The Way to a New Intifada

Recently East Jerusalem and most of the West Bank territories witnessed violent clashes between the Israeli police and Palestinian protestors. The clashes MIDEAST-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-RELIGION-CLASHES started after an Israeli declaration of considering the Ibrahemi Mosque in Hebron and Belal’s mosque in Bethlehem part of the Jewish religious heritage that will be developed and protected by the Israeli government.

The clashes spread out after the latest incidents inside the Aqsa mosque last Friday. The Israeli police claimed that young Palestinians threw stones from the Aqsa mosque at the Western Wall which is considered a holy praying place for Jews and by Muslims a part of the Aqsa mosque. In the Aqsa clashes more than sixty Palestinians and twenty Israeli policemen were injured.

The Israeli internal security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch claimed that Hamas stood behind the latest clashes. The Palestinian authority in Ramallah stated that Israel is trying to make Mitchell’s visit a failure by continuing its attacks against the Palestinians and their holy places and territories. Hamas stated that any attack on the Aqsa mosque will bring dangerous results and reactions.

The Islamic countries conference warned Israel from its continuos policy that is affecting on the right of freedom of faith and prayers. The Islamic countries states that any kind of attack on the Aqsa mosque could result in a war in the whole region.
On Saturday, more than three thousand Israeli and Arab protestors demonstrated at the Shekh Jarah in East Jerusalem against the Israeli settlements at the area. The demonstration was forbidden by the Israeli police but the Israeli supreme court allowed it. Many Israelis considered this demonstration as a sign of the return of the Israeli left which is also standing against the Israeli wrong occupation and policies.

According to Palestinian sources inside the Palestinian authority, Israel’s head of public security service Deskin warned the Palestinians from the ongoing clashes and a possible lose of control in the Palestinian territories. According to the source, Israel will reconsider its cooperation with the Palestinian security forces and may enter the West Bank and launch a wide campaign of arrests if the clashes continue. Deskin also asked from the Palestinian authority to abandon its plan of preventing the selling of Israeli products in the West Bank and asked to prevent its officials from participating in demonstrations against Israel.

The Israeli intelligence service failed to predict the latest clashes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Once East Jerusalem become the center of any clashes, there is a possibility that it may spread out to other territories very quickly. Israel’s analysis of the reasons which stand behind such reactions seems to be inconvenient.

Israel preferred to blame Hamas for the recent clashes but forgot about looking at Jerusalem for a while and analyzing the situation of its Palestinian inhabitants. East Jerusalem is inhabited by Palestinian residents which hold permanent resident identification cards but vote for the Palestinian elections. They believe that they are a part of the West Bank, Gaza, and future Palestinian state. According to Oslo Agreement Israel does not recognize the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem as a part of the Israeli population and agreed on finding a final solution for them after reaching the final negotiations.

The International community and law considers East Jerusalem and the West Bank occupied lands. Israel is supposed to withdraw from these territories through a peace agreement with the inhabitants of the land. The Aqsa mosque is the third most important and holy sight for hundreds of millions of Muslims. Beside its importance in the eyes of the Muslims around the world, the Palestinians consider the mosque a red line and are ready to sacrifice for it as a part of their belief.

The Israeli government forgot about all these reasons, the settlements buildings in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the daily harassment of the Palestinian residents of the city and the West Bank, and the apartheid policy. One more important reason which Israel forgot about and seems to be the reason why its security service failed in predicting the recent clashes is the new Palestinian youth generations.
These new young generations grew up while watching the Israeli occupation policy that affected at least one of their family members or neighbors. Once they grow up they react by demonstrating and refusing the occupation which turned their lives into a difficult and sour experience.

The only result which the Israeli occupation is bringing for Israel is more and more of Palestinian generations that will replace those who were before them. This one result proves the failure of the security theory which Israel believes in. Instead the Israeli current government should reconsider its refusal of any kind of compromise in order to reach peace. The Israeli people should think twice in the next elections. It may look fine now but the current Israeli policy will bring disastrous effects and reactions in the future.
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