‘Silence is not an option’ for Palestinians

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Adnan, a Palestinian from east al-Quds, vowed rubber bullets fired by Israeli police would not deter him: "Silence is not an option" in defence of Arabs in the Holy City, he said.

East al-Quds, the majority Palestinian part of the city annexed by Israel in 1967, has been hit by some of its worst unrest in years. Hundreds of Palestinians have been wounded and dozens arrested in confrontations with police who have been hit with stones and other projectiles hurled by mainly young and male Palestinian protesters, who have also torched cars and dumpsters.

Friday night saw violent clashes following evening prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site, a flashpoint area also sacred to Jews -- who call it the Temple Mount -- where tensions trigger swift global alarm.

For 20 year-old-Adnan, who like many Palestinians in east al-Quds refused to give his name for fear of Israeli police retribution, protesters are responding to what he said was as a persistent effort by Jewish settlers to expel them from the city. "We are here, in the street, to say that we are not going leave," he told AFP.

"For years, illegal settlers have attacked us and taken our land but silence is no longer an option." Several events have triggered the flare up in east al-Quds, which Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state.

Protester Mohammed, who also refused to give his last name, argued each incident is linked to an unavoidable reality facing Palestinians in the city. "The Israelis want us to work for them, but they don’t want us to live here," he said.

Earlier this year, an Israeli court ruled in favour of Jewish settlers seeking to evict Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, just north of the Old City. The court said the Jewish families had proven a decades-old claim to the land, infuriating Palestinians and triggering months of protests that have intensified in recent nights.

Other incidents have fanned the flames. Last month, Israeli police closed the staired plaza outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate, a traditional gathering spot for Palestinians following evening Ramadan evening prayers.

The closure triggered violent clashes with police who removed the barricades after several nights of unrest. Next came the clashes at the Al-Aqsa plaza following Ramazan’s final Friday prayers, which wounded more than 200 people. Police said they were responding to projectiles hurled by "thousands" of rioters.

Mohammed said he was among thousands of people at Al-Aqsa who were breaking the fast, eating a date and drinking water, "when the police starting attacking us". Prayers at the Al-Aqsa, late on Saturday for Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny), a peak of Ramazan believed to be the night when the Holy Qur’aan was revealed to the Holy Prophet (SW), were largely peacefully. But unrest persisted in Sheikh Jarrah, where hostilities could heighten further in the days ahead depending on the Supreme Court’s next moves.

The court could decide, as early as Monday, whether the Palestinian families facing eviction can appeal the lower court ruling. "The Sheikh Jarrah case is the case for all of Palestine," said Malak Orok, 23, who was demonstrating Saturday with friends in al-Quds. "Today it is them (the four families). Tomorrow it will be us."

The area has for years been focal point of intense real-estate battles between well-funded Jewish settler organisations and Palestinians. Far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir has embroiled himself into the crisis, visiting Sheikh Jarrah to declare that its houses belong to Jews and called on police to "open fire" on protesters.

AFP reporters have seen Jewish settlers in Sheikh Jarrah armed with revolvers and assault rifles. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has condemned Israel over the violence but he too has drawn the ire of some protesters.

Abbas’s decision to postpone Palestinian elections, citing Israel’s refusal to guarantee east al-Quds voting, has been slammed by some critics as a ploy to delay a vote in which his Fatah movement faced setbacks.

Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip had agreed to the vote and blasted the postponement as a "coup" against its new partnership with Fatah. Hamas banners were on display during Friday’s Al-Aqsa clashes and some east al-Quds protesters have branded Abbas as a "traitor".

Jaad Assad, 24, told AFP many fellow protesters believe Abbas loyalists were corrupt and "are collaborating with Israelis". Assad said generations of Palestinians have faced powerful rivals seeking their ouster but had outlasted all of them. "With God’s help, we will stay," he vowed.

Meanwhile, Arab countries, including four that last year agreed to normalise relations with Israel, have condemned a weekend of violence after hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces.

The violence around east al-Quds revered Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Old City is the worst since 2017, fuelled by a years-long bid by Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian homes.

Criticism of Israeli conduct has poured in from Sudan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- all nations that last year agreed to normalise, or normalised, relations with the Jewish state.

Khartoum labelled Israeli measures in al-Quds against Palestinians as "repression", and "coercive action" in a foreign ministry statement late Saturday. It called on the Israeli government "to refrain from taking unilateral steps that diminish the chances for resuming peace negotiations."

The UAE and Bahrain condemned Friday’s stroming of Al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli security forces, and the ensuing crackdown on worshippers seeking to access the site. As last reports came in. Israel’s justice ministry said it would delay a key Monday hearing in a case that could see Palestinian families evicted from their al-Quds homes to make way for Jewish settlers.

Palestinians argue that discriminatory laws mean they are unable to claim back their properties inside what is now Israel. The Palestinian families’ lawyer, Hosni Abu Hussein, also accused the settlers of fraud.

"The registration of the lands in the name of the settlement association took place through fraud and deception, in collusion with the commissioner of public properties and the registrar of Israeli lands," he told AFP.

The dispute, in a strategic location close to Jerusalem’s Old City, has added fuel to tensions around the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Hamas Islamists in Gaza have threatened attacks against Israel if the high-profile case goes against the Palestinian families.