Israel Attacks Palestinians Quite Literally on their Doorsteps

An Introduction

While the Israeli-Palestine “conflict” is one that has been going on since 1948, it still seems no closer to ending. Recently, a ceasefire has been agreed to, but it is suspected by some that if no political resolution is reached then an end to this “conflict” may not be occurring any time soon.

In this article I will refrain from delving into a long, detailed history of the “conflict” and instead will comment on the causes of the recent escalation of the situation which has gathered traction internationally. And as a result triggered anger and protests internationally.

Is It Really a “conflict”?

The only answer to this question for me is no. The Israeli state has one of the best militaries in the world and is backed by imperialist powers. While nothing of such comparability can be said about Palestine. This is no conflict, it is arguably an apartheid occupation and ethnic cleansing by Israel who are enforcing a military occupation upon the Palestinian people, but others may disagree. The Palestinian people have been made prisoners in their new open air prison that they used to call their homes.

The Evictions

In the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah 13 Palestinian families have been fighting efforts from Israelis to evict them from their homes since 2008. But it could be argued that the legal battles began in 1972 which was 20 years after Palestinians settled in the Sheikh Jarrah, when earlier attempts at evictions were made. On both occasions the Israeli argument being that they have a legal right to the land due to an Israeli law that permits Jews to recover property abandoned during the war in 1948. However, there is no equivalent law for Palestinians, therefore, they have been unable to reclaim land that they were forced to leave or abandoned during the war. Several weeks ago, protests erupted after an Israeli court ruled in favour of the Israelis, which meant some families could be evicted immediately. But, Israel’s Supreme Court put the evictions on hold in order to wait, so a verdict could be delivered on an appeal of a previous ruling. Which could have also been an attempt to relieve the rising tension around the situation. The UN Commission for Human Rights described the forced removal of Palestinian families as a potential war crime, while Israeli officials dismissed the importance of the issue, calling it a “real-estate dispute between private parties.”

The Raid

On the final Friday of Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims, tens of thousands of Muslims gathered in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in order to pray. It must be noted that Al-Aqsa Mosque is in fact Islam’s third-holiest site. After prayer, many stayed in order to protest the evictions, but they had not expected to be met by the Israeli police, who shot rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades at those gathered who attempted to respond by throwing stones. Israeli Police claimed that they used force to “restore order” due to the “rioting of thousands of worshippers”. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he “held [Israel] responsible for the dangerous developments and sinful attacks”. While an Asqa official called for calm and was quoted saying over the Mosque’s loudspeaker “Police must immediately stop firing stun grenades at worshippers, and the youth must calm down and be quiet!”

Even after a violent weekend, it seemed the Israeli Security Forces were yet to have finished the violence on their part. And so, on that Monday, a flash raid was executed on the Al-Aqsa compound which again resulted in the firing of rubber bullets, tear gas and sound bombs at the gathered worshippers, this wounded more than 300 Palestinians and only increased international outrage at the situation.

The Airstrikes and Rockets

On Tuesday morning, the day after the previously mentioned flash raid, Hamas fired 200 rockets at Israel and several of those were directed at Jerusalem, this is according to the Israeli military. But many of these rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. It was reported that at least 2 Israelis were killed. Meanwhile, on the same day Israeli aerial attacks which hit residential buildings and other targets killed at least 26 Palestinians, including children, health authorities in Gaza reported on that Tuesday.

Another notable day (15th May 2021) involving airstrikes was when the Jala tower in the Gaza Strip was levelled by Israeli airstrikes. The Jala tower was home to the Qatari television station Al-Jazeera, the American news agency Associated Press and other various offices and residential apartments. However, earlier that day Israeli security forces had also conducted a raid on an overcrowded refugee camp which resulted in the killing of at least 10 Palestinians.

In despite of urgent international calls for a de-escalation, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s then Prime Minister, announced that “both the might of the attacks and the frequency of the attacks will be increased” on Gaza.

Before I Conclude

Before concluding it must be pointed that the Israeli government is currently changing, if it all goes to schedule then Israel will swear in its new prime minister on Sunday the 13th of June 2021. This new government will be led by Naftali Bennet, he is an ultranationalist, but I won’t go into detail about the change. What I will say however is that he is known to be a religious extremist and a great opponent to a Palestinian state. But, I must also recognise that a ceasefire was also agreed, which while it may have stopped Hamas it has not stopped the Palestinian protesters.

Conclusion

To conclude, I’d like to reiterate what I’ve previously said in the “Is it Really a “Conflict”?” section of this article. The Palestinian people have been forced to live under an apartheid military occupation for too long now. But when occupied by such a powerful militaristic state, it should highlight the Palestinians’ necessity for international solidarity in their resistance and criticism of the Israeli state. With the introduction of a new prime minister that seems to be very Anti-Palestinian, the lives of Palestinians will not be getting better any time soon. The international resistance to these Israeli policies should not just be a social media trend, but instead it should be considered a moral obligation to help those suffering from the Israeli occupation in any way we can. I must also urge you to listen to those suffering from the occupation in their every day lives and listen to their problems and concerns first.

I have only 2 words left to say:

Free Palestine