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<div class="ItemCreateDateDiv oneline"> <span id="ItemCreateDate01"
class="ItemCreateDate">6-10-2015 5:43 PM</span> </div>
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<h1> <span id="ItemHeaderText" class="ItemHeaderText">Are
Palestinians on the verge of a new Intifada?</span></h1>
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<div class="ItemFullImageDiv"> <b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73970">http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73970</a></small></small></b><br>
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<div class="ItemMiniTextDiv"> <span id="ItemMiniText"
class="ItemMiniText">By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine<br>
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Palestinians, especially youngsters, are taking to the streets in
large numbers to protest increasingly determined efforts by Jewish
fanatics to take over or demolish al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest
place in Islam.<br>
<br>
A number of protesters, including a child, have been shot dead by
trigger-happy Israeli soldiers, instructed by the Israeli government
to shoot to kill even peaceful protesters.<br>
<br>
According to eyewitnesses, Abdul Rahman Ubaydullah, 12, was shot
dead early Tuesday by an Israeli sniper as he was playing outside
his home at the Ayda refugee camp near Bethlehem.<br>
<br>
Israel murdered thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of
children, in three devastating wars on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9,
2012, and 2014.<br>
<br>
On Monday, another Palestinian youngster named Huthayfa Suleiman was
shot dead at the Shweika neighborhood near the town of Tulkarem, in
the northern West Bank.<br>
<br>
Palestinian medical sources have reported that as many as 600
protesters were injured in the last three days, 300 by rubber-coated
bullets, and the rest as a result of suffocation from tear-gas
inhalation.<br>
<br>
The hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu on Monday
vowed to take "harsh” measures against "rioters."<br>
<br>
The measures include instructions to kill stone-throwers, and
demolish the family homes of Palestinians accused of killing Israeli
settlers as well as imposing hefty fines on their families.<br>
<br>
The measures seem to represent a stark contrast to the extremely
lenient measures adopted against Jewish terrorists responsible for
murdering Palestinians.<br>
<br>
Nearly two months ago, Jewish terrorists burned alive an entire
Palestinian family at the village of Duma near Nablus in the
northern West Bank.<br>
<br>
The father, mother and a small toddler succumbed to their massive
burns while a second and only remaining child of the family is still
fighting for his life in hospital.<br>
<br>
Israel vowed to catch the perpetrators. However, two months after
the ugly incident, none of the murderers has been apprehended.<br>
<br>
It is widely believed that the Israeli security agencies as well as
justice system are reluctant to pursue the Talmudic settler
terrorists who are backed by powerful political figures as and
top-ranking army officers.<br>
<br>
The Israeli justice system, which is rife with right-wing judges
sympathetic to the terrorists, often treats Jewish suspects as
"innocent even if proven guilty," using the words of Israeli peace
activist.<br>
<br>
Al-Aqsa, the epicenter<br>
<br>
The main reason behind current Palestinian protests is the recurrent
and increasingly bold Jewish attempts to take over the Aqsa Mosque
from Muslim hands in order to build on its site a Jewish temple.<br>
<br>
Messianic Jewish groups, backed by powerful parties within the
coalition government led by Netanyahu have been storming the Islamic
sanctuary, nearly on a daily basis, under the protection of the
Israeli security forces.<br>
<br>
Muslims who tried to defend the sanctity of the place were severely
beaten, shot at, or arrested and given hefty fines.<br>
<br>
On Monday, crack Israeli soldiers expelled Muslim worshipers from
the place.<br>
<br>
Messianic Jews believe that the destruction of the Aqsa Mosque and
building a Talmudic temple on its site would usher in the beginning
of the so-called "redemption age" and appearance of a Jewish Messiah
or redeemer, who will bring salvation for Jews and establish a
world-wide Jewish empire.<br>
<br>
Some Jewish circles, including religious Zionists, whose main
political arm, ha-Bayt ha Yehudi, (Jewish home), is the second
largest party in the current Israeli government, believe that
bloodshed and violence on a very large scale must precede the
redemption and appearance of the redeemer.<br>
<br>
Believers in this cataclysmic theology, who are in the hundreds of
thousands and include most settlers in the West Bank, often seek to
expedite these doomsday whims by provoking violence in Occupied
Palestine, especially by torching mosques and even churches and by
committing outrageous acts of murder like what happened to the
Dawabsheh family.<br>
<br>
However, Messianic Jews know well that nothing would provoke the
Palestinians like the recurrent storming of the Aqsa Mosque.<br>
<br>
Life- and- death issue<br>
<br>
In a certain sense, the millenarian Jews are correct.<br>
<br>
Assaults on the Aqsa Mosque, even under the deceptive rubric of
"innocent visits" do provoke Palestinians as nothing else would.<br>
<br>
After all, the Aqsa Mosque is an integral part of the Islamic belief
itself. The Mosque is mentioned by name in Suratul Isra (Chapter-
17)<br>
<br>
Most Palestinians actually believe that the majestic Muslim
sanctuary, to which the Prophet Muhammed made his night journey from
Mecca and subsequently flew from there to the seventh heaven in what
is known in Muslim traditions as Israa and Mi'iraj, symbolizes their
very existence in Palestine.<br>
<br>
Hence, targeting the Mosque by Jews is viewed as a direct, brazen
and flagrant attack or declaration of war on the very existence of
the Palestinians, not only in Palestine, but also in the Levant
region.<br>
<br>
That is why; nearly every Palestinian considers the issue a matter
of life and death even at the personal level.<br>
<br>
A new Intifada<br>
<br>
It is difficult to say with certainty whether an intifada or
uprising is occurring or going to occur soon.<br>
<br>
However, it is amply clear that the chances for a new intifada are
now greater than ever before in light of the deep anger and
indignation generated among most Palestinians by Israeli
provocations and crimes.<br>
<br>
Hence, it is probably logical to say that the evolution of the
present protests in the West Bank into a full-fledged uprising
depends very much on Israeli behaviors, especially at the Aqsa
Mosque.<br>
<br>
More to the point, the virtual death of the so-called peace process
and the practical elimination by Israel of all realistic prospects
for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state are likely to
make the eruption of a third Intifada more likely if not inevitable.<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><em>Khalid Amayreh is a veteran
Palestinian journalist and political commentator living in the
West Bank.</em></span>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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