PALESTINE/ISRAEL: “We are the masters”, says Israel while unrest grows in Israel and Palestine and Netanyahu seeks scapegoats.

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

“We are the masters” says Israeli mayor as 3 more Palestinians are killed

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.

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“As unrest grows in Israel and Palestine, Netanyahu seeks scapegoats

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.