Palestinians barred from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque praying in the street, facing the police (photo: Flash 90)
Precisely twenty years ago,
the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan was signed. But nowhere were there celebratory
events held to mark this date. It was marked in a different way – on the
precise anniversary, Jordan filed a strong complaint to the UN Security Council
demanding an urgent debate on the conduct of the State of Israel in East
Jerusalem.
When Prime Minister Rabin and
King Hussein signed that peace treaty, it was just a year after Rabin signed
the first Oslo Agreement with the PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House
lawn. At that time, when there were still concrete expectations that a permanent agreement
between Israel and the Palestinians would be signed by the May 1999 deadline,
there was still room for dreams of establishing a real peace with Jordan, most
of whose citizens are Palestinians, many of them in the territories under
occupation…
"Netanyahu has given a
final goodbye to the Bar Ilan Speech," wrote commentator Shalom Yerushalmi.
"The same Prime Minister who once promised the Palestinians a state, had
last Monday informed them on the Knesset
floor that there would be no 1967 lines, nor any other borders marked on the
map, and no division of Jerusalem, and no Jordan Valley, and no independent forces in the Palestinian state,
and in fact there would be no negotiations. And to all these categorical
rejections was attached a firm Netanyahu demand that Abbas recognize the Jewish
state."
Not that that famous speech
delivered at the Bar Ilan University in 2009 ever aroused a lot of confidence
or credibility. Nevertheless, there is some difference between Netanyahu trying
to pretend and pay a bit of lip service for the sake of those who insisted on
hanging some hopes on him, and the October 2014 model Netanyahu, evidently
determined to take off all masks - and gloves. So there were very many events
squeezed into this one week. There was the bill designed to allow the Knesset
to enact laws violating basic Human Rights, even against the opposition of the
Supreme Court. There was also Defense Minister Ya'alon's decision to prevent Palestinian workers using Israeli public
transportation, in compliance with the demands and assertions of the settlers
which were extensively quoted in the media. Arabs on the bus are: “a security
threat”; “sexual harassment”; “they stink and make great noise”; “and anyway
why should we have to travel in a bus full of Arabs - this is a Jewish land, is
it not?”
(Officially, the Defense Minister spoke only
of "security problems", although in fact the military officers
concerned had said there's no evidence of such problems).
There was this week also the
sweeping announcement of the construction of thousands of settlement housing
units, with the Prime Minister and senior ministers reiterating that engaging
in such construction is the right and duty of Israel as a Jewish and Zionist
state, “just as the English build in London and the French are building in
Paris”. And Housing Minister Uri Ariel stating his intention to personally come
to live among the settlers who penetrated into Silwan Village in East Jerusalem,
in order to strengthen and encourage them; and the statements of Prime Minister
Netanyahu on tightening his alliance with the Jewish Home Party of which Ariel
is one of the leaders. And there was the highly publicized confrontation
between the PM’s bureau and the White House, with insulting words flying back
and forth over the Atlantic, and the expectation that it would escalate further
after the Midterm elections to the US Congress, due next week.
Meanwhile, war in Jerusalem. The spark which had set off
East Jerusalem was the kidnapping, murder and burning of the boy Mohammed Abu
Khdeir, blood feud for the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli yeshiva
students. Since then the conflagration had been going on, also in the weeks
when all attention was focused on the bombing of Gaza. Every week, almost every
day, still more fuel is added to the combustion. Israeli Nationalist-Messianic settlers
penetrate deep into the Palestinian neighborhoods, take over houses on the
basis of questionable purchase contracts, and effectively turn them into
fortified compounds. Larger Jewish neighborhoods, established by the government
on expropriated Palestinian land in East Jerusalem, are expanding through major
projects involving thousands of housing units – with ordinary Israeli
Jerusalemites, seeking a place to live, becoming unwittingly the pawns in a
game of “expanding the Jewish presence” and driving wedges between Palestinian
neighborhoods. The trains of the Jerusalem Light Rail, built a few years ago by
a French company despite loud voices of protest and intended as “A symbol of
United Jerusalem” had instead become identified as the focus of confrontation
and conflict and clashes and constant stone throwing. It was at a station of
the Light Rail that the baby Haya Zissel Baron was killed a week ago. Israeli
citizens are convinced, without the slightest doubt, that the Palestinian who
run her over did it as a deliberate pre-meditated act; many Palestinians say it
was a car accident. The truth would probably never be verified, as he was shot
and killed on the spot.
And topping everything else, the
Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound - most sensitive place in the Middle East and one of
the most sensitive in the whole world, Temple Mount to Jews, Haram al-Sharif
(The Noble Sanctuary) to Muslims. Two
1300-year old mosques, the third holiest site to a billion Muslims worldwide, which were built on the site of the
Jewish Temple destroyed by the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. In our time
Nationalist Messianic Israelis, in increasing numbers and with increasing
support in the political system, try to get hold of that compound, many of them
speaking explicitly of their desire and intention to destroy the mosques and
rebuild the Temple. They don’t shy away from the idea of confrontation with the
entire Muslim World, to some of them it actually seems desirable. Activities to
bring about Jewish control of the Mosque Compound were coordinated and
organized tirelessly by a red bearded man named Yehuda Glick. Day before
yesterday, he was severely wounded in an assassination attempt. The Security
Services of Israel announced that within twelve hours they had solved the case
and discovered the identity of the assassin. Was it indeed the real assassin?
The truth would probably never be verified, since the soldiers and police took
care to shoot and kill him immediately upon reaching his home. On the Israeli
TV news last night commentators said
that it had been a relatively calm day in East Jerusalem, but reporters from
the ground brought footage of confrontations and shooting and clouds of tear gas over the alleys of the
Old City.
Israeli correspondent Asaf
Gabor went to the streets and cafes of East Jerusalem to meet the young rebels.
He quoted the words of the 17-year old
Uday and the 18-year Mahmoud whom he met near the pool table in the cafe
opposite the neighborhood mosque in Ras al-Amud. "We are not interested in
the struggles between Hamas and Fatah - we think they're just spoiling our
popular uprising here in Jerusalem, and of our friends in the Territories. The
debates between our politicians are nonsense, they just make the Israeli
occupation stronger, able to maintain the current situation, to increase settlements and attack Palestinians. We don’t
need movements to come and organize us.
Certainly not the Palestinian Authority or Abbas. We had only one Palestinian
leader, Yasser Arafat. After he was poisoned by Israel, we now have no leader.
After all, if Abbas wanted to come here, if he wanted to come even to Shu’afat or Beit Hanina, the Jerusalem
neighborhoods which are just ten minutes from Ramallah, he must get permission
from Israel. So what kind of leader is he? For so many years he is talking
about peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state, and we see nothing
from it. Forget about Palestinian leaders, there is no such thing. What we have
here is a rebellion which comes from within, because of the attack on our
dignity, on us as Palestinians and on Islam. We don’t need anyone to tell us to
go out or start a riot or anything. We are just organizing together and do it,
because we are hurt. Israel does not understand one basic thing. The old ones
have had their time. Now it's our turn, the turn of the young people."
Not quite by coincidence, the
Government of Sweden – which last month
announced that it would recognize the State of Palestine when the
appropriate moment came – have come to the conclusion that this week was the
right time. The Swedish recognition put
some wind in the sails of the diplomatic efforts by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, in
which young people in the alleys of East Jerusalem no longer have any
confidence. Probably next week the Spanish parliament will debate a motion to
also recognize the State of Palestine – of particular importance because in
January Spain will become a member of UN Security Council, where Palestinian
demands would be debated. Similar initiatives are known to be developing in
other at other Parliaments in Europe as well. Yesterday, 550 Israeli citizens
sent a supporting letter to Members of the Spanish parliament: "We,
citizens of Israel, who wish a safe and thriving condition for our country, are
worried by the continued political stalemate and by the continued occupation
and settlements activity, which lead to further confrontations with the
Palestinians and destroy the chance for a compromise. It is clear that the
prospects for Israel's enduring existence and security depend on a Palestinian
state coming into existence, side by side with Israel. Israel should recognize
the State of Palestine and Palestine should recognize the State of Israel,
based on the June 4, 1967 borders. Your initiative for recognizing the State of
Palestine will advance the prospects for peace and will encourage Israelis and
Palestinians in bringing an end to their conflict.". This petition was
initiated and organized by Alon Liel, former Director General of the Foreign
Ministry of Israel. A few years ago, he probably would not have signed such a
letter, let alone initiating it.
This is also the week in
which the large"Africa
Israel Construction Company"
announced that it would no longer engage in construction of the
settlements, nor even in East Jerusalem – a decision not motivated by pure
political reasons but also from considerations of economic gain or loss. And
the Soda Stream company announced that it would close down its factory in the
industrial zone of the Mishor Adumim settlement on the West Bank and move its
operations to the Negev. It turned out that the highly publicized campaign ran
for Soda Stream by actress Scarlett Johansson did not really help to curb the
fall in its sales, and perhaps even acted as boomerang. And the Israeli
shipping company Zim encounters increasing trouble unloading its cargoes on the West Coast of the United States where
groups of pro-Palestinian activists seek to block them. Anyone bothering to
look closely would find several more warning signs, which might have gone
unnoticed or ignored by decision-makers in the Netanyahu government.
This night, November 1, there
will take place in Tel Aviv's Rabin
Square a rally commemorating the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,
rallying point for peace-minded Israelis. One of the announcements which landed
in my message box states: "We can not forget the reasons why a Prime
Minister was assassinated. We will not
settle for a vague condemnation of violence. We must speak out, loud and clear,
say that this country must change direction, sign an agreement and put an end to
the occupation which erodes and corrupts all that is good in our country."
