Samia Khoury: Reflecting on the events of November 18, 2014

by Samia Khoury of Jerusalem

First, watch this and then you will understand why so much violence  is encompassing Jerusalem.

It did not start with the kidnapping of the three young settlers which Israel claims to be  the reason for retaliation on all fronts.  It did not start with the occupation of the Palestinian Territories in 1967.  It has been an ongoing dispossession ever since 1948 even after the Palestine National Council recognized Israel on 78% of historic Palestine in 1988.  The onslaught on  East Jerusalem has been going on with a clear agenda that  Jerusalem is the united eternal capital of Israel, with a plan to build the Temple to replace El-Haram El-Sharif. 

Ironically Har Nof where the events of today took place is originally  a Palestinian suburb  adjacent to Deir Yaseen where the infamous massacre of the Palestinians took place in April 1948.  That was the spark that  terrorized the Palestinian residents of West Jerusalem that led to their exodus.  

Yes indeed it is  brutal and completely unacceptable to attack worshippers in their place of worship, as was the attack of settler  doctor,  Baruch  Goldstein,  on  Muslim worshippers during the month of Ramadan at the Hebron Mosque in February 1994?  Twenty nine Palestinian were killed and 125 wounded at the time.  The epitaph on Goldstein’s  tombstone calls him a martyr with clean hands and a pure heart. 

 As much as I believe in un-armed resistance,  it is very sad to realize that the futility of the negotiations and the  failure of the peace process to end the occupation,  on top of Israeli provocations, are all leading  the Palestinian population of Jerusalem to desperation as they feel  completely abandoned.  While the International community continues to claim the annexation of Jerusalem as illegal and so are  the settlements, and the demolishing of homes, no action has been taken  to reverse the realities that Israel continues to create on the ground.    The young people of Jerusalem  cannot sit still any more,  simply watching and resisting peacefully while their holiest site El-Haram El-Sharif is  being coveted and taken over while the world is watching.  The more desperate those young people become, the more violence will prevail.  We continue to hope for some wisdom to prevail and a definite  resolve on behalf of the international community to put an end to Israel’s impunity and spare both people further suffering.   

See Samia Khoury's blog: http://reflectionsfrompalestine.blogspot.com/