Israel is on edge following a series of Palestinian attacks inside the so-called
Green Line, which killed at least 11 Israelis, all carried out by lone
attackers. The fact that individual Palestinian youths were able to cross
unnoticed into Israel from the occupied West Bank and spread terror and
confusion among ordinary Israelis is a watershed in the decades-old conflict.
Fortress Israel appeared increasingly vulnerable in the past few weeks, and not
because the iron-clad arm of the occupation forces has become lax.
اضافة اعلان
Naftali Bennett’s coalition government, which had
just lost its thin majority in the Knesset, is feeling the heat. To save face,
the far right premier has given his security forces permission to use all
necessary force to subdue the Palestinians, especially in Jenin, where at least
two lone attackers had come from. Between Sunday and Monday, the Israeli
occupation forces killed at least four Palestinians, including two women, one
clearly in cold blood.
Furthermore,
Israel is threatening to storm the Jenin refugee camp, home to about 14,000
souls and a symbol of defiance and resistance, in a repeat of what happened 20
years ago when its forces besieged the camp for days before launching a large
military operation that ended in the killing of at least 52 Palestinians and
the extensive destruction of the camp.
To believe that this is merely a reaction to what
happened in the past few weeks is shallow and insulting. Millions of
Palestinians have been living under colonial occupation for decades and
successive Israeli governments have been unleashing waves of wholesale land
expropriation, settlement expansions, inviting more illegal settlers to take
Palestinian lands, cutting off villages and towns, arresting thousands,
including children and women, and carrying out summary execution of hundreds of
young men and women who dared to protest against their occupiers.
In recent months, radical Jewish settlers have been
allowed, under army protection, to attack peaceful villages, torch cars and
houses, and uproot olive trees. While the West is quick to condemn Palestinian
terror, it shamefully falls silent when Israel commits war crimes.
To this day Gazans remain under an illegal siege and
are still waiting for UN investigators to arrive and serve justice to those who
lost loved ones in recent wars.
The new lone attacker phenomenon is spurred by
increasing desperation; it is a sign that tens of thousands of young
Palestinians are losing hope. Israel’s iron fist reaction has not worked before
and will certainly fail this time. The killing spree Israeli soldiers are
engaging in will not bring the peace and quiet the Israeli politicians wish
for.
For decades since the collapse of the peace process,
Israel had only one answer to Palestinian resistance: to double down using
extreme force and new forms of collective punishment. Such policies never
succeeded in controlling the Palestinians, and while it may have provided
Israel with short spells of quiet, the reality is that the two sides are
reaching a critical juncture, one that promises to lead to new cycles of
violence.
There are at least four factors here that contribute
to the building up of Palestinian anger and despair. One is the Palestinian
Authority’s total loss of credibility as a representative of the Palestinian
people. It has failed to deliver on all fronts and is now on the verge of
financial collapse as well as political bankruptcy. All that remains of Oslo is
the security coordination that Palestinians see as a liability tainting their
presumptive leadership.
But while Western governments continue to ignore Israel’s occupation and its daily atrocities against the Palestinians, there is a glimmer of hope in the fact that world public opinion is becoming more aware of Israel’s crimes, as an occupation force and as an apartheid state, thanks to social media platforms that offer a different narrative from that of the mainstream media.
Second is the awareness that Israel’s end game is to
colonize as much Palestinian land as possible, denying Palestinians a path
toward liberation and self-determination. Third is the growing frustration
among millions of Palestinian youth, which drives them further toward
radicalism and the belief that only force can alter Israel’s current trajectory.
And fourth is the conviction that the world will never hold Israel accountable
for its crimes and its violation of international law. The Palestinians believe
they are on their own and must force change, no matter the sacrifice.
But while Western governments continue to ignore
Israel’s occupation and its daily atrocities against the Palestinians, there is
a glimmer of hope in the fact that world public opinion is becoming more aware
of Israel’s crimes, as an occupation force and as an apartheid state, thanks to
social media platforms that offer a different narrative from that of the
mainstream media.
The cold-blooded, chilling murder of partially blind
and widowed mother of six Ghada Sabateen, on Sunday, at an Israeli checkpoint
near Bethlehem was captured on video and was trending on social media with
thousands of retweets.
Israeli leaders believe that force alone can stifle
Palestinian resistance and intimidate the struggle for liberation. This is
where they have been proven wrong time and time again. The killing fields of
Jenin will not bury the just cause of the Palestinians. The world is changing
and the unipolar reality is declining, and soon Israel will find itself facing
a new global structure.
The West’s application of double standards when it
comes to reacting to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians is being exposed
and is becoming more and more difficult to defend or justify.
The writer is a journalist and political commentator based
in Amman.
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