Israel lights the spark at Al-Aqsa again
Israel/Palestine
Jonathan Cook on October 6, 2015 13 Comments
Israeli soldiers stand guard in front of Palestinian stone throwers during
clashes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on October 5, 2015 after Israel's
army shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian. (Photo: THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
Since a boy named David slew the giant Goliath with a slingshot, the stone has
served as an enduring symbol of how the weak can defeat an oppressor.
For the past month Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to
rewrite the Bible story by declaring war on what he terms Palestinian
“terrorism by stones”.
There are echoes of Yitzhak Rabin’s response nearly 30 years ago when, as
defence minister, he ordered soldiers to “break bones” to stop a Palestinian
uprising, often referred to as the “intifada of stones”, against the Israeli
occupation.
Terrified by the symbolism of women and children throwing stones at one of the
world’s strongest armies, Rabin hoped broken arms would deprive Palestinians of
the power to wield their lowly weapon.
Now the West Bank and Jerusalem are on fire again, as Palestinian youths clash
with the same oppressors. Reports suggest soldiers killed one Palestinian youth
and injured more than 100 others on Sunday alone. Talk of a third intifada
grows louder by the day.
The touchpaper, as so often, is Israel’s transgressions at the al-Aqsa mosque
compound, known as Haram al-Sharif, in Jerusalem’s Old City.
During the weeks of Israel’s high holidays, tensions have risen sharply.
Israeli government ministers and ever larger numbers of Jewish
ultra-nationalists, backed by paramilitary forces, have been ascending to the
mosque area.
In parallel, Palestinian access has been restricted and settlers have stepped
up seizures of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem to encircle al-Aqsa.
Palestinians believe Israel is asserting control over the site to change the
long-standing “status quo” designed to keep Islamic authorities in charge.
Israel refers to the Haram as the Temple Mount, because the ruins of two
ancient Jewish temples supposedly lie underneath. As Israel has swung to the
right politically and religiously, government and settler circles have been
swept by an aggressive Jewish messianism.
Palestinian efforts to resist have been limited. Israel has long barred
Palestinian factions and organisations from any dealings in the city it calls
its “eternal capital”.
The situation at al-Aqsa has come to symbolise in painful microcosm the
Palestinian story of dispossession.
The mosque has also served as a red line, both because it is a powerful cause
that unites all Palestinians, including Christians and the secular, and because
it rallies the wider Arab and Muslim worlds to the Palestinians’ side.
But like Goliath, the Israeli prime minister appears to assume greater force
will win.
First, he outlawed last month a group of Islamic guardians, many of them women,
known as the Murabitoun, stationed at al-Aqsa. They had not even resorted to
stones. Their crime was to try to deter Jewish extremists from praying at the
site by crying “God is great”.
Then, Israeli police stormed the compound to evict youths who had barricaded
themselves in. Severe restrictions on Palestinian access to al-Aqsa followed.
As youngsters took to the streets, Mr Netanyahu authorised live fire against
stone-throwers in Jerusalem, and minimum four-year jail sentences for those
arrested.
To ensure the judiciary complied, the police minister threatened the promotion
of judges whose sentencing was not harsh enough.
Predictably, violence has not calmed but spiralled. On Saturday night a
Palestinian youth stabbed to death two Jewish settlers near the Western Wall.
Israel has described such incidents as “lone-wolf attacks”. In truth, these
unpredictable outbursts of violence are the inevitable result of the orphaned
status of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Israel responded with another unprecedented move. Palestinians were banned from
the Old City for the following 48 hours unless they lived or worked there.
Israel’s track record suggests this will soon become the new norm.
Mr Netanyahu also approved fast-track demolitions of Palestinian homes, more
soldiers in Jerusalem and even tighter restrictions at al-Aqsa.
So where is this heading?
Doubtless Mr Netanyahu is in part proving his credentials to an ever-more
religious and intolerant Israeli public. After Saturday’s deaths, Jewish mobs
once again patrolled Jerusalem’s streets seeking vengeance.
But he is also cynically exploiting western fears to reinvent the David and
Goliath story. He hopes the words “Islamic terrorism” – conjuring up Islamc
State’s threats to religious freedom – will scotch western sympathy for
Palestinian youths facing armed soldiers.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, warned in his speech to the United
Nations last week that Israeli measures were “aimed at imposing a new reality
and dividing Haram al-Sharif temporally”.
These are not idle fears. In 1994 Israel capitalised on a horrific massacre of
Palestinians perpetrated by a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, at the Ibrahimi
mosque in Hebron to justify dividing it.
Today, Jews have prayer rights at the site, enforced by Israeli guns, and
central Hebron has been turned into a ghost town – much as Jerusalem’s Old City
looks since the weekend ban on entry for Palestinians.
Most Palestinians fear an Israeli-engineered spiral of violence in Jerusalem
will be used to impose a similar division at al-Aqsa.
There is little Abbas can do. His PA is barred from Jerusalem and committed to
helping Israeli security elsewhere. Like the Muslim world, he watches
helplessly from afar.
Which is why Palestinian youths will continue reaching for the humble stone,
exerting what little power they have against a modern Goliath.
A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi.
Israel lights the spark at Al-Aqsa again
Israel/Palestine
Jonathan Cook on October 6, 2015 13 Comments
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Israeli soldiers stand guard in front of Palestinian stone throwers during
clashes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on October 5, 2015 after Israel's
army shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian. (Photo: THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
Since a boy named David slew the giant Goliath with a slingshot, the stone has
served as an enduring symbol of how the weak can defeat an oppressor.
For the past month Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to
rewrite the Bible story by declaring war on what he terms Palestinian
“terrorism by stones”.
There are echoes of Yitzhak Rabin’s response nearly 30 years ago when, as
defence minister, he ordered soldiers to “break bones” to stop a Palestinian
uprising, often referred to as the “intifada of stones”, against the Israeli
occupation.
Terrified by the symbolism of women and children throwing stones at one of the
world’s strongest armies, Rabin hoped broken arms would deprive Palestinians of
the power to wield their lowly weapon.
Now the West Bank and Jerusalem are on fire again, as Palestinian youths clash
with the same oppressors. Reports suggest soldiers killed one Palestinian youth
and injured more than 100 others on Sunday alone. Talk of a third intifada
grows louder by the day.
The touchpaper, as so often, is Israel’s transgressions at the al-Aqsa mosque
compound, known as Haram al-Sharif, in Jerusalem’s Old City.
During the weeks of Israel’s high holidays, tensions have risen sharply.
Israeli government ministers and ever larger numbers of Jewish
ultra-nationalists, backed by paramilitary forces, have been ascending to the
mosque area.
In parallel, Palestinian access has been restricted and settlers have stepped
up seizures of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem to encircle al-Aqsa.
Palestinians believe Israel is asserting control over the site to change the
long-standing “status quo” designed to keep Islamic authorities in charge.
Israel refers to the Haram as the Temple Mount, because the ruins of two
ancient Jewish temples supposedly lie underneath. As Israel has swung to the
right politically and religiously, government and settler circles have been
swept by an aggressive Jewish messianism.
Palestinian efforts to resist have been limited. Israel has long barred
Palestinian factions and organisations from any dealings in the city it calls
its “eternal capital”.
The situation at al-Aqsa has come to symbolise in painful microcosm the
Palestinian story of dispossession.
The mosque has also served as a red line, both because it is a powerful cause
that unites all Palestinians, including Christians and the secular, and because
it rallies the wider Arab and Muslim worlds to the Palestinians’ side.
But like Goliath, the Israeli prime minister appears to assume greater force
will win.
First, he outlawed last month a group of Islamic guardians, many of them women,
known as the Murabitoun, stationed at al-Aqsa. They had not even resorted to
stones. Their crime was to try to deter Jewish extremists from praying at the
site by crying “God is great”.
Then, Israeli police stormed the compound to evict youths who had barricaded
themselves in. Severe restrictions on Palestinian access to al-Aqsa followed.
As youngsters took to the streets, Mr Netanyahu authorised live fire against
stone-throwers in Jerusalem, and minimum four-year jail sentences for those
arrested.
To ensure the judiciary complied, the police minister threatened the promotion
of judges whose sentencing was not harsh enough.
Predictably, violence has not calmed but spiralled. On Saturday night a
Palestinian youth stabbed to death two Jewish settlers near the Western Wall.
Israel has described such incidents as “lone-wolf attacks”. In truth, these
unpredictable outbursts of violence are the inevitable result of the orphaned
status of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Israel responded with another unprecedented move. Palestinians were banned from
the Old City for the following 48 hours unless they lived or worked there.
Israel’s track record suggests this will soon become the new norm.
Mr Netanyahu also approved fast-track demolitions of Palestinian homes, more
soldiers in Jerusalem and even tighter restrictions at al-Aqsa.
So where is this heading?
Doubtless Mr Netanyahu is in part proving his credentials to an ever-more
religious and intolerant Israeli public. After Saturday’s deaths, Jewish mobs
once again patrolled Jerusalem’s streets seeking vengeance.
But he is also cynically exploiting western fears to reinvent the David and
Goliath story. He hopes the words “Islamic terrorism” – conjuring up Islamc
State’s threats to religious freedom – will scotch western sympathy for
Palestinian youths facing armed soldiers.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, warned in his speech to the United
Nations last week that Israeli measures were “aimed at imposing a new reality
and dividing Haram al-Sharif temporally”.
These are not idle fears. In 1994 Israel capitalised on a horrific massacre of
Palestinians perpetrated by a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, at the Ibrahimi
mosque in Hebron to justify dividing it.
Today, Jews have prayer rights at the site, enforced by Israeli guns, and
central Hebron has been turned into a ghost town – much as Jerusalem’s Old City
looks since the weekend ban on entry for Palestinians.
Most Palestinians fear an Israeli-engineered spiral of violence in Jerusalem
will be used to impose a similar division at al-Aqsa.
There is little Abbas can do. His PA is barred from Jerusalem and committed to
helping Israeli security elsewhere. Like the Muslim world, he watches
helplessly from afar.
Which is why Palestinian youths will continue reaching for the humble stone,
exerting what little power they have against a modern Goliath.
A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi.