Left: Palestinians
attempt to break through a section of the separation wall Israel built in the occupied East
Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis, 11 October. Yotam Ronen
ActiveStills - Courtesty The Electronic Intifada
Posted:
13 Oct 2015 07:22 PM PDT
by
Charlotte Silver
On
Monday, Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinian youths, bringing the total
number of Palestinians killed since heightened violence erupted on 1 October
across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and inside present-day Israel to 27.
More
than 1,300 Palestinians have been injured by live
ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets, according
to the Palestinian Authority health ministry.
In
the same period, four Israelis have been killed and 67 injured.
Palestinians
have called for a general strike in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and present-day Israel to protest Israel’s escalating repression.
As
violence continues, Palestinian children and teenagers make up a large
proportion of the dead and injured.
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the deployment of up to 2,000 paramilitary Border
Police reservists in occupied East Jerusalem.
On
Monday evening in central Gaza, Israel claimed that about 20 Palestinians broke through a boundary fence near al-Bureij refugee camp, reportedly managing to enter Israel before
the army responded with live rounds and tear gas.
In
recent days, nine Palestinians have been killed by
Israeli fire across the boundary into Gaza
and a pregnant mother and her baby daughter were killed in an air strike.
“ISIS-like”
cruelty
Mustafa
Adel al-Khatib, 18, was shot dead at the entrance to the Old
City in Jerusalem.
Israeli
police said al-Khatib attempted to stab a Border Police officer, before other
officers in the area opened fire on him.
But
Palestinian witnesses told Ma’an News Agency al-Khatib had no knife.
Fifteen-year-old
Hasan Khalid Manasra was shot by police in the Israeli settlement of Pisgat
Zeev in East Jerusalem.
He
was with his cousin Ahmad Salih Manasra, 13, who was seriously injured. Israeli
police allege that boys stabbed and injured two Israelis, an adult
and a 13-year-old.
Hasan
died immediately, while Ahmad remains in critical condition.
A
video reported to be of Ahmad gasping for breath as he bleeds on the ground was
uploaded to social media by an Israeli passerby.
Onlookers
can be heard shouting insults at the bleeding boy, including, “Die, son of a
whore!”
Another
person tells the police to “give him one in the head.”
The
video has generated shock even among Palestinians regularly exposed to the
occupation’s violence.
Wattan
TV said
that it demonstrated the “ISIS-like and terrorist” mentality of Israeli
occupation forces and settlers toward Palestinians.
Warning:
This video is extremely graphic and disturbing. Settler
chants die! as Palestinian boy bleeds (English\Spanish)
A
third Palestinian was killed Monday night after he
allegedly stabbed and lightly injured an Israeli soldier on a bus in Jerusalem and tried to
steal his gun. The name of the person was not immediately available.
The
same day, a teenage Palestinian girl was shot and wounded in Jerusalem. A
schoolmate interviewed by Shehab News Agency identified the teenage
girl as Marah al-Bakri. Police
allege that she had tried to stab a police officer, who was slightly injured.
On
Sunday, 13-year-old Ahmad Sharaka was killed by a live bullet in the neck at a
protest outside Ramallah in the West Bank,
near the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
IOF
just shot dead Ahmed Sharaka in his neck in West Bank.
Young Palestinian souls are being cruelly murdered pic.twitter.com/GXiB8kV60Z
Dr-Abu
Rayan Ziara (@Medo4Gaza) October
11, 2015
No
fear
A
video filmed in Hebron
shows 65-year old Ziad Abu Khalil confronting Israeli soldiers, shouting that
they should be ashamed of themselves for shooting children. Abu
Khalil showed no fear even as the soldiers raised their guns. He spoke for some
time before he collapsed on the ground and was rushed to hospital by
Palestinian medics.
Elderly
Palestinian man confronts armed Israeli soldiers before collapsing
On
Sunday, Palestinian legal rights group Al-Haq
published the names of all Palestinians who have been killed since 1 October: Since
1 October Israel
has killed 24 Palestinians, including 8 children, and injured at least 1,300 pic.twitter.com/mRWmX4rXS7
Since 1 October Israel has killed 24 Palestinians,
including 8 children, and injured at least 1,300
Al
Haq (@alhaq_org) October
11, 2015
“Shoot
to kill”
Yair
Lapid, a former Israeli minister and leader of the ostensibly centrist
party Yesh Atid, has encouraged the Israeli Jewish public to “shoot to kill”
when confronted with an alleged attacker.
“Don’t
hesitate, even when an incident just starts, shooting to kill is the right
thing to do,” Lapid said.
“The
directives should specify shooting to kill when anyone pulls out a knife or
screwdriver or whatever,” he added.
Israel’s Haaretz
reported that Lapid “clarified that authorities will give full legal
backing to such actions.”
Israeli
media report that police arrested dozens of people in present-day Israel
and the occupied West Bank, including 33 in
overnight raids on Sunday. Ten
people were arrested near Ramallah for alleged involvement with Hamas, while
others are being investigated for “terrorist activity, disturbance of the
peace, and violence against civilians and security forces,” according to Haaretz.
Police
are also cracking down on the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Netanyahu
has instructed the Shin Bet secret police to work with legal advisors to
prepare the case to outlaw the party. One
of the party’s leaders, Yousif Abu Jama, was arrested on suspicion of organizing an “illegal gathering.”
General
strike
Palestinians
have called for a general strike on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank and Gaza and in Palestinian cities inside present-day Israel. The
Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, a body made up of
elected officials from the Palestinian community in present-day Israel, has
called the strike. Palestinian
members of Israel’s
parliament, the Knesset, have expressed support for it as well.
“In
recent days this sense of security was harmed by assaults by Jewish racists
against Arabs,” Aida Touma-Sliman, a Palestinian member of the Knesset from
Akka, said. “More importantly, however, the police and the prime minister [sic]
are calling on citizens to carry weapons, which can pose a real danger to the
lives of Arab individuals.”
The
Joint
List, the grouping of Palestinian legislators in the Knesset, urged broad public participation in rallies protesting
Israel’s crackdown on Palestinians.
Adalah, a
legal rights group for Palestinian citizens of Israel,
has monitored
an uptick in “brutal and repressive” tactics adopted by the Israeli police,
including arbitrary arrests of minors, “preventive arrests” of activists
intended to stifle demonstrations, arrests of activists’ family members and
severe physical violence against protesters, particularly in East
Jerusalem.
“We
are the masters”
Another
law to increase the penalty for throwing stones passed its first
reading in the Knesset. Punishments
for minors in present-day Israel
and occupied East Jerusalem used to be
that parents’ benefits would be frozen or the minor would be sentenced to
jail time. Sponsored
by Ayelet
Shaked, the justice minister who is notorious for her violent anti-Palestinian incitement, the new law would
allow both penalties to be issued at once.
On
Monday, three minors were arrested in Umm
al-Fahim and two more in Jerusalem
for allegedly throwing stones.
In
attempt to appease demands for tougher “security,” the mayor of the northern
Israeli city Kiryat Bialik instructed police to inspect the ID cards of Arab
workers at construction sites in the city, Ynet
reported.
***
Posted:
13 Oct 2015 05:24 PM PDT
Israeli
prime minister targets Palestinian leaders in Israel as his ‘Mr Security’ image
takes a beating
by
Jonathan Cook
Middle
East Eye – Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a crackdown
on Palestinian political leaders in Israel, blaming them for the
current unrest, in what appeared to be an attempt to bolster his severely
dented image as ‘Mr Security’.
After
a lengthy meeting of the security cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu directed
officials to assemble the evidence to make possible the outlawing of the
northern wing of the Islamic movement.
Led
by Sheikh Raed Salah, the organisation is generally regarded as the most popular
Islamic party among Israel’s
1.6 million Palestinian citizens, who comprise a fifth of the population.
Over
the past two decades the movement’s standing among Palestinians has risen as it
has taken an increasingly central role at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old
City. Salah has accused Israel of
trying to engineer a takeover of the site.
After
Netanyahu’s announcement, he told reporters: “We are conducting exhaustive and
meaningful discussions into the question of outlawing them. There is no
question that we will take strong action.”
Separately,
Netanyahu urged Israel’s
attorney general to indict Haneen Zoabi, a member of the Israeli parliament, or
Knesset. She faces an investigation for incitement over an interview in which
she reportedly called for Palestinians to converge on al-Aqsa to launch a
“popular intifada”.
Ban
on mosque visits
Last
week the prime minister barred Palestinian Knesset members from accessing the
al-Aqsa compound, after facing massive criticism from the right for his
decision to ban Jewish MKs from visiting the site. He had said the measure
would help “restore calm”.
Palestinian
MKs have argued that Netanyahu has no authority to ban them from al-Aqsa, which
under a long-standing agreement is managed jointly by Islamic religious
authorities and Jordan.
Ahmed
Tibi said treating alike the Palestinian MKs and settler leaders in the Knesset
was “like saying a homeowner and the burglar who stole from him are the same”.
The
MKs have vowed to demand entry to al-Aqsa on Wednesday, in defiance of the ban.
The
site is seen as holy by Palestinians and by Jews, who refer to it as Temple Mount.
The ruins of two Jewish temples are believed to lie underneath the compound.
Tensions
have been rising in recent years as increasing numbers of Jews have begun
visiting the site, often at the expense of Muslim worshippers. Israel has
imposed restrictions on prayer and access for Palestinians, with men under the
age of 50 repeatedly denied access.
Restrictions
at al-Aqsa and the scenes of mounting casualties in the occupied territories
have triggered protests in all major Palestinian towns in Israel in
recent days, often ending in clashes with the police. More than 100
demonstrators have been arrested, including many minors.
At
the weekend police chief Aharon Aksol accused
the northern Islamic Movement of being the “guiding hand” behind the clashes
and recent attacks on Israeli Jews.
Slump
in poll ratings
Netanyahu’s
hard line comes as his poll ratings have slumped following the upswing in
violence, which has been accompanied by concerted attacks from rightwing
rivals, including from within his own governing coalition. A survey of Israeli
Jews at the weekend found 73 per cent were unhappy with his performance.
Both
Avigdor Lieberman, of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, and Naftali
Bennett, of the settler party Jewish Home, were more trusted to deal with the
current crisis, the poll found.
“Netanyahu
has no solutions for ending the unrest so he needs to find someone to blame,”
said Asad Ghanem, a political scientist at Haifa University.
“The Arab leaders in Israel
generally, and the Islamic Movement in particular, are convenient scapegoats.”
The
Islamic Movement split into two regionally led branches in the late 1990s over
ideological differences. Salah’s wing, unlike the southern movement, rejects
participation in the Knesset and is seen by Israel as more extreme.
Zoabi
belongs to a democratic nationalist party, Balad, whose MKs have repeatedly
fallen foul of Netanyahu. A joint Jewish-Arab Communist party has also come
under fire after its leader, Ayman Odeh, was appointed earlier this year to
head the Joint List, a coalition of all the Arab parties in the Knesset.
Conflicting
pressures
Netanyahu’s
difficulties have been exacerbated by the conflicting pressures he faces domestically
and internationally.
At
the weekend John Kerry, the US
secretary of state, phoned him and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to reduce tensions.
But
Netanyahu’s political rivals, from both the centre-left and right, have
demanded tougher measures against Palestinians in the occupied territories and Israel, leaving
Netanyahu looking indecisive and weak.
Lieberman
called
on Monday for Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in the West
Bank to be overthrown, while Bennett has insisted on intensified
settlement-building.
Meanwhile,
Isaac Herzog, leader of the centre-left Zionist Union, demanded that the West Bank be sealed off. Netanyahu was forced to reject
this measure after army commanders warned it would not reduce attacks and would open Israel to
criticism that it was collectively punishing Palestinians.
“Netanyahu
cannot admit the true causes of this kind of intifada are his occupation
policies in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” said Amneh Badran, a Palestinian
politics professor at al-Quds University in East Jerusalem.
Badran
observed that Netanyahu had targeted the Islamic Movement because he was
struggling to find a plausible group to blame in the occupied territories.
Abbas’ PA and Islamic rivals Hamas have been effectively barred from Jerusalem, where the
worst violence has taken place.
“The
northern Islamic Movement is very organised and active in Jerusalem,
and has been at the forefront of clarifying what Israel is doing at al-Aqsa,” said
Badran. “Netanyahu sees the Islamic Movement as an obstacle that needs to be
removed.”
Banned
from al-Aqsa
The
Islamic Movement has provided the main presence at the compound since Israel formally ended the PA’s links to Jerusalem in 2001 with
the closure of Orient House. Fatah as an organised political movement in Jerusalem quickly faded
afterwards.
Israel also cracked down harshly on Hamas representatives
in Jerusalem
following their success in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections.
Salah
and many of the movement’s leaders are already banned either from visiting
al-Aqsa or from entering Jerusalem.
Badransaid outlawing the Islamic Movement would be certain to escalate tensions and
clashes in Jerusalem
and elsewhere. Israel’s domestic security service, the Shin Bet, is reported to have made a similar assessment.
Last
week, Salah denounced what he called “unbridled incitement” against his
wing of the movement, adding: “We will not yield to threats intended to cow
supporters of Jerusalem
and al-Aqsa.”
Zeki
Aghbaria, a spokesman for the movement, told Middle East Eye: “Netanyahu has no
authority to decide anything at al-Aqsa. We will continue the struggle to
defend it whatever he decides.”
Last
month, Israel
also banned the Mourabitoun, a cadre of Islamic students based
at the mosque. Clashes in the Old City and neighbourhoods of East
Jerusalem increased dramatically in the days after the ban was
imposed.
The
group, which enjoys close ties to the northern Islamic Movement, has repeatedly
confronted Jewish ultra-nationalists who also stake a claim to the site.
Salah
and his followers believe Israel
wishes to encroach on Islamic sovereignty at al-Aqsa so that the compound can
be divided between Muslims and Jews, as occurred in the 1990s at the Ibrahimi
mosque in Hebron.
‘Hysterical
aggression’
In
an apparent reference to the Islamic Movement during his speech at the
Knesset’s opening on Monday, Netanyahu said
Israel’s “enemies” were
“using mendacious propaganda about Temple
Mount to make trouble”.
Underscoring
his demand that Zoabi be tried for incitement, he accused her of calling for
“wholesale terror against Israeli citizens”.
Zoabi
told MEE Netanyahu had twisted her comments to suggest she was calling for an
armed struggle.
“I
was arguing the opposite: that Palestinians in the occupied territories need to
concentrate on a popular, non-violent intifada as a way to raise their morale
and liberate themselves.
“The
stabbings we see every day are an expression of individual Palestinians’ sense
of frustration and hopelessness. The attacks will end when Palestinians
collectively find a better way to resist.”
Of
the attacks on her and the Islamic Movement, she said: “Netanyahu is falling
back on his favourite trick – creating an enemy to generate fear among his
followers. He has lost the issue of Iran, so now he needs me and the
Islamic Movement.”
“His
hysterical aggression really reflects the fact that he is growing ever more
politically impotent.”
Comparison
with Islamic State
Ghanem
said the Israeli prime minister had sought to blur the differences between
Salah’s movement, which disavows violence, and militant groups in the region.
Netanyahu
has compared the northern movement both to Hamas, which fights Israel through its military wing, and to Islamic
State, which has been leading violent campaign through Iraq and Syria,
and has been linked to two large-scale suicide attacks in Turkey.
Ghanem
said the Islamic Movement’s policies had not changed in the past 20 years.
“They do not call for violence. They live in Israel and accept they must work
within the laws.”
Netanyahu
has been actively considering the closure of the northern Islamic Movement
since last summer. However, the Shin Bet has previously warned him off a ban,
fearing it would drive the movement underground.
On
Monday a northern Islamic Movement leader, Sheikh Yusef Abu Gammah, was arrested, accused of inciting violence and organising an
illegal gathering in the Bedouin town of Rahat
in southern Israel.
Ghanem
said he feared Netanyahu would not stop with Salah and his followers.
“If
Israel
takes this major step against the northern Islamic Movement, there is a real
danger that it will target next the Balad party [of Haneen Zoabi] and the
southern Islamic Movement.”
“Netanyahu’s
approach only serves to expose to the Arab population in Israel their
true situation. They will react to this and relations will deteriorate still
further.”e are the masters of this land” the mayor, Eli Dukorsky, wrote in a
directive to city officials.
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