pa israel’s occupation of palestinian territory is main incitement of violence
TRANSCRIPT
PA: Israels occupation of Palestinian Territory is main
incitement of violence
Palestinian Authority 'serious about peace', official says, but
critics accuse leadership of 'disempowering the people' by
suppressing demonstrations
Palestinian Authority officers wait for a speech by President Abbas
on September 30, 2015 (AFP)Sheren Khalel-Tuesday 27 October
2015BETHLEHEM, West Bank -Palestinian Authority officials have told
Middle East Eye that it is Israeli propaganda to suggest they are
responsible for a wave of violence that has rocked Israel and the
occupied Palestinian Territories in recent weeks.Naim Abu Hommus,
Secretary General of PA Ministries, told MEE that the PA had done
everything in its power to restore the status quo in occupied East
Jerusalem and the West Bank, and create a pathway towards peace
with Israel.This idea of PA incitement is Israeli propaganda, Abu
Hommus said. Israel knows the Palestinian government is serious
about making peace.Instead of the PA, Abu Hommus said he believed
it was the Israeli government who, through its occupation, had been
inciting the violence gripping the territories.There is no
initiative towards peace from the Israeli side at all, Abu Hommus
said. Other [Israeli] prime ministers responded to the peace
process in the past, I don't know why this [Israeli] government is
completely frozen and they are not at all serious about working
towards peace. Every single part of this recent escalation has come
from the Israeli occupation.Since the start of October, more than
60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, half of whom
were shot dead after alleged stabbing attacks, and at least eight
Israelis have been killed by Palestinians.Meanwhile, daily protests
in the occupied territories mainly involving Palestinian youths
nearly always result in clashes between protesters and Israeli
forces.Almost 2,000 Palestinians have been injured by live and
rubber-coated steel bullets, sponge rounds, and tear gas during
clashes since the beginning of October, according to the Red
Crescent.On Monday, sources within Benjamin Netanyahus office said
the Israeli Prime Minister was considering areview of the residency
rights of Palestinianswithin East Jerusalem as part of a wider
government crackdownthat PA officials and international rights
groups have labelled collective punishment.'Hundreds'
detainedPalestinian prisoners rights group Addameer told
Palestinian news agency Maan News this week that Israel has
detained nearly 1,000 Palestinians since the start of October, most
of whom were detained in occupied East Jerusalem.Many Palestinian
neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem have had Israeli checkpoints
installed at the entrances, as well as blockades that resemble
Israels separation wall.The United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released areporton 23
October that stated at least 45 percent of the Palestinian
population in occupied East Jerusalem had been affected by
restrictions on freedom of movement in the area.Hanin Zoabi, a
member of the Knessets Joint Arab List told MEE that she believed
Israels moves against the Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem
were part of a larger plan to "Judaize" Jerusalem.None of this is
new to Palestinians, Zoabi said. It is a form of ethnic cleansing,
[Netanyahu] is trying to make Jerusalem more Jewish and erase
Palestinians there.Zoabi said it is moves by the Israeli government
that have sparked the recent upheaval sweeping the region. She
claimed that even if the PA wanted to push the Palestinian people a
certain way, it lacked the capability of implementing any sort of
action. Furthermore, she said the PA was actually working with
Israel to quell protests, rather than inciting them.The PA is so
weak that it cant even utilise the anger of the people and invest
it in the right way, it is impotent, and the Israeli government
only makes the Palestinian government more impotent, Zoabi said.The
PA cant even stop its security coordination with Israel. We know
the PA has stopped popular, peaceful demonstrations, which is
disempowering for the Palestinian people.'Our problem is the
occupation'Muhammad Abu Sruour, a young Fateh supporter who is
active within the youth community in Bethlehems Aida refugee camp,
told MEE that he did not support the PAs attempts to stop popular
protests, but that he agreed that the occupation alone was
responsible for the recent upsurge in violence.Whats happening in
Jerusalem and everywhere here started because of all the pressure
on the people. When you push people like that, they will respond.
Each action has a reaction, Abu Srour said.The people are
frustrated, and when a group of people cannot see any solution in
the political sphere, they will start demonstrating against the
occupation, because our problem is the occupation. Its not the
land, its not the food or the water or what someone is telling us,
its the occupation. Thats the main issue here.An advisor to a
senior PLO official, who asked to remain anonymous, told MEE that
Israel had done everything possible to displace Palestinians in
East Jerusalem by using the guise of security to incite violence,
and encouraging hate through language used by leaders.Israel always
tries to use this card of incitement to deviate from the real
issues, but if we talk about incitement from the Israeli side, our
children are called little snakes by Israeli leaders. Their leaders
have repeatedly said they are proud to kill Palestinians and look
at what is happening, he said.That is the so-called incitement. No
one has to remind Palestinians how bad the occupation is, they dont
need to find answers from Facebook or YouTube or anyone else.In
recent weeks the PLO has compiled alistof Inflammatory comments and
incitements by Israeli officials".PLO plans UN motionLast
week,France drafted a UN Security Council resolution calling for
the deployment of international observers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound, where many speculate the current wave of violence sparked
from. Palestinian leaders have generally supported the idea, while
Netanyahu called the proposal absurd.Instead Netanyahu supports a
US-backed plan to install security cameras at the site, a move
Palestinian leaders have criticised.Majid Bamya, the advisor to the
PA Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had met with with the French
Foreign Minister days before the proposal, told MEE that, while
international observers at the holy site could help the situation,
it still ignored the root problem between Israelis and
Palestinians.Having international observers at the site is
potentially a good idea, but it wont completely stop the what is
happening, Bamya said. The occupation is the cause of this. In the
end, the Israeli occupation is the incitement, and nothing more.On
Monday, PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat, announced that the PLO
and the Arab League were preparing a motion for the UN Security
Council that set a deadline for ending Israels occupation of the
West Bank.Israel alone is to blame for the continuous aggression in
the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, Erekat wasquotedas saying
during a press conference.Israels crimes [against Palestinians]
begin with the burning of children and babies sleeping in their
homes in the West Bank and end with opening fire on Palestinian
farmers and protecting settlers attacking Palestinians, he said,
referring to recent Israeli settler attacks against
Palestinians.Posted byThavam