[News] Is Palestine on the brink of a full-scale revolt?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-brink-full-scale-revolt/36501>
Is Palestine on the brink of a full-scale revolt?

Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> and Maureen
Clare Murphy <https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> - 14
October 2022
------------------------------

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Abdallah Abu al-Teen during the
slain doctor’s funeral in Jenin refugee camp on 14 October.
APA images

Events in the occupied West Bank over the past week indicate that the
Palestinian liberation struggle, and Israel’s efforts to repress it with
with brutal violence, have entered a new phase.

In this looming scenario, the formerly extremist fringe settlers see
themselves represented at the top levels of Israeli government, emboldened
and beyond the restraint of the army.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority is proving increasingly ineffective at
quelling armed resistance and teetering on what some Israeli analysts fear
is the verge of collapse.

The PA exists to serve as an enforcement arm of the Israeli occupation and
its presence would not be missed by many Palestinians except for those who
are currently on its payroll.

But in a situation of complete Israeli impunity, and only empty gestures by
international parties towards a nonexistent peace process, the grim
statistic of more than 100 Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this
year foretells the even worse violence likely to come.

Six Palestinian boys have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning
of October.

Fayez Damdoum, 17
Mahdi Ladadwa, 17
Adel Daud, 14
Mahmoud Sous, 17
Mahmoud Samoudi, 12
Osama Adawi, 17

Israeli forces must be held accountable for targeting Palestinian children.
pic.twitter.com/BlM4XkG7EI <https://t.co/BlM4XkG7EI>
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1580964571040591875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Despite the Israeli brutality – indeed, because of it – Palestinians have
risen up in defense of their existence on their land, with as much
fearlessness and determination as every previous generation.

Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem have been transformed into
battlegrounds this week, with residents burning tires and dumpsters,
throwing firecrackers at raiding Israeli forces and even lighting police
vehicles on fire
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-12/ty-article/.premium/clashes-erupt-across-east-jerusalem-two-israeli-cops-wounded/00000183-cdbe-d8cc-afc7-fffeacbb0000>:


تغطية صحفية: "الأكبر منذ هــبة أيار 2021.. مـواجهات غير مسبوقة اشتعلت في
القدس ونابلس".. pic.twitter.com/g0LBhWBuPw <https://t.co/g0LBhWBuPw>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1580527546650791938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

ניידת משטרה עלתה באש בסילוואן כתוצאה מירי זיקוקים / בקתב
pic.twitter.com/MpZNZQVx8c <https://t.co/MpZNZQVx8c>
— Yael Freidson יעל פרידסון (@YaelFreidson) October 12, 2022
<https://twitter.com/YaelFreidson/status/1580315472159178752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Israeli settlers, some of them armed, streamed into Sheikh Jarrah, an East
Jerusalem neighborhood they seek to take over, on Thursday night and
attacked Palestinian residents and their property.

فيديو يوثق اعتداء مستوطنين على منازل الأهالي في حي الشيخ جراح بالقدس
المحتلة مساء اليوم pic.twitter.com/zYfEE20iCF <https://t.co/zYfEE20iCF>
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/AlQastalps/status/1580660808732020737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

In this video, Jawad Burqan, a resident of Sheikh Jarrah, describes how
people in the neighborhood, including members of his family, are constantly
harassed by settlers who invade the neighborhood and indiscriminately fire
weapons:

المقدسي جواد برقان من حي الشيخ جراح يروي للقسطل ما الذي يجري في هذه الأثناء
بالحي pic.twitter.com/Y72ww8IBbj <https://t.co/Y72ww8IBbj>
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/AlQastalps/status/1580680890715615232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Many of those who were subject to last night’s violent harassment, assault,
+ vandalism are Palestinian families under looming threat of displacement
via eviction lawsuits filed by state-backed settlers bent on seizing
Palestinian homes in #SheikhJarrah
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SheikhJarrah?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> for
Jewish settlement. https://t.co/6EOzBo2bCY
— Ir Amim English (@IrAmimAlerts) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/IrAmimAlerts/status/1580891420386549760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The settlers were apparently led by Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who
brandished a pistol and told the vigilantes that if Palestinians “throw
stones, shoot them.”

Israeli parliamentarian Ben Gvir flashing a weapon at Palestinians. He will
soon head the third largest party in Israel. He calls for the ethnic
cleansing of Palestinians and who says his “hero” is a man who massacred 26
Palestinians as they were praying in a mosque. https://t.co/ahozg2XN7c
— Diana Buttu (@dianabuttu) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/dianabuttu/status/1580655610550398978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

A tweet from Kahanist Member of Knesset, a man who openly praises Jewish
mass murders such as Baruch Goldstein, and a very popular politician among
israel's Religious Zionist society... pic.twitter.com/2lB481u4PM
<https://t.co/2lB481u4PM>
— Jalal (@JalalAK_jojo) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/JalalAK_jojo/status/1581022693419208704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Ben-Gvir, an ally of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who seeks to
make a comeback in next month’s Israeli election), once proclaimed Baruch
Goldstein as his hero
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/hero-who-murdered-29-palestinians>.


Goldstein was a Jewish settler from Brooklyn who shot to death 29
Palestinian men and boys
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/hebron-still-under-siege-20-years-after-ibrahimi-mosque-massacre>
as they prayed at Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque during Ramadan in 1994.

After that massacre, Israeli forces partitioned the holy site and shuttered
the formerly bustling adjacent Old City.
[image: Palestinian woman stands atop staircase in front of home with
Israeli police in foreground]

Israeli occupation forces deploy in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of
Sheikh Jarrah during a solidarity rally on 14 October.
Saeed Qaq ActiveStills

Palestinians fear that without determined resistance, Israel will seize any
opportunity to impose similar measures
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/three-killed-israel-amid-tensions-over-holy-sites>
at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, where tensions are rising due to
provocative, record-breaking
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/record-number-of-jews-reported-to-visit-temple-mount-over-high-holiday-season/>
visits by Jewish extremists who seek to change the status quo at the holy
site during the Jewish holidays.

Violence in Jerusalem this week must be understood as part of Israel’s
wider efforts to erase Palestinian life from the city.

After the settler mob dispersed from Sheikh Jarrah on Thursday, Israeli
police fired water smelling of sewage on Palestinian homes in the
neighborhood:

الاحتلال يستعين بمركبة المياه العادمة لرش منازل وممتلكات الأهالي في حي
الشيخ جراح بالقدس pic.twitter.com/5TFQbtQ6ma <https://t.co/5TFQbtQ6ma>
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/AlQastalps/status/1580679006956834818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The area stinks.

Yesterday, a mob of stone-throwing settlers attacked Palestinian homes and
property in Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli forces prsent did not obstruct the
rampaging settler mob.

After the attack ended, Israeli forces deployed the skunk truck, sprayed
Palestinian homes. pic.twitter.com/AuxcXmd35J <https://t.co/AuxcXmd35J>
— Jalal (@JalalAK_jojo) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/JalalAK_jojo/status/1580873173561905152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Settlers meanwhile attacked Palestinians in Huwwara, a town near Nablus in
the northern West Bank, on Friday for a second consecutive day:

🚨 In Huwwara right now: Israeli settlers and soldiers are continuing the
attack on the town for the second day in a row. the mosques are calling
over the loudspeakers for people to come protect the businesses and homes
on the main road from the settlers.
— Yumna (@yumna_patel) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/yumna_patel/status/1580881667446579200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Notice the army is not using its weapons or force to stop the masked gangs
of settlers attacking Palestinains & their property. Instead, the soldiers
are working in tandem w/ the settlers, their guns pointed towards the
Palestinians, ensuring they do not dare to defend themselves
https://t.co/1KpVW7E7Dd
— Yumna (@yumna_patel) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/yumna_patel/status/1580545110550278144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

*Haaretz*, a Tel Aviv newspaper, reported
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-14/ty-article/.premium/two-palestinians-killed-by-israeli-army-fire-in-jenin-health-ministry-says/00000183-d515-d3a5-a7d3-fdb587c50000>
that settlers attacked Palestinian shopkeepers and threw stones at homes in
Huwwara.

“The Israeli army later arrived and shot two Palestinians, who are being
treated for their wounds,” Haaretz added, citing the Palestine Red Crescent
Society.

Video shows settlers attacking businesses in Huwwara under the protection
of Israeli soldiers on Thursday:

Watch: Israeli settlers, backed by the army, attack Palestinians in Hawara
#westbank
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/westbank?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/2Rj9I5a8Bk <https://t.co/2Rj9I5a8Bk>
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/OrenZiv_/status/1580539494692163585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

مشاهد من هجوم مستوطنين على محلات تجارية في حوارة جنوب نابلس، وجنود الاحتلال
يعتدون على الفلسطينيين الذين حاولوا التصدي لهم. pic.twitter.com/3bMPtjNoDZ
<https://t.co/3bMPtjNoDZ>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 13, 2022
<https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1580573088999251968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The surge in confrontations across the West Bank this week was precipitated
by Israel’s closure of Shuafat refugee camp, as well as the nearby East
Jerusalem neighborhoods of Dahiyat al-Salam, Ras Shahda, Ras Khamis and
Anata, since Saturday night.

Already surrounded by Israel’s wall and cut off from the rest of the city,
the neighborhoods were under a state of siege for several days following
the fatal shooting of a soldier at Shuafat checkpoint late Saturday.

Israel was purportedly looking for the suspected shooter, a 21-year-old
resident of Shuafat refugee camp.

On Tuesday, Palestinians in the camp announced a general strike and a
campaign of civil disobedience in protest of the severe Israeli
restrictions, which prevented residents from accessing work, healthcare and
schools and bringing life to a standstill.

Adalah, a Palestinian human rights group, said
<https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10727> that the “sweeping
collective punishment including power cuts, spraying of foul-smelling
‘skunk’ water, and firing of tear gas in densely populated civilian areas”
was in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The closure violated “the freedom of movement of some 130,000 Palestinian
residents,” Adalah added.

Israel issued instructions to ease those measures
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-13/ty-article/.premium/israel-eases-checkpoint-restrictions-in-bid-to-calm-east-jerusalem-tensions/00000183-d1ed-dc02-a7fb-d7ed2e870000>
on Thursday in an effort to defuse the situation and on Friday,
Palestinians in the camp reportedly announced the suspension
<https://qudsn.co/post/195537> of the civil disobedience campaign.

But by Friday night, it seemed that the severe movement restrictions had
been reimposed:

قوات الاحتلال تغلق حاجز مخيم شعفاط بالقدس pic.twitter.com/muyzEQs1zb
<https://t.co/muyzEQs1zb>
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/AlQastalps/status/1580959128947929089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

For all the upheaval caused, Israeli forces still haven’t managed to
capture Palestinians wanted for shooting and killing soldiers in two
separate instances in Jerusalem
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-kills-4-teens-rampage-across-west-bank>
and Nablus
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/palestinian-resistance-kills-soldier-near-nablus>,
which was also subjected to closure, since Saturday.

It would seem that Israel has all but lost control of both cities as a
whole, in addition to Jenin, where occupation forces shot and killed two
Palestinians on Friday.

Both Nablus and Jenin have re-emerged as centers of armed resistance to the
Israeli military occupation. In recent months, Israel and the Palestinian
Authority have stepped up their attacks
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/fearing-pa-collapse-israel-steps-west-bank-attacks>
in these areas amid concerns among Israeli leaders that they are slipping
out of the occupation’s grip.

For Israel, the nightmare scenario – one that appears to be becoming
reality – is that the Palestinian Authority collapses or ceases to function
as an auxiliary police force.

In that case, Israeli forces would have to be deployed directly in major
Palestinian population centers, as they were during the first intifada
prior to the signing of the 1993 Oslo accords which created the PA.
[image: Palestinian Authority officer fires crowd control weapon while
standing in street]

Palestinian Authority security forces fire crowd control weapons as Hamas
supporters hold a demonstration in the West Bank city of Hebron on 14
October.
Mamoun Wazwaz APA images

If that were to happen, the confrontations in East Jerusalem would be just
a tiny taste of what would likely be a full-scale Palestinian revolt across
the West Bank.

The level of violence and brutality that Israel would have to deploy in an
effort to crush such a revolt is unthinkable. And if sustained, it could be
even more costly to Israel in terms of international support than its
regular spasms of killing in Gaza.

And as was seen in May 2021
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/today-we-are-nazis-says-member-israeli-jewish-extremist-group/33081>,
the confrontations would not necessarily be contained to the West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

At least one Israeli commentator for the influential newspaper
*Haaretz* expressed
fear
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-14/ty-article/.premium/west-bank-violence-spills-into-jerusalem-mixed-israeli-cities-could-be-next/00000183-d2bf-d62a-a1f7-dfff44620000>
that the current unrest in Nablus, Jenin and East Jerusalem “will slither
across the Green Line again, including possible clashes in the mixed
(Jewish-Arab) cities.”

Another writer
<https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2022-10-14/ty-article/.premium/the-abyss-is-close-so-whats-left-pray/00000183-d331-d8cc-afc7-fffd69a20000>
for the same publication likened it to “the terrible feeling of a car
hurling down the slope toward an abyss,” offering only prayer as a
prescription because ending the structural causes of violence, principally
Israel’s supremacist settler-colony regime, is beyond imagination.

For these writers, the fear is that Jewish Israeli communities might be
affected by the violence that Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line
are subjected to on a daily basis.
[image: An Israeli Border Police combatant aims a weapon towards camera
while standing between cars on street]

Israeli occupation forces take position during confrontations with
Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron on 14 October.
Mamoun Wazwaz APA images

Jenin has endured almost daily raids after a string of deadly attacks in
Israel by Palestinians from the area in March.

Around 40 Palestinians in the Jenin area have been killed so far this year.

One of those killed during an Israeli raid in Jenin on Friday was Abdallah
Abu al-Teen, a 43-year-old doctor. The Palestinian Authority health
ministry said <https://www.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/57185> that Abu al-Teen
was shot in the head by soldiers in front of a government hospital in the
northern West Bank city.

Israeli authorities suggested
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-doctor-dies-after-being-wounded-in-jenin-clash-between-idf-and-gunmen/>
that Abu al-Teen may have been killed by armed Palestinians and then
claimed that the doctor was engaged in a firefight with soldiers when he
was killed.

The shifting narrative is similar to that proffered by Israel
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/even-death-shireen-abu-akleh-exposes-israels-lies>
in the hours and days after Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in the same city.

Several investigations
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/omar-karmi/israeli-impunity-intact-despite-abu-akleh-killing>
in the months following Abu Akleh’s death found that the Al Jazeera
journalist was shot by Israeli troops when there were no armed Palestinians
present or confrontations occurring.

The research group Forensic Architecture and Palestinian human rights group
Al-Haq stated last month
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-intended-kill-shireen-abu-akleh-probe>
that their investigation, which involved spatial imaging and
reconstructions of the incident, shows that Abu Akleh and her colleagues
were deliberately targeted. No Israeli soldier has been held criminally
liable for her death.

Israeli forces in #Jenin
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Jenin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> refugee
camp this morning. At least one arrested and several inured, including 2
#paramedics
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/paramedics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> - who
have been trying to reach a man bleeding in one of the alleys of the camp
for about 40mins, but being shot at, every attempt.
pic.twitter.com/v6xCOxexgm <https://t.co/v6xCOxexgm>
— Fatima AbdulKarim (@FatiabdulFatima) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/FatiabdulFatima/status/1580797224766046210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The other Palestinian killed in Jenin on Friday was identified as Mateen
Dabaya, in his twenties. Al Jazeera, citing the Palestinian health
ministry, reported
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/14/israeli-forces-kill-two-palestinians-in-occupied-west-bank-raid>
that Dabaya was shot with a bullet to the head.

Also on Friday, a third Palestinian from Jenin, 17-year-old Muhammad Maher
Ghawadreh, died in Israeli detention from injuries sustained last month:

عاجل| مكتب إعلام الأسرى: استشهاد الأسير #محمد_ماهر_تركمان
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF_%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1_%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
في سجون الاحتلال الإسرائيلي متأثرا بحروق أصيب بها قبل شهر
pic.twitter.com/2LWZCklgBR <https://t.co/2LWZCklgBR>
— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/ajmubasher/status/1580821558771486720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Ghawadreh was being detained at an Israeli hospital while being treated for
injuries sustained while he allegedly carried out a shooting attack on a
bus carrying Israeli soldiers in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley in early
September.

Seven were injured in the attack that Israeli authorities said
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-valley-bus-attackers-are-family-members-one-still-on-the-loose-is-israeli/>
was carried out by two others in addition to Ghawadreh, all members of the
same family.

Maher Ghawadreh, Muhammad’s father, was present with the father of Raed and
Abdalrahman Khazem
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-four-jenin-raid>
at the funeral of Mateen Dabaya in Jenin on Friday:

⭕ والد الشهيدين رعد وعبد الرحمن خازم ووالد الشهيد محمد تركمان (غوادرة)
المطارد ماهر تركمان خلال مشاركتهما في تشيع الشهيد متين ضبايا في جنين
pic.twitter.com/74hyuKwpqR <https://t.co/74hyuKwpqR>
— صوت الأقصى - عاجل (@Alaqsavoice_Brk) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/Alaqsavoice_Brk/status/1580879545175244800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

تغطية صحفية: "المطارد ماهر تركمان (غوادرة) يظهر بدون لثام ومسلحا في جنازة
الشهيد متين ضبايا، حيث استشهد صباح اليوم نجله الأسير محمد ويتهمه الاحتلال
بتنفيذ عملية الأغوار مع نجليه pic.twitter.com/bYAQt16PAx
<https://t.co/bYAQt16PAx>
— بدون رقابة (@bedounraqabah) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/bedounraqabah/status/1580939400267333632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The elder Ghawadreh, remarkably seen openly and armed in public on Friday,
is also wanted by Israel for allegedly carrying out the shooting attack in
the Jordan Valley in September.

Israeli raids and Palestinian resistance were ongoing in various points
across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, late Friday.

Palestinian gunmen reportedly opened fire
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-man-lightly-hurt-in-west-bank-terror-shooting-idf-kills-palestinian-gunman/>
at Beit El settlement, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday,
lightly injuring an Israeli man.

Israeli media reported that an alleged Palestinian assailant was shot and
killed by troops as he attempted to flee.

Meanwhile, video showed Israeli police beating and detaining Palestinians
in Sheikh Jarrah as confrontations were ongoing in East Jerusalem:

قوات الاحتلال تعتدي على الأهالي في حي الشيخ جراح بالقدس وتعتقل شاباً
pic.twitter.com/KUq0FIFA6Y <https://t.co/KUq0FIFA6Y>
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) October 14, 2022
<https://twitter.com/AlQastalps/status/1581006450054246401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The siege on Shuafat this week united Palestinians across East Jerusalem,
where long-simmering frustration was already high due to a daily atmosphere
of repression as Israel seeks to crush Palestinian life in the city.

Earlier this year, history-making masses of Palestinians accompanied
journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s coffin during her funeral procession after
she was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Jenin refugee camp during May.

Sheikh Jarrah resident and writer Muhammad El-Kurd described
<https://www.thenation.com/article/society/shireen-abu-aqleh-media-bias/>
the huge mobilization for Abu Akleh’s funeral, despite Israel’s
restrictions on public gathering, “a reclamation of public space” in the
city.

The events in Jerusalem this week will likely be remembered as something
similar.

*Ali Abunimah is executive director and Maureen Clare Murphy is senior
editor of The Electronic Intifada.*
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