Violence between Israelis and Palestinians is spiking again after a lull. Four Israelis were stabbed in separate attacks yesterday, the first outside Jerusalem and the West Bank in 10 days, while a Palestinian teenager who tried to knife a soldier was shot dead. The two attacks, which happened within hours of each other in Rishon LeZion near Tel Aviv and later in the coastal city Netanya, further reduced the prospect that weeks of violence between the two sides could be coming to an end. The attacks were the first outside of the West Bank and Jerusalem since October 22. The Israeli border police also stormed a Palestinian university in the occupied West Bank, following more than a month of violence.
Weeks of violence had raised the fear that they could lead to a third Palestinian intifada or uprising. The lull in violence in the past few days had given hope to Israel that the situation could be returning to normal, gradually, and that hope was dashed by yesterday’s violence. Whether the latest incidents lead to a third intifada or not, one thing is certain: these incidents cannot be stopped or prevented. A solution to the Palestinian problem is the only way Israel can guarantee peace to its citizens. What Palestinians are involved in is not aggression or violence, but a struggle for freedom.
Eleven Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, while 69 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire. Rights groups say some of the killings were unjustified because the Palestinians did not pose a threat to soldiers’ lives.
Palestinians and their supporters all over the world must work harder to expose the atrocities of Israel and the inhuman conditions Palestinians are forced to live in. The Boycott Israel movement must be strengthened, and must be supported by a huge media campaign. Western mediapersons must be invited to the occupied territories and made to witness the excesses and cruelties committed by the Israeli soldiers.
For example, this week, a group of international visitors from 13 countries around the globe went on a fact-finding trip to Palestine with the Bethlehem YMCA. Writing in Irish Examiner, a member of the group, Betty Purcell, said that only a boycott of Israel can help end the injustice. He witnessed the terrible conditions Palestinians are forced to endure, with so many aspects of their daily lives under Israeli control. “From the moment they wake up, until they close their eyes at night, every man, woman and child in the West Bank of Palestine is under the control of the Israeli army and government,” he wrote.
Violence between Israelis and Palestinians is spiking again after a lull. Four Israelis were stabbed in separate attacks yesterday, the first outside Jerusalem and the West Bank in 10 days, while a Palestinian teenager who tried to knife a soldier was shot dead. The two attacks, which happened within hours of each other in Rishon LeZion near Tel Aviv and later in the coastal city Netanya, further reduced the prospect that weeks of violence between the two sides could be coming to an end. The attacks were the first outside of the West Bank and Jerusalem since October 22. The Israeli border police also stormed a Palestinian university in the occupied West Bank, following more than a month of violence.
Weeks of violence had raised the fear that they could lead to a third Palestinian intifada or uprising. The lull in violence in the past few days had given hope to Israel that the situation could be returning to normal, gradually, and that hope was dashed by yesterday’s violence. Whether the latest incidents lead to a third intifada or not, one thing is certain: these incidents cannot be stopped or prevented. A solution to the Palestinian problem is the only way Israel can guarantee peace to its citizens. What Palestinians are involved in is not aggression or violence, but a struggle for freedom.
Eleven Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, while 69 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire. Rights groups say some of the killings were unjustified because the Palestinians did not pose a threat to soldiers’ lives.
Palestinians and their supporters all over the world must work harder to expose the atrocities of Israel and the inhuman conditions Palestinians are forced to live in. The Boycott Israel movement must be strengthened, and must be supported by a huge media campaign. Western mediapersons must be invited to the occupied territories and made to witness the excesses and cruelties committed by the Israeli soldiers.
For example, this week, a group of international visitors from 13 countries around the globe went on a fact-finding trip to Palestine with the Bethlehem YMCA. Writing in Irish Examiner, a member of the group, Betty Purcell, said that only a boycott of Israel can help end the injustice. He witnessed the terrible conditions Palestinians are forced to endure, with so many aspects of their daily lives under Israeli control. “From the moment they wake up, until they close their eyes at night, every man, woman and child in the West Bank of Palestine is under the control of the Israeli army and government,” he wrote.
