Every time a Palestinian military operation causes Israeli civilian casualties, there is a strong reaction and a debate is held about the legitimacy of such action. This debate is not limited to politicians and the media, and it is generally louder in the West.
What concerns us as Arabs is that we find ourselves caught in a vicious circle, repeating the same cliches. Some of us resort to the same stock phrases condemning the targeting of civilians. The last operation in Jerusalem became part of a wider debate on social media and even on some media platforms, and included many voices condemning the attack by two Palestinian young men on Jewish worshippers at a
| The confrontation in Jerusalem has become unavoidable and is no longer subject to calculations of rationality. |
Jewish synagogue near Jerusalem.
The interesting point here is that many of those who condemned the operation excused it but offered moral justification. They were shocked by the attacks on a place of worship and worshippers. One could hardly disagree with this if the circumstances were completely different.
But Palestine is under occupation; the colonization and dispossession of Palestinians in Jerusalem is blatant. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed last April. Israeli actions against Palestinians have escalated, especially after the killing of the three Israeli settlers near Hebron, and the killing of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khudair. He was kidnapped, killed and burned by Israeli settlers, who until now have not been punished for their crime.
Jerusalem
Any impartial observer can recognise the exceptional situation in Jerusalem. Settlement building has engulfed the city, and in the last few months has even reached al-Aqsa mosque. Al-Aqsa has become a target for settlers, backed by an official decree from Binyamin Netanyahu's government, which includes extremist settlers.
There are two important issues here.
The first is that the confrontation in Jerusalem has become unavoidable and is no longer subject to calculations of rationality. The expansion of settlements has left the Palestinians of Jerusalem with two choices: defending their existence by any means possible, or leaving. Looking at the map of Jerusalem today, one finds its Palestinian inhabitants trapped. This is true of their holy sites, the property they can own or rent, and in their daily lives. The issue does not end at occupation, or military rule, or at the confiscation of land and houses or even settlement building. Their lives are under siege.
The other issue is that religious settlement in Jerusalem has grown massively over the last few years. Confronting this naturally results in a collision with the Jewish religious establishment, which believes it has an opportunity to demolish al-Aqsa mosque and build the third Jewish temple. The statement made by Moshe Feiglin, the deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, did not come out of thin air. After the attack on the synagogue, he said "we will demolish al-Aqsa and build the temple. We will expel the Palestinians and kill them."
When faced with such a serious statement from an official in the occupying state's government, one does not need to list the statements and studies issued by rabbis, who have given the conflict a religious dimension. One such rabbi is Yehuda Glick, known as the leader of the project to Judaise al-Aqsa. Moataz Hijazi was killed in cold blood by Israeli security forces for attempting to assassinate Glick in Jerusalem three weeks ago.
In spite of the fact that Netanyahu's government has provided Israelis with political cover for what amounts to hate crimes against Palestinians, the reaction of Palestinians in Jerusalem is a world away from the religious extremism of their colonisers.
Palestinians have confined themselves to acts of resistance, acts of self-defense. In no terms, morally, militarily or politically, is Palestinian resistance equivalent to the provocation from the other side. This inequality manifests itself on various levels, the level of actual capability on the ground and in the cover and protection Israel gets on the international level.
That protection has reached such a level that some Arabs think Palestinians do not deserve to die as martyrs.
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the original author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of al-Araby al-Jadeed, its editorial board or staff.
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.