Good morning,
Riots Jerusalem
It’s more than just a raid on a mosque and some rockets fired and Israel’s retaliation. But that’s a lot already so let me begin there.
Israel sparked unrest by trying to evict Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and to allow Jewish settlers to take up residence in Sheik Jarrah. Prime Minister Netanyahu is famous for allowing settlement expansion which inevitably leads to conflict, especially in Jerusalem, which Jews and Arabs claim as their Capitol. Don’t forget Palestinians are fighting for an independent State with Jerusalem as it’s Capitol.
Palestinians then started riots from Temple Mount which looks down on the Western wall and where stones were thrown as praying jews. In turn Israeli police entered the Temple area including Al-Aqsa Mosque with predictable results, which was chaos and more than 200 Palestinians injured by rubber bullets, flash bangs and teargas and the Arab world was outraged by the scenes inside the mosque.
In a dramatic escalation the militant organization Hamas, always happy to stir unrest, launched more than 200 rockets from the Gaza strip into Israel hitting Jerusalem and several other cities and injuring several Israelis. The Israeli Airforce hit back striking 130 targets in Gaza overnight killing 20 people including several children, and Israel also claiming at least 3 senior members of Hamas had been killed in the strikes.
World leaders have appealed for calm but that is not likely to come quickly.
Analysis:
The riots near and around Jerusalem have been sparked several times in the past and spread quickly to Gaza and the West Bank even ushering in a new intifada or Palestinian uprising, which brings waves of violence against Israel.
One was in 1996 when Israel tunnelled under The Temple Mount. Another and more serious incident in 2000 when then Israeli P.M. Sharon walked on the Temple Mount.
In both cases the violence was planned in advance but Temple Mount is always a trigger. It is the site where Moslems believe Mohammed took his night trip to the heavens, the third holiest shrine to Moslems after Mecca and Medina. It is also where Jews believe their temple was twice destroyed, the place where the two tablets of the ten commandments were held in the ‘Holy of Holies’ in the Arc of the Covenant.
This violence took place as Jews were celebrating Jerusalem Day, which honours Israels retaking of East Jerusalem in the war in 1967, marking the so called reunification of the City.
What the international community needs to focus on is calming this latest violence and then pressuring Netanyahu to freeze settlements in and around Jerusalem. They are the match in a volatile historic, religious conflict between Arabs and Jews, with Christians caught in the middle. Netanyahu panders to religious right wing parties as he struggles to form a Government at all costs. And in this case, the cost is escalating in unrest and violence and Israels leader bears huge responsibility.
Have a good morning and please share this letter. Forgive any typos!
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/cogat-announces-closure-of-gaza-border-crossing-over-rocket-fire-667730