[News] Jerusalem's Palestinians punished after shooting attack

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/jerusalems-palestinians-punished-after-shooting-attack 



  Jerusalem's Palestinians punished after shooting attack

Maureen Clare Murphy 
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> 
-<https://electronicintifada.net/blog/rights-and-accountability> 10 
October 2016

Israel launched a crackdown following a shooting attack in Jerusalem on 
Sunday that left two Israelis and the Palestinian gunman dead.

Though a gag order prevents Israeli media from publishing the name of 
the slain attacker, Palestinian outlets identified him as Misbah Abu 
Sbeih, a 39-year-old from Silwan, a neighborhood near the Old City of 
Jerusalem.

The shooting began Sunday morning at a light rail stop 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.746607> across from Israeli police 
headquarters near Ammunition Hill in occupied East Jerusalem. An Israeli 
woman, Levanah Malichi, 60, was critically wounded and later died from 
her injuries, and a man was moderately wounded.

“Another victim was then shot and moderately wounded at the nearby 
Clermont-Ganneau Street intersection. The assailant then fled to Sheikh 
Jarrah, where two Israel Police officers were wounded, one critically 
and one moderately,” the Tel Aviv newspaper /Haaretz/ reported.

One of the officers, Yosef Kirme, 29, died of his injuries. Kirme was a 
member <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.746742> of Yasam, a 
militarized unit of Israel’s police force.

A video of the scene shows Israeli forces shooting at Abu Sbeih’s car:


    Prominent Jerusalem activist

Abu Sbeih was a prominent figure in Jerusalem, and was part of a group 
of volunteer defenders <http://www.qudsn.ps/article/102193> of the 
al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, the site of frequent 
incursions by Israeli settlers and right-wing provocateurs. Known as the 
murabitoun, the volunteer formation has been outlawed by Israel 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.675329>.

On Saturday, Abu Sbeih told the Ma’an News Agency 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773482>, a Palestinian media 
outlet, that he was planning to turn himself in to Israeli authorities 
the next day to serve a four-month prison sentence for allegedly 
assaulting a police officer in 2013.

Ma’an reported that Abu Sbeih had spent a year in prison on separate 
charges of “incitement” over posts he had made on Facebook.

“Among the posts he was imprisoned for were: ‘We sacrifice our souls and 
our blood for you al-Aqsa,’ and, ‘we sacrifice our children for 
al-Aqsa,’” Ma’an reported.

Abu Sbeih told Ma’an <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773496> on 
Saturday that he had been repeatedly detained over the previous two 
weeks. He was most recently released from detention only 15 days before 
his attack <http://www.qudsn.ps/article/102193>.

In early October Abu Sbeih was banned from East Jerusalem for one month, 
and he was previously hit with a travel ban and forbidden from entering 
al-Aqsa mosque for six months.


    Jerusalem

Abu Sbeih is one of approximately 250 Palestinians killed since October 
2015, when a new phase in violent confrontation 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/year-atrocities-palestine> 
with Israeli forces emerged. More than 30 Israelis have been killed by 
Palestinians during that time, as well as two US citizens.

Most of those Palestinians were killed during alleged, attempted or 
actual attacks against Israeli soldiers, police and civilians. 
Palestinian attackers acted alone, or in small groups, and independent 
of command from armed factions. Their weapons were mainly kitchen knives 
and cars; in only a small fraction of the incidents did Palestinians 
open fire on Israelis.

In a handful of cases, Palestinians used pistols and improvised 
firearms. Abu Sbeih is the first attacker over the past year to use a 
standard assault rifle – an M-16 – according to /Haaretz/ 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.746686>.

Also in contrast to previous incidents, the Hamas resistance group’s 
West Bank branch claimed 
<http://hamas.ps/ar/post/6233/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%AA%D8%B2%D9%81-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88-%D8%B5%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B0-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3> 
Abu Sbeih as one of their own. Hamas noted that the Jerusalem shooting 
came on the anniversary of the 1990 al-Aqsa mosque massacre.

On 8 October that year, approximately 20 Palestinians were killed by 
Israeli forces following provocation by Temple Movement activists who 
seek to destroy al-Aqsa mosque and replace it with a third Jewish temple 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/destruction-jerusalems-al-aqsa-mosque-israeli-groups-ultimate-goal>.

The alignment of the Jerusalem shootings and the massacre anniversary is 
“an indication that the Palestinian people cannot forget or disregard 
any crime against their holy city,” Hamas stated 
<http://hamas.ps/ar/post/6233/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%AA%D8%B2%D9%81-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88-%D8%B5%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B0-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3>.

Hamas leaders Khaled Meshal and Ismail Haniyeh also phoned Abu Sbeih’s 
family 
<https://www.nasr-news.com/%D9%85%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B9%D9%84-%D9%88-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%87%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A9/> 
and offered their condolences and saluted what they called his martyrdom.

Fatah, the Hamas party’s bitter rival which controls the Palestinian 
Authority in the West Bank, declared a day of mourning following Abu 
Sbeih’s death, Ma’an reported 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773493>.


    Facebook blamed

Israel’s public security minister Gilad Erdan blamed Facebook and other 
social media platforms for Sunday’s attack. “It is scandalous that 
Facebook reopened Hamas’ pages last week in the wake of pressure from 
the Palestinian street,” he said, according to 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.746607> /Haaretz/.

Israel and Facebook have agreed to work together 
<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/12/facebook-israel-monitor-posts-incite-violence-social-media> 
to remove “incitement” from the social media platform, an Israeli 
cabinet minister has previously claimed. Facebook has downplayed 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/facebook-apologizes-disabling-palestinian-journalists-accounts> 
its cooperation with the Israeli government.

Following Sunday’s attack the deputy mayor of Jerusalem vowed to 
“punish” <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.746987> 
residents of East Jerusalem, accusing them of “animal behavior.”

“Let’s put all the cards on the table. The people in East Jerusalem want 
to kill us and destroy us. Why do we need to give them a new chance 
every day?” Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman, who chairs the municipality’s 
planning and building board, said during a radio interview.

“We have to take responsibility here. And I am going to give an example. 
I took all the construction plans related to East Jerusalem off the 
agenda. I shelved all of the plans. They say carrots and sticks. There 
are no carrots left, only sticks,” he added.


    Raids and arrests

Israel launched a series of punitive measures following Sunday’s attack.

Israeli forces stormed the Jerusalem-area town of al-Ram on Monday 
morning and detained Abu Sbeih’s 17-year-old daughter Iman, according to 
Ma’an <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773493>. Relatives told 
the news agency that soldiers questioned the girl and Abu Sbeih’s wife 
before taking the teenager into custody.

On Monday, Iman Abu Sbeih made a video statement 
<https://www.facebook.com/alrayps/videos/598150230310253/> that went 
viral on social media, in which she praises her father’s attack and 
describes their close relationship.

Seven Palestinians were injured after confrontations erupted when 
Israeli forces raided al-Ram on Sunday, Ma’an reported 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773487>.

A photographer with the Associated Press was lightly injured by Israeli 
forces while covering the confrontations.

The photographer, Majdi Mohammed, told the news agency 
<https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-photographer-wounded-israeli-fire-while-covering-clash-191124785.html> 
that “one of the Israelis cursed him and ordered him to leave. He said 
that as he turned around to leave, he was shot from close range in the 
back of his shoulder, an area that was not covered by his protective vest.”

The Foreign Press Association stated that the incident was “the latest 
in a string of attacks by Israeli border police on journalists.”

Two Israeli soldiers were injured by stones thrown by residents.

Another home belonging to the Abu Sbeih family in the town of Kufr Aqab 
was raided on Sunday.

During the raids on the homes in Kufr Aqab and al-Ram, army engineers 
measured the houses in preparation for demolishing them, relatives of 
Abu Sbeih told Ma’an <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773496>. 
Soldiers removed posters, flags and photographs of Abu Sbeih which had 
been displayed in al-Ram.

Israel has demolished homes 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-high-court-champions-revenge-against-palestinian-families> 
belonging to the families of Palestinian attackers and suspected 
attackers over the past year.

More than 50 Palestinians were detained 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773504> during overnight raids 
in the West Bank, more than half of them in the Jerusalem area.


-- 
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