth shook his head and said the Holocaust is pertinent. “You can’t build a society on trauma. They built Israeli society on trauma.”

Roth says that Israel brings out the worst in people. He wandered into the King David Hotel lobby one morning and saw a group of American visitors looking at the famous signatures set in tiles in the floor, and one began jumping up and down on Obama’s signature, laughing as she called out expletives. This kind of abuse and invective is normal here. Just look at the picture Itamar Ben-Gvir posted recently of the Palestinian politician Ahmad Tibi wheeling a suitcase in Ben Gurion airport. “Great news. Leave and don’t come back” (Michael Koplow’s translation).

You feel that crudeness and the tension. A Palestinian friend told me that when he visited New York recently he experienced visceral shock in a restaurant when he heard a loud Israeli conversation at a nearby table. “There is a word in Arabic that means to feel electrocuted—batkahrab,” he said. “These are the same voices that when I usually hear them, they are shouting at me that I have done something wrong.” Yes, young soldiers, barking at my friend, an architect in his 40s.

You feel the tragedy of it. You observe that Palestinians are human beings just like anyone with aspirations and dreams and pride and dignity, and yet you see them being put down before your eyes and having to bear it to survive. I keep thinking of a girl of 20 or 21 with earphones and fashionable clothing getting off the bus at Qalandiya checkpoint with her bag over her arm, that said, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. She reminded me of me and my friends at her age, showing off our taste. But she has no freedom of movement, and no political rights.

That’s my overwhelming sense of this visit. People not very different from me are persecuted at every turn. Many international human rights organizations have now laid out the apartheid argument in systematic legal analyses. I can only tell you about the feeling of it: Everywhere you go these Arab people are to be separated from the Jewish state and their culture erased. The shame I felt as a Jewish person is unquantifiable, and is the reason I will keep doing this work. Jewish values meant one thing when I was raised—“That which is obnoxious to you don’t do to another person,” in Hillel’s words. Or as Americans say, the Golden Rule. That value is trashed everywhere I went in Israel and Palestine.

It can’t last. When you see an unfair arrangement balanced totally on massive military and financial advantage and power politics, but unbearable to the subjugated people, history tells you it can’t last. Even the State Department acknowledges this when they say “the status quo is unsustainable.” When and how it falls who can say. But it can’t last.


Philip Weiss is senior editor of Mondoweiss.net and founded the site in 2005.

This article originally appeared on Mondoweiss.net.

Netanyahu returns, but Israel’s political and military landscape has changed

Bibi is back, leading Israel’s most right-wing government but also facing unprecedented Palestinian resistance and global turmoil.

November 06 2022

Photo Credit: The Cradle

By Abdel Bari Atwan

While the Arab Summit in Algeria affirmed its adherence to the so-called ‘Arab Peace Initiative’ as a final solution to the Palestinian issue, Israel’s response came quickly and resolutely with the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu and the anti-Arab religious Likud bloc.

In the 1 November legislative elections, Israelis voted in large numbers for the anti-Arab, racist, religious parties, which openly embrace a policy of killing and expelling Palestinians from all of occupied Palestine, and promote a solely Jewish-Zionist identity of the country.

The “Jewish Power” party, which won 15 seats, and is led by the two most racist figures in the short history of the Jewish state, Bezael H. Cherish and his deputy Itamar Ben Gvir, will be the backbone of Netanyahu’s coalition government.

The leader of this party, which will be the most prominent partner of the Arab monarchs who signed peace agreements with Israel, has called for killing Arabs, expelling them and wrapping the bodies of the martyrs in pigskin “in honor” of them.

Normalization the new norm

Nonetheless, it is likely that red carpets will be laid out for Ben Gvir and Netanyahu in Arab capitals, where they will enjoy Arab hospitality and drink from their gilded goblets. Indeed, there is no difference between the winning Israeli coalition and the defeated one (Lapid-Gantz).

Both converge on their mutual hostility and hatred of Arabs and Muslims. General Benny Gantz, the Israeli Minister of Defense in the previous government, used to boast that he was the Israeli who killed the largest number of Arabs – and this is true, as his government has killed 166 Palestinians since the beginning of this year.

There is a silver lining, however: This racist government will hasten Israel’s demise and lead to its inevitable end, not at the hands of the battered Arab armies, but at the hands of the Palestinian resistance and their regional allies, their missiles and drones.

There are three steps that the Netanyahu government and his extremist coalition may take upon assuming power:

First, a return to reviving the Trump-era ‘Deal of the Century,’ the annexation of the West Bank, and the deportation of most of its Palestinian residents to Jordan as an “alternative homeland.”

Second, the escalation of incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the consolidation of Jewish control over East Jerusalem, and the obliteration of its Arab and Islamic identity. The first step may be dividing it on the model of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, then demolishing it, and erecting the alleged “temple” on its ruins.

Third, the canceling or freezing of the maritime border demarcation agreement with Lebanon, similar to what happened to the Oslo Accords with Palestinians. Netanyahu announced his intent to do so openly in his election campaign.

This option appears especially likely given that extraction of gas and oil from the Karish field has already begun, while the Qana field, which was “partially” recognized as Lebanese, remains untouched, with no surveys or exploration conducted until this moment.

It is likely that the Lebanese gas fields will lay dormant for the foreseeable future. The same US mediators did not guarantee the implementation of even 1 per cent of the Oslo Accords, and they will most likely not guarantee the rights of the Lebanese people.

Renewed Palestinian armed resistance

But Netanyahu is set to assume control over a very different state of affairs, both domestically and internationally. For starters, Israel is facing an escalating internal conflict, and most importantly, a revived intifada in the form of West Bank armed resistance.

We cannot talk about West Bank resistance without discussing the phenomenon of The Lions’ Den whose political and military influence is expanding, while the Palestinian public’s embrace of the movement is growing. Not a day passes without witnessing a commando operation in various parts of the West Bank; in Nablus, Jenin and Hebron – later in Ramallah, and then in the pre-1948 occupied Palestinian territories.

Netanyahu may succeed in including one or two more Arab governments in the Abraham Accords, which was signed under his last premiership. However, such political acrobatics will have no value in light of the “awakening” of the Palestinian people and their return to armed resistance.

The returning Netanyahu will not forget the May 2021 battle of the “Sword of Jerusalem” that humiliated him, and its missiles that isolated the occupying state for more than 11 days, forcing millions of Israeli settler-colonizers into shelters and bunkers.

These missiles are still present and ready, along with hundreds of armed drones. Perhaps it is also worth reminding the incoming Israeli Prime Minister of how he ended an electoral meeting in the city of Ashdod (my ancestors’ hometown) and fled in terror from the 400 missiles launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in retaliation for the assassination of its leader, Baha Abu al-Atta.

Just another day in the office?

The “Israel” to which Netanyahu returns is not the same Israel he left, and the world he knew when he was last in power, is not the same world today. His US supporter is mired in an unprecedented proxy war of attrition with Russia in Ukraine, where his co-religionist, Volodymyr Zelensky, has so far lost about a fifth of his country’s territory, and has plunged it into darkness and despair.

While Netanyahu is viewed as as being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that friendship had deepened before the Ukraine war. The situation has now changed dramatically, and he will be forced to choose between Washington and Moscow in an era of multipolarity.

As for the Lions’ Den, they have effectively changed all the equations and rules of engagement in occupied Palestine – and perhaps in the Arab world as well – and within this context will actually “welcome” the hardliner Netanyahu’s return to power.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

IOF storm Al-Aqsa, prevent worshipers from entering compound

Sep 26 2022 08:20

Source: Al Mayadeen Net

By Al Mayadeen English 

At the beginning of the celebrations of Jewish holidays, Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under the heavy protection of occupation forces.

Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under the heavy protection of occupation forces

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque to secure the settlers’ incursions, and prevented men under the age of 40 from entering the compound to perform the Fajr (dawn) prayer, Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent reported Monday.

On Thursday, Israeli right-wing extremist Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque amid restrictions on the entry of worshipers, and toured the mosque’s courtyards, starting from the Mughrabi Gate, guarded by the occupation forces.

Ben Gvir is one of the most notorious Israeli politicians, as he is infamous for constantly carrying out provocative tours in Al-Aqsa mosque and rallying illegal Israeli settlers that call for the death of Arabs and Palestinians alike while chanting racist slogans and slurs against Muslims and Arabs.

Before Ben Gvir stormed Al-Aqsa, the occupation police tightened their presence at the gates of Al-Aqsa and prevented entry to it, especially from the Qattanin Gate.

At the door of the Council Gate (Bab Al-Majlis), the IOF detained the worshipers and prevented them from entering it.

This comes on the eve of Jewish holidays, amid calls to organize mass incursions by settlers into Al-Aqsa during the holiday’s three-week period that began on Sunday.

On the other hand, Palestinian institutions called for intensifying the presence of Palestinians in Al-Aqsa Mosque during this period.

Hamas: Amping up resistance in West Bank foiled enemy’s schemes

In the same context, the Hamas movement called Sunday for the amping up the acts of resistance to thwart the Israeli plans against the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The movement’s spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, said in a press statement that ramping up the acts of resistance in the occupied West Bank and the ’48 occupied Palestinian territories is enough to thwart Israeli plans against Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He added that the gatherings and stationing in Al-Aqsa Mosque will fail the occupation’s plans, stressing that the extremist incursions under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces must be met with more of these gatherings and stationing.

He continued to say that the Palestinian people will protect Al-Aqsa Mosque with every means possible, while stressing that the “key to the victory of the Palestinian people” is stationing at the Mosque, adding that “with their unity and resistance, the occupation plans in Al-Aqsa will be thwarted.”

It is noteworthy that celebrations of the “Hebrew New Year” are scheduled to start Monday, followed by the “Yom Kippur” celebrations on October 5.

Read more: 30 Palestinian prisoners launch open-ended hunger strike

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Israeli Human Rights Violations in Palestine (Weekly Update 01-07 September 2022)

08. 09. 2022

Violation of right to life and bodily integrity:

Five Palestinians were killed, and 31 others were injured, including 9 children, a woman and a paramedic, while dozens of others suffocated in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.  Also, a Palestinian detainee died due to medical neglect policy.  Details are as follows:

On 01 September 2022, IOF shot dead Yazan Na’iem ‘Afanah (24) after being wounded in his chest during their incursion into Ramallah in the West Bank. (Details available in this press release).

On 02 September 2022, Fadi Mohammed Ghattas (24), from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, was killed after IOF fired 6 live bullets at him and left him to bleed for 40 minutes at the entrance to Beit ‘Einun Road in northern Hebron.  IOF took the dead body and kept it in custody, claiming that he stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier. Later, IOF summoned Ghattas’s father for interrogation and to identify the corpse.

On 03 September 2022, Palestinian Detainee Mousa Haron Abu Mehamid, from Bethlehem, died at the Israeli hospital “Assaf Harofeh.” ( Details available in this press release).

On 05 September 2022, IOF killed Taher Zakarna (19) after they fired a live bullet at his head during the suppression of protestors after IOF moved into Qabatia village, southeast of Jenin in the West Bank. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested two Palestinians. (Details available in this press release).

On 06 September 2022, Mohammed Saba’nah was killed, and 17 other Palestinians were injured, including 6 children, a woman and a paramedic, by IOF fire during the latter’s incursion into Jenin, northern West Bank, and demolition of the house of a Palestinian who was killed after carrying out a shooting attack in Israel in April. The house demolition falls under IOF’s collective punishment policy against the families of Palestinians who are allegedly accused of carrying out attacks against Israeli targets. (Details available in this press release).

On 07 September 2022, Yunis Ghassan Tayeh (21) was killed by IOF fire during the latter’s incursion into al-Far’a refugee camp, south of Tubas in the West Bank. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested Yunis’s uncle. (Details available here)

Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages and suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:

On 02 September 2022, 7 Palestinians, including 2 children, were shot with rubber-coated bullets during clashes that followed IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.  On the same day, several Palestinians sustained wounds after being beaten, and others suffocated due to teargas inhalation, while 4 Palestinians, including a child, were arrested during IOF’s suppression of a peaceful protest organized in solidarity with Nabi Samuel villagers near al-Jeeb military checkpoint in occupied East Jerusalem.

On 06 September 2022, a child was hit with a stun grenade in his head during clashes with IOF at the western entrance to al-‘Arroub refugee camp in Hebron. On the same day, 5 Palestinians sustained wounds after IOF opened fire and fired teargas canisters during their incursion into Jalazone refugee camp, north of al-Bireh city. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested 4 Palestinians, including 2 siblings.

On 07 September 2022, a Palestinian was shot with a live bullet after IOF opened fire at him, noting he was riding his motorcycle by Salem Palin in Nablus. IOF then arrested him.

In the Gaza Strip, 2 shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 4 other shootings were reported on fishing boats off the western Gaza Strip shore. On 01 September 2022, a burnt boat was pulled out of Khan Yunis Sea, and it turned out that Israeli gunboats fired several live bullets at the boat. 

So far in 2022, IOF attacks killed 116 Palestinians, including 84 civilians: 24 children, 8 women, 2 Palestinians killed by Israeli settler and the rest were activists; 15 of them were assassinated. Thirty-two of those killed, including 19 civilians: 8 children and 3 women were in the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. Also, 1,308 Palestinians were wounded in IOF’s attacks, including 204 children, 40 women, and 22 journalists, in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Moreover, 4 Palestinian detainees, including a woman, died in the Israeli jails.

Land razing, demolitions, and notices

IOF demolished 3 houses, rendering 4 families of 18 persons, including 6 women and 7 children, homeless. Also, IOF demolished 9 civilian economic facilities and razed a plot of land and property in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:

On 02 September 2022, upon an Israeli municipal demolition decision allegedly for unlicensed construction, a Palestinian self-demolished his house in Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, rendering his family and his two brothers’ families of 11 persons, including 4 women and 3 children, homeless.  On the same day, upon a similar decision, a Palestinian self-demolished part of his 80-sqaure-meter house in occupied East Jerusalem. The house sheltered a family of 7 persons, including 2 women and 4 children.

On 03 September 2022, IOF’s bulldozers razed 8 dunums in Sinjil village, east of Ramallah. The levelled land is located in an area of 5200 dunums that IOF attempt to seize them, as these dunums are surrounded by 3 Israeli settlements and a military camp.

On 03 September 2022, IOF razed 8 dunums in Sinjil village, eastern Ramallah.  This plot of land is part of 5200 dunums, which IOF try to seize, and is surrounded by 3 settlements and an Israeli camp.

On 06 September 2022, IOF demolished 2 agricultural facilities, sealed off a water well and seized two containers full of construction equipment in Al-Khader village, southwest of Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. Also, IOF demolished for the second time a 95-meter retaining wall surrounding a plot of land in Jabal Mukaber in occupied East Jerusalem.

On 07 September 2022, IOF demolished a house and 7 civilian economic facilities, including 3 livestock barns, a carwash, tires shop, and 2 stores, in the rented Islamic Endowment property (Waqf) at ‘Anata entrance in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Since the beginning of 2022, Israeli occupation forces made 112 families homeless, a total of 666 persons, including 129 women and 307 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 116 houses and 41 residential tents. IOF also demolished 89 other civilian economic objects, leveled vacant areas of land and delivered dozens of notices of demolition, cease-construction, and evacuation.

Settler-attacks on Palestinian civilians and their properties:

On 02 September 2022, under IOF’s heavy protection, hundreds of Israeli settlers accompanied by the Extremist Israeli Member of Knesset (MK), Itamar Ben Gvir, moved into Nabi Samuel village in occupied East Jerusalem. They roamed its streets raising Israeli flags and attempted to provoke Palestinians. The settlers then gathered at the village’s entrance opposite to a protest organized by the village’s residents.

On 06 September 2022, Israeli settlers, under IOF’s protection, attacked Palestinian houses in Khelet al-Nahlah and Khalayil al-Louz areas opposite to “Efrat” settlement, south of Bethlehem. They attempted to raid the houses by force, beat their residents and threw stones at them. As a result, many residents sustained bruises. Also, IOF attacked the residents, who tried to confront the settlers, and arrested 6 of them. 

Since the beginning of the year, settlers conducted at least 178 attacks. In two of the attacks, 2 Palestinians were killed.

IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:

 IOF carried out 190 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 96 Palestinians were arrested, including 3 children and a female journalist.  In the Gaza Strip, on 07 September 2022, IOF conducted two limited incursions into eastern al-Bureij camp in central Gaza Strip and into eastern Khuza’a in Khan Yunis.

So far in 2022, IOF conducted 5,930 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem; during which, 3,540 Palestinians were arrested, including 334 children and 31 women. IOF also conducted 28 limited incursions into eastern Gaza Strip and arrested 78 Palestinians, including 45 fishermen, 28 infiltrators, and 5 travelers via Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing.

Israeli collective punishment and closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement:

IOF maintains an illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly- update on the state of Gaza crossings in July.

On 06 September 2022, Mohammed Yaser al-Leddawi (32), from Rafah, died after IOF obstructed his travel to receive treatment at Patient’s Friends Society Hospital in Nablus and at Al-Mutala’ Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem, after he applied for a travel permit 8 times in a row to receive treatment for lymphoma.

In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 108 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 104 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 8 Palestinians at those checkpoints.

On 04 September 2022, IOF closed the metal detector gate established at the main entrance to Nabi Saleh village in Ramallah, and reopened it on 07 September 2022, as part of the collective punishment policy for an alleged shooting at the military watchtower established there.

So far in 2022, IOF established at least 3,005 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 142 Palestinians at those checkpoints

Bahrain king dismisses minister for refusal to normalize with “Israel”

 July 23, 2022

Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen English 

The President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities was dismissed by the king for refusing to shake hands with the Israeli ambassador to Bahrain.

Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa dismissed Friday the President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, who is also part of the royal family, for refusing to shake hands with the Israeli ambassador to Bahrain and for refusing to Judaize old neighborhoods in Manama, the Bahraini capital. 

Bahraini sources revealed that the king did not wait for Mai to return from her official visit in Albania to dismiss her, but rather did it right away. Replacing Mai, Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa was appointed. 

On June 16, 2022, US Ambassador Stephen Bundy held a memorial service in his home for his father, to which Sheikha Mai was invited, but not alone – the Israeli ambassador to Bahrain, Eitan Na’eh, also received an invite. 

During the filming of the service, and as they were introduced to shake hands, Sheikha Mai withdrew her hand and refused to shake Na’eh’s hand. She left the ambassador’s house, and requested the embassy not publish any image of her at the event. 

Recently, the former minister refused to Judaize old Manama neighborhoods, such as Bab Al-Bahrain and Al-Mutanabbi Street, including the Jewish Synagogue located on Sasa’ah Avenue. 

Last year on November 30, Mai hosted at the Sheikh Ibrahim Center historian and pro-Palestinian Ilan Pappe, who stresses on the abolition of the “Zionist racist settler colonialism of Palestine,” a blow to normalization with “Israel” in Bahrain. 

Mai had worked in culture and media for over 20 years, and has always been a controversial figure in the kingdom. 

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Rights Groups Warn Against ‘Israeli’ Move to Register Land Adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque

June 29, 2022

By Staff, Agencies

Rights groups warned of “far-reaching implications” of the Zionist occupation regime’s controversial move to start the process of registering the ownership of land adjacent to the al-holy Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of al-Quds.

The process of the “settlement of land title procedure” was initiated last week in the Abu Thor area as well as the Umayyad Palaces site adjacent to the southern wall of al-Aqsa Mosque, reports said.

According to Middle East Eye, rights groups Ir Amim and Bimkom said in a joint statement on Monday that the fund allocated to the procedure has been largely utilized to register land for illegal settlements and will ultimately lead to further Palestinian dispossession.

“[The procedure] carries possible disastrous ramifications for hundreds of Palestinian homes in Abu Thor, while the other has an acute potential for escalating tensions due to its highly sensitive location in close proximity to al-Aqsa,” according to the statement.

“There is grave concern that the state is advancing the settlement of title process in the Umayyad Palaces/Ophel site to enable ‘Israeli’ takeover of this territory through its formal registration as ‘state’ land while aiding ‘state’-backed settler groups in their aggressive efforts to gain control of these highly sensitive locations.”

Sheikh Najeh Bakirat, deputy director of the al-Quds Islamic Waqf, in his remarks on Monday stressed that changing the ownership of Umayyad Palaces was invalid and in breach of the Geneva Convention.

In 2018, the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime for the first time began promoting the “settlement of land title procedure.”

In 2020, Ir Amim said the process was being used as a tool to “seize more land in East al-Quds, leading to the expansion of ‘Israeli’ settlements and further Palestinian dispossession.”

More than 600,000 Zionist settlers occupy more than 230 settlements built since the 1967 ‘Israeli’ occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

All ‘Israeli’ settlements are deemed illegal under international law as they are built on the occupied land. The United Nations Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in a series of resolutions.

Additionally, the area south of al-Aqsa Mosque is also the scene of ‘Israeli’ excavations that threaten the foundation of the holy site.

On Monday, the Council of Endowments, Islamic Affairs, and Holy Places said excavations made by the Zionist occupation regime in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque were threatening its foundations, saying new cracks have appeared in the floor of the sacred site.

‘Israeli’ Entity Plans To Seize Big Tract of Palestinian Land in New Land Grab Bid

 June 16, 2022

By Staff, Agencies

The ‘Israeli’ occupation entity is reportedly planning to illegally seize a large plot of land in the occupied West Bank to construct a huge park for the Zionist settlers, in what is viewed as one of the regime’s biggest land grab schemes.

The Tel Aviv regime set up a project which intends to seize a land area stretching 1,000 square kilometers from occupied al-Quds, all the way to the Dead Sea, the Palestinian Information Center reported on Wednesday.

In a separate development, the Zionist military razed a Palestinian man’s house to the ground in Wadi al-Hummus district in Sur Baher neighborhood on the southeastern outskirts of East al-Quds.

Mahmoud Robay’eh, the owner of the house said that the ‘Israeli’ occupation forces have raided his house, broke the door, and forced everyone out.

He said they have lived in the house for the past seven years and only last month, a Zionist court ordered the demolition of the house.

The Tel Aviv occupation regime routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds, unjustifiably claiming that the structures have been built without permits while such permits are almost impossible to obtain.

They sometimes order Palestinian owners to either demolish their own houses or they have to pay the demolition costs.

‘Israel’ has already occupied thousands of dunums of Palestinian agricultural lands to construct and expand new illegal settler units in various areas in the West Bank.

The Tel Aviv regime also plans to force out Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in an attempt to replace them with settlers. That plan sparked days of fighting between Hamas resistance movement and the Zionist military in May last year.

More than 600,000 Zionist settlers occupy more than 230 settlements built since the 1967 ‘Israeli’ occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds.

All ‘Israeli’ settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the Zionist regime’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa mosque

 June 5, 2022

Source: Al Mayadeen Net + Agencies

By Al Mayadeen English 

Settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under protection from the Israeli occupation forces, and dozens of Palestinians suffered from suffocation with tear gas in Al-Isawiya.

Israeli occupation forces storm Al-Aqsa Mosque

Settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Sunday morning, under protection from the Israeli occupation forces, Al Mayadeen correspondent reported.

Our correspondent reported that the occupation forces had locked the worshipers of the Al-Qibli prayer hall inside it with chains. The IOF targeted then proceeded worshippers in the Al-Qibli prayer hall with rubber bullets leaving several injured. These measurements were taken to secure the settlers’ incursions.

Earlier, dozens of Palestinians suffocated from tear gas, as they confronted the Israeli forces that stormed the town of Al-Isawiya, northeast of occupied al-Quds. In the town of Al-Isawiya. The IOF also targeted Palestinian citizens with rubber-coated metal bullets according to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA).

Moreover, local Palestinian sources confirmed the outbreak of confrontations between Palestinians and the occupation forces at the Shuafat camp checkpoint in occupied al-Quds.

Yesterday, Hamas and the Palestine Scholars Association (PSA) called on young Palestinians to resist occupation forces in Al-Aqsa Mosque and “thwart the Israeli plans aimed at Judaizing it.”

Harun Nasir al-Din, head of Hamas’ al-Quds affairs office stated that “protecting Al-Aqsa is a national and religious duty.”

Ream more: Haniyeh: Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa Mosque events will not be forgiven

Last Sunday, settlers organized an Israeli flag march. It took place in the streets from Bab al-Amoud and the alleys of occupied old Al-Quds to the courtyard of the Al-Buraq Wall. During the march, occupiers raised the Israeli flag as well as posters containing racist slogans against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. In addition, settlers called for the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.