[News] Israeli Racist Attacks On Jerusalem Spark Ramadan Intifada

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Israeli Racist Attacks On Jerusalem Spark Ramadan Intifada
April 24, 2021 - https://qudsnen.co/?p=23987

After an Israeli settler extremist mob descended upon the old city of
Jerusalem, attacking Palestinians and threatening to enter al-Aqsa mosque,
Palestinians across the occupied territories have risen up in solidarity
with Jerusalemites in what is being called the ‘Ramadan Intifada’.

This Thursday, what has been described as Israeli settler ‘lynch mobs’ took
to the streets of Jerusalem chanting “death to Arabs”. The initial racist
group of hundreds attempted to breach the old city through the Damascus
Gate, but were met by hundreds of Palestinians who showed up ready to
protect their businesses and homes, confronting the settlers. The settlers
did later enter the old city, attempting to break into Palestinian homes in
the early hours of the morning, causing children to cry out in fear.

The settler groups were not attacked but rather protected by Israeli
occupation police, who quickly took to violently assaulting Palestinians
with rubber-bullets, live-ammunition, riot police on horseback, stun
grenades and gas canisters. This led to an escalation of clashes, which
later erupted throughout occupied East Jerusalem as Israeli settlers
rampaged through the streets attacking Palestinians, their homes and
property. Approximately 100 Palestinians were confirmed injured as a result
of the clashes with police and many others via settler violence, including
an elderly woman who was hit in the eye after Israeli settlers attacked a
moving bus.

In the early hours of Friday morning, an attempt was then made to prevent
Palestinian worshippers from reaching the al-Aqsa Mosque – the third
holiest site in Islam – and praying al-Fajr (morning prayer). However,
thousands of Palestinians managed to push past the Israeli guards and
successfully enter al-Aqsa.
The Third Intifada?

The events in Jerusalem did not pass by quietly, causing a unified reaction
throughout the occupied Palestinian territories in solidarity with their
Jerusalemite compatriots. Palestinian political parties from across the
ideological spectrum condemned Israel’s actions. The Joint Room of
Palestinian armed factions too vowed a response.

The responses to the attacks on Palestinians and the old city of Jerusalem
came in all forms. At least 15 different locations across the West Bank and
East Jerusalem became protest sites, many leading to confrontations with
Israeli occupation forces.

The West Bank protests took place in the cities of Tulkarem, Nablus,
Al-Khalil, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jericho, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Qalandia in
solidarity with Jerusalem. Umm al-Fahm located inside of Israeli territory
also witnessed mass demonstrations.

Across the Gaza Strip protests also took place in Jabalia, Gaza City,
Rafah, Khan Yunis and elsewhere, with demonstrators additionally showing up
to the East’s separation fence. Israeli forces fired live ammunition at the
night demonstrators, reportedly injuring three East of the Malaka area.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades – armed wing of the PFLP (Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine) – also claimed rocket fire from Gaza in
response to Israel’s action in Jerusalem. There were a total of 36 rockets
fired at Israel, in a coordinated fashion, leading to Israeli airstrikes on
several sites inside of the besieged Gaza Strip.

During the two days of protests inside Jerusalem alone, Israeli forces have
arrested approximately 100 Palestinians and injured 450, according to local
media sources.
Context Missed By Mainstream Western Press

What is going on, as a result of the attacks on Jerusalem’s Palestinian
residents, is not to be viewed as just a reaction to the racist settler
mob. This is an uprising against Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation and
racist policies against Palestinians in general, with the settler extremist
mob acting as the catalyst.

Since the beginning of the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan, tensions have been
rising between Israeli forces, illegal settlers and Palestinians. On the
first day of Ramadan, last Tuesday, Israeli forces began instigating
violence after shutting off loudspeakers inside the al-Aqsa compound –
Islam’s third holiest site – also blocking off the Damascus Gate to
Palestinians wishing to enter the Old City of Jerusalem.

The shutting down of Al-Aqsa’s loudspeakers, characterized as a “racist”
attack against Palestinians, was explained to have occurred due to Israelis
not wanting to be disturbed by the Muslim call to prayer and Imam’s in the
al-Aqsa compound. ‘Israel’ was, at the time, running a commemoration event
at the nearby Al Buraq Wall to memorialize their dead occupation soldiers.

After preventing Palestinians from entering the “Arab Quarter” of
Jerusalem’s Old City, youths began to clash with occupation police who were
blocking their access to Mosques for prayer and breaking their fasts.
Israeli forces brought in the usage of tear gas, stun grenades, riot police
on horseback and skunk water cannons in what was to become a nightly
occurrence.

Israeli settlers had also gotten involved in fights with Palestinians
during the course of clashes that had been occurring in the surrounding
areas of the Old City. A video then began to circulate on social media of a
Palestinian teen slapping a settler in the face on public transport, for
which two Palestinians were later arrested. Israeli settlers then began
storming the streets of Jerusalem – beginning conversations with strangers
in order to gauge whether they had an Arabic accent – and attacking
Palestinians. Israeli settler gangs posted their videos of their violent
assaults of lone Palestinians on social media, bragging about what they had
committed. On Monday, Israeli settler mobs began to take their attacks to
the next level, rallying in the streets of Jerusalem chanting “death to
Arabs”, then continuing from that point to assault Palestinians. The
Palestinian community of East Jerusalem did not take these assaults,
attacks on vehicles, and racist mob protests lightly, also choosing to
confront and fight settlers. By Monday night, Palestinian local media had
reported that at least 30 Palestinians had been arrested as a result of the
ongoing tensions in the city during Ramadan.

What also has been missed by the mainstream Western Press is the ongoing
acts of ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem. Israeli settler organisations,
working together with Israel’s courts – in accordance with Israel’s
‘Jerusalem 2000’ plan, as well as laws implemented by the government in the
1970’s – to expel some 2,100 Palestinians from the neighbourhoods of Sheikh
Jarrah and Silwan.
The Uprising Continues

Despite attempts by ‘Israel’ to pin this uprising singularly on the
extremist settlers, the uprising represents years of Palestinian
frustrations and despair finally breaking through to the surface in a
coherent and organised way.

The US State Department has expressed its concern over recent events
pertaining to Jerusalem and ‘Israel’ has actively tried to prevent a
Palestinian uprising, but the energy awoken in the occupied territories is
not going anywhere.

The Palestinian people are tired of suffering in silence, they have been
suffering from a lack of motivation and divisions, now this seems to be
ending. This is perhaps the first time since around 2005 that this energy
has been reverberating throughout the occupied territories and the
Palestinian armed factions in Gaza are now stronger than ever.

‘Israel’s’ ultra-right wing government has long refused to even consider
engaging the Palestinian leadership in order to seek any solution and the
people of Palestine have been for long fed up. ‘Israel’ may try hard to
prevent this from escalating and we will see many different tricks brought
out in order to try and divide people, or shift focus elsewhere, but it is
clear that the mood has dramatically changed in the occupied territories.

The Palestinian cause has now entered a new phase in the conflict with
‘Israel’; there have now been new redlines drawn and a unified spirit of
resistance. Just like was the case with the first Intifada, it took one
event to spark the collective outrage of the Palestinian people at what was
being done to them.

Even if this does not lead to a full out Intifada or war with ‘Israel’,
which looks like the most likely results of recent events, the rules of
engagement have now changed and a new era has just been ushered in.
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