"#Israel's reaction to the announcement by Norway, Spain, and Ireland, that they formally recognise the State of #Palestine, shows again that Israel seeks #annexation and permanent occupation over Palestine .. "
After 75 years of failure, one would imagine that a people would learn what works and what doesn’t, both from their own experience, as well as the experience of others.
What is striking about #Arafat’s refusal to accept the deal offered at #CampDavid—a state on all of #Gaza and 90+% of #WestBank, including a capital in #EastJerusalem—and his subsequent turn to #violent confrontation is just how popular it was and remains🔥
There was not anywhere within #Palestinian politics a minority camp that opposed this move, that warned against the possible consequences, that organized #protests and galvanized #opposition parties
UN agency says closing east Jerusalem HQ after arson by ‘Israeli extremists’ (Alarabiya News, 2024-05-09)
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“‘This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the #UNRWA headquarters in occupied east Jerusalem,’ agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X, formerly Twitter, lamenting that it was the second attack on the compound in a matter of days.”
“Thursday’s arson attempts marked ‘an outrageous development,’ Lazzarini said. ‘Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk’.
“‘In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored.’”
‘If you’re watching this… then #AlJazeera has been banned in #Israel’. Correspondent Imran Khan recorded his last report from occupied #EastJerusalem pre-empting the #Netanyahu government’s unanimous decision to close Al Jazeera in Israel.
#Israel#Palestine#Gaza#EastJerusalem: "Israel’s government has accelerated the construction of settlements across East Jerusalem, with more than 20 projects totalling thousands of housing units having been approved or advanced since the start of the war in Gaza six months ago, planning documents show.
Ministries and offices within the Israeli government are behind all the largest and most contentious of the projects, sometimes in association with rightwing nationalist groups with a history of trying to evict Palestinians from their homes in parts of the city.
In 2018 #Netanyahu's govt "pushed through Parliament a new law calling Israel the 'nation-state of the Jewish people'…its primary function is to build a formal foundation for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank—& for a Jewish state eventually to stretch over the whole of Palestine"…In 1948, the Declaration of Independence…created a Jewish state that would ensure 'complete equality of social & political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex'" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/opinion/israel-law-jewish-democracy-apartheid-palestinian.html
"Since 2006…almost 10,000 Palestinians in the #WestBank & #EastJerusalem have watched the Israeli govt demolish their homes"
"28 Palestinian families forced from Jaffa & Haifa in 1948 relocated to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of #SheikhJarrah [inthe 1950s]. After a decades-long campaign by Jewish settlers, the Jerusalem District Court ruled earlier this month [May 2021] that 6…should be evicted. By refusing to acknowledge the #Nakba, the Israeli govt prepared the ground for its perpetuation"
#Apartheid / a #Palestinian teenager (14) faces investigation and charges after an incident of ripping an Israeli flag from a parking car
A 14-year-old Palestinian boy from East Jerusalem was arrested for tearing an Israeli flag off a parked car near Hebrew University. He was caught on security cameras removing the flag, and police later entered #Issawiya (العيساوية) to arrest him.
Th Police published a statement and the video, saying the boy was arrested on suspicion of damaging the flag out of racist motives. The boys lawyer criticized the "exaggerated response" and selective enforcement compared to times when Israeli flags were damaged without arrests.
The arrest comes amid directives from the Public Security Minister to crack down on Palestinian nationalism and dissent in Jerusalem.
#EastJerusalem / Under the cover of war, Israel promotes a neighborhood for Jews in East Jerusalem
Since the outbreak of war, Israel's Justice Ministry has been rapidly promoting plans for new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem near Palestinian neighborhoods. The Ministry's "Custodian of Absentee Property" is working with right-wing real estate firms on projects for over 3,000 new housing units, claiming to develop property owned by #Jews before 1948.
Plans are advancing quickly through zoning committees during the war. Critics accuse Israel of exploiting the conflict to deepen control over East Jerusalem and prevent territorial continuity for Palestinians. Settlements like the new "Nofey Rachel" neighborhood plan threaten to further separate Palestinian areas. Justice Ministry officials defend their actions as lawful efforts to develop private Jewish-owned land.
#Israel has built large Jewish settlements/neighborhoods in East Jerusalem since annexing the area in 1967, including French Hill, Gilo, East Talpiot, Ramot, Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Ze'ev, and Har Homa. This was done to establish a Jewish majority in Jerusalem.
Smaller settlements have also been built inside Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City, creating a ring of Jewish complexes separating Palestinian areas. Right-wing organizations receive properties from the state to build these.
Settlements are often anchored in national parks and archaeological sites, allowing right-wing groups to shape the historical narrative and limit Palestinian use of land.
Use of tools like the Absentee Property Law and claims of pre-1948 Jewish ownership have enabled taking over Palestinian properties for settlements. This discriminates against Palestinians' own property claims before 1948.
Settlements inside Palestinian neighborhoods, along with large neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Greater Jerusalem settlements, create Israeli geographic-strategic contiguity around the Old City. This undermines the prospects for an equitable political settlement in Jerusalem.
Since the outbreak of war, Israel's Justice Ministry has been rapidly promoting plans for new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem near Palestinian neighborhoods. The Ministry's "Custodian of Absentee Property" is working with right-wing real estate firms on projects for over 3,000 new housing units, claiming to develop property owned by #Jews before 1948.
Plans are advancing quickly through zoning committees during the war. Critics accuse Israel of exploiting the conflict to deepen control over East Jerusalem and prevent territorial continuity for Palestinians. Settlements like the new "Nofey Rachel" neighborhood plan threaten to further separate Palestinian areas. Justice Ministry officials defend their actions as lawful efforts to develop private Jewish-owned land.
“Since October 7 every settler, every Israeli soldier, and every policeman, feel they have the green light to shoot and kill Palestinians. They have the strong feeling of total immunity, that they can do anything to Palestinians, whatever they want, and in any way they wish.”
Mustafa Barghouti
A view of the construction work next to the Israeli settlement of Har Homa in the Israel-annexed East Jerusalem on December 7, 2023 [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
According to the agency, Israeli occupation forces have killed 124 #Palestinian minors in the #WestBank and #EastJerusalem this year. That's nearly four times the previous record of 36 children killed there in 2022. #UNICEF also said that at least 576 Palestinian #children were wounded in the occupied territories this year.
The youngest West Bank child killed in 2023 was Muhammad Tamimi, a 2-year-old toddler who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier outside his family's home in Nabi Saleh village near #Ramallah in June. As they so often do after killing Palestinians, Israeli officials initially denied shooting Tamimi and his civilian father, who was seriously wounded.
“This is a fundamental part of their settler colonial project. The best way to describe what Israel is doing is in a sense a permanent war on Palestinian society in order to take over Palestinian land and territory”.
Bashir Abu-Manneh, a professor of post-colonial literature at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom
“Israel has persisted with arresting dozens of Palestinians in the occupied #WestBank & #EastJerusalem… In the first 4 days of the ongoing truce between Israel & Hamas… Israel released 150 Palestinian #prisoners – 117 children and 33 women. Over the same 4 days, #Israel arrested at least 133 #Palestinians from East Jerusalem and the West Bank, according to Palestinian prisoner associations.” | Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/28/arrests 1/2