From areas they didn't expect

I do not think that the Israeli occupation authorities expected, even in their worst nightmares, that there would be an escalation in tension in the streets of Jerusalem and the Arab towns within Israel as there has been after settlers burnt alive Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a teen from Jerusalem.

This scene brings to mind the confrontations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the eve of the First Intifada (the “War of the Stones”); then there was a staggering number of confrontations with the Zionist ideology, the number of those ready to act in the streets, as well as the speed at which young people were joining the action. The difference this time is that the tensions were already high, and there was violence from the first day, and actions were concentrated in those areas from which the Israelis were sure they had dissolved Palestinian identity, removed it from the reality of life in the West Bank and Gaza, and replaced it with their settler-colonialist ideology. Over the past few years, when occupation forces completed incursions on the West Bank, or bombed Gaza, the reaction from these areas was no more than an expression of solidarity. Now, they seem to be at the heart of events; indeed, the fuel.

If this intense blaze can continue and escalate it will take the shape of a new uprising; the “Jerusalem Intifada” perhaps, because its flame has grown throughout the city and its suburbs, with the spark coming from Hebron. The process has drafted new insights for the younger generation, and brought about a revival of their spirits, and their belief in the benefits of action. However, the West Bank wasn’t capable of maturing fast enough for the extended popular furore, for reasons that are known. There are fewer points of contact, with the occupation in many of the cities on the one hand, and the role that the PA’s security agencies play in obstructing any popular or armed uprising, on the other.

At the moment, it is still too early to predict where the current blaze that we see extending to areas of the West Bank is heading, along with the ignition of the Gaza front. However, the tempo and the presence of action in all areas of historic Palestine carry important implications on the direction this round is taking with regards to its continuation or evolution. Today, Palestine is bleeding all over and there is no singling out of one area without the other; concerns spread out across the whole of the historic homeland.

This inclusiveness returned the case to the origin and essence represented by the presence of the Israeli occupation, and the need to confront it and throw dust on the illusions of coexistence, peace and reconciliation with the usurpers, as if there was a prospect for this option when the Arabs rose up inside Israel and Jerusalem. However, their keenness on worldly acquisitions in the shadow of the occupation comes before their willingness to rise up for the sake of change.

Today, the Arabs in Israel represent the national strategic balance for the Palestinian cause, and then for the project of freedom, for they are in constant contact with the occupation authorities, which means that their potential in the current and upcoming struggle will be of great importance; it will soon be manifested in achievements in the interests of resistance. The night of the occupation of Palestine has gone on for far too long; the dawn of freedom must be coming, sooner or later.

Translated from Felesteen newspaper, 8 July, 2014