Israel has killed yet another Palestinian teenager! It happened at the Damascus Gate at the entrance of the Old City in occupied East Al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Wednesday October 14, 2015 after an alleged attack on Israeli colonial settlers, Israeli media reported.
The killing of the Palestinian teenager brings to 31(only till the time when this report was being written) the total number of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis from October 1. It is said that at least 7 Israeli have been killed in the same period.
Elsewhere, the Israeli occupation forces shot and injured a Palestinian boy in the town of Surif, northeast of al-Khalil (Hebron), medical sources said. The boy was shot near his eye with a rubber-coated steel bullet and was transferred to hospital for treatment.
The recent deadly tension between the Tel Aviv regime and Palestinians was triggered by Israel’s imposition of sweeping restrictions on entries into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds on August 26 and Israeli settlers’ repeated attacks on the mosque.
Palestinians are furious at the settler violence and a plan by Israelis to change the status quo of the mosque that is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. The site is also highly respected by Jews and Christians.
Meanwhile, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has also called for resistance in the face of heightened Israeli military aggression against Palestinians. The PLO also called upon officials within the Palestinian Authority to ignore calls for quelling Palestinian resistance.
Observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict believe that the acts of provocation perpetrated by Israel over Al Aqsa Mosque will enable the continuation of bloody confrontations between the Palestinians and the occupation forces and colonial settlers.
If these confrontations continue to escalate at their current rate then it most definitely will lead to the rise of a third Palestinian Intifada. Israel knows that the incursions perpetrated by its officials, who are being protected by the occupation’s police force, will result in angering the Palestinians even further.
These incursions will not put a stop to the Palestinians’ overwhelming anger, as Israel claims. The incursions are a flagrant challenge to the sentiments of every Muslim and are an aggressive step towards Judaizing and dividing the Al Aqsa Mosque.
The actions taken by Palestinians to thwart all Israeli violations and crimes are nothing less than legitimate and are an act of defiance against any Israeli decision that harms the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque or dignity of Muslims.
Where there is an action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The recent wave of violence in Israel and Palestine is relatively very normal. Palestinian violence is the inevitable response to the occupation and the continuous Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine.
In Haaretz, Gideon Levy wrote “Even Gandhi Would Understand the Palestinians’ Violence.” In the Guardian, Marwan Barghouti argued “There will be no peace until Israel’s occupation of Palestine ends,” while Mairav Zonszein suggested that “Israel’s domination of Palestinians makes violence inevitable.” When one unfamiliar with the Israeli-Palestinian war, one asks: “Why do they throw stones?” The answer, of course, is the occupation.
Current events in Palestine are the result of the stubborn stand taken by the Israeli authorities and their determination that Palestinians must forever live under occupation and never be free. One example is the Israeli apartheid wall in the West Bank.
Add to that also the result of the Palestinian Authority’s delay in taking firm stands, as well as due to Arab countries’ complete negligence of the situation in occupied Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque.
The Intifada might rein-in Israeli stubbornness and aggression, some observers believe, as well as its strategic plans to continue the Judaization process, place Gaza under siege and reject peace.
The suffering of the people in Gaza is not far off from that of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, because the occupation remains the same, wherever it may be.