Israel Steps Up "Policy Of Provocation" In West Bank

15 December 2013

By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem

Feeling somehow cornered by peace efforts led by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel has been stepping up the "policy of provocation" vis-à-vis the Palestinians.

Israel hopes, pundits believe, that "rash acts or actions" by the Palestinians would help extricate the Jewish state from its current political predicament or at least enable the Israeli government to blame the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the deadlock in the political process.

Acrimonious arguments have been going on within the Israeli government over current peace efforts and the perceived notion that the Obama administration is convinced that the Jewish state is not being sincere enough about pursuing peace.

According to the Israeli media, an American offer to use advanced American technology to monitor West Bank's borders with Jordan has effectively annulled the plausibility of Israeli demands for keeping Israeli troops stationed along the Jordan River, which the Palestinians reject very strongly.

Israel has flatly refused the American offer, which Palestinians say is casting real doubts on Israeli intentions and willingness to end its occupation.

Storming the Aqsa Mosque

Earlier this week, the Israeli government allowed hundreds of religious Jewish fanatics to celebrate a Jewish religious holiday by roaming the Aqsa Mosque courts.

The fanatics, escorted by heavily armed soldiers and other security personnel, carried with them Jewish religious objects, including a Menora or lamp-stand. Palestinian worshipers and students were assaulted and forcibly removed in order to leave the Jewish intruders undisturbed.

It is widely believed the audacious feat underscored the determination of Jewish millenarians to pursue efforts to destroy, demolish the Aqsa Mosque or at least seize the Islamic sanctuary of 144 years, in full or in part, from Muslims.

"These people are hell-bent on triggering a worldwide bloodbath. They are fully backed by the Israeli political-security establishment" said Sheikh Muhammed Hussein, head of the Supreme Muslim Council, catering for the holy place.

"For us Muslims, seeing Jews usurp our Mosque, which symbolizes the existence of Islam and Muslims in Palestine, is unthinkable. I am not going to indulge in rhetoric but I want to tell you that no provocation would be greater or graver than seeing these Zionist fanatics embark on doing what they say they are going to do."

Israel understands well the ostensible veracity of the Sheikh's words, especially his allusion to the immense bloodshed and violence Jewish provocations at the Aqsa Mosque could trigger.

Hence, it is quite possible that the Netanyahu government, in coordination with religious Zionist groups, would view upping the ante at the Aqsa Mosque, known to Jews as Temple Mount, as Israel's ultimate savior and rescuer from an irksome and highly undesirable peace process that could strip Israel of its lebensraum.

Death near Ramallah

Israeli provocations were by no means confined to the Aqsa Mosque. This week, the Israeli army shot and killed a Palestinian child at the Jalazon refugee camp near Ramallah. According to eyewitnesses, 14-year-old Wajih al Ramahi was murdered in cold blood by an Israeli army sniper.

"He didn't pose the slightest threat to Israeli soldiers, it seems the soldiers didn't want to leave the camp without spilling blood," said al-Ramahi cousin Muhammed.

"These people (Israeli troops) are worse than the Nazis."

A spokesman for the Israeli army refused to comment on the incident.

The PA said it held Israel "fully responsible" for the crime.

The killing near Ramallah coincided with an escalation in Jewish terrorist vandalism against Palestinians and their property and religious places on both sides of the Green Line, the former armistice line between Jordan and Israel.

On Sunday, 8 December, Jewish terrorists affiliated with the anti-Palestinian gang known as "Kach" scrawled anti-Islam graffiti at the wall of the main mosque of the Israeli-Arab town of Baqa al Gharbiya.

The perpetrators also vandalized property and punctured car tires.

Such attacks have come to form a real phenomenon as the Israeli intelligence and security apparatus have so far failed to apprehend, let alone, prosecute, the perpetrators. This prompted Israeli as well as Palestinian commentators to accuse "certain elements" within the Israeli government and the Shin Beth (Israel's main domestic security agency) of conniving and colluding with the terrorists by enabling them to carry out their criminal acts and escape with impunity.

Earlier this month, PA officials intimated to U.S. officials that the current status quo in the West Bank was untenable and that the PA security agency might eventually be unable to prevent the occurrence of a popular uprising against both Israel and the Ramallah regime.

What is amply clear though is that the Israeli government views the possible outbreak of a Palestinian uprising as an opportunity to reach a kind of "get riddance" that would free Israel, at least temporarily, from incessant international, especially American, demands to get serious with regard to the peace process.

 

©  EsinIslam.Com

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