Israel’s atrocities, a source of radicalisation

Jerusalem this Christmas lost its glory as a city of peace and an abode for serenity and spiritual fulfilment.

The Israeli practices against its Arab residents changed the city into a potential powder keg that might engulf the whole of Palestine.

Christmas carols at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and prayers at the Nativity Church were muted. The mosques were not spared the hostility of Israeli extremists who stormed Al Aqsa, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, disrupting festivities marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

In light of the atrocities committed by the Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, of which 181 were killed during the last three months, it is surprising that the United Nations failed to honour its Security Council resolution 267 which:

1. Censures in the strongest terms all measures taken to change the status of the city of Jerusalem.


2. Confirms that all legislative and administrative measures and actions by Israel which purport to alter the status of Jerusalem including expropriation of land and properties thereon are invalid and cannot change that status.

3. Urgently calls once more upon Israel to rescind forthwith all measures taken by it which may tend to change the status of the City of Jerusalem, and in future to refrain from all actions likely to have such an effect.

Despite the depressing situation Likudniks pushed Israelis and Palestinians into, some rational voices are still heard within the Labour Party in Tel Aviv, which advocate a new strategy to facilitate an end to the misery suffered by both Palestinians and Israelis because of the extreme right-wing politicians in the Knesset.

Einat Wilf, a former Knesset member, published this week a book titled “Preserving a Path to a Two-State Solution: Aligning Policy with Preference”. In it, she elaborates on “what a two-state outcome would look like in practice: namely, the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish state of Israel, recognised borders based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps, Jerusalem as the capital of both countries, and an agreed, just and realistic solution to the refugee issue”.

Many Palestinians wonder whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu realises that his arrogant behaviour and his atrocities in Jerusalem are not a manner of pushing more teenage Palestinians fed up with the post-Oslo tactics of procrastination and deception towards Iran.

Wilf’s book should be a must read for the Israeli Cabinet if it is to understand the precipice it is leading its people to.