An uprising born of despair

The Palestinians’ “Day of rage” this Friday saw three more Palestinians dead in Jerusalem and Hebron, bringing the total to 53.

The escalating pace of this uprising led many organised political factions to attempt to make the younger generation of protesters join them. 

That manoeuvre failed since the spontaneous uprising of the post-Oslo teenagers is due to their disappointment with the Palestinian Authority, as well as frustration with the organised political factions that could not unify their ranks while confronting the Israeli attacks against Gaza and the Aqsa Mosque.

American Secretary of State John Kerry managed to coerce Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into allowing worshipers of all ages, to reach Al Aqsa Mosque on Friday without harassment.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been keen since the beginning to stop the protests, since it would discredit his Fateh faction and they would be out of his control at a later stage.

But the spontaneous reactions of the lone-wolf knife stabbers and Molotov cocktail throwers defied all Israeli intelligence officers and Palestinian security staff.

The factors that exacerbated the situation in Jerusalem, taking it to a boiling point, are many, but the occupation per se is the main one.

Arab youth have their imagination captured by the Daesh’s propaganda reaching them through social media, which repudiates both Hamas and Fateh for their political complacency.

Moreover, the settlers in the West Bank, with their 600,000 ultraorthodox extremists, spared no effort to provoke and humiliate Palestinians in adjacent areas.

The atrocious arson attack against a Nabulsi family in Duma sent the clear message that there can never be a future peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, be it in two states or one.

Likud Cabinet members and Knesset representatives made no secret their plans to change the status quo of Al Aqsa Mosque, which sent the chilling message to Muslims that the mosque is in danger of being Judaised and that a synagogue will be built on the compound.

The status quo does not allow Jewish prayers in the mosque or its courtyards.

Israeli soldiers recently started to accompany and allow into the mosque followers of Rabbi Yehuda Glick and member of Knesset Moshe Feiglin, who have been advocating the demolition of the mosque and its replacement the “Third temple”.

Palestinians, who suffer their daily humiliation in Jerusalem, cannot see an end to their sufferings since Israeli intransigence is the rule of the day.

Will Kerry’s Amman visit rekindle hopes for the Palestinians?