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As we reported, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Israel have stated that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians meets the internationally accepted definition of apartheid.
Last Friday, a fierce clash between Palestinians and Israeli police broke out the Al Asqa Mosque compound in Israeli occupied Jerusalem, with those witnessing the conflict accusing Israelis of restricting access to Islam’s third-holiest site.
About 180 Palestinians, including at least 27 children, were hurt by Israeli forces in and around the mosque.
Video emerged from the scene that showed Israeli forces storming the compound in Israel-annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City. The incident sparked allegations that these forces used “widespread, unnecessary and indiscriminate use of force,” the UN said.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, called for a probe into Tel Aviv’s response. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman, said the use of force should be strictly limited and governed by international norms and standards.
Jewish Israelis call the compound the Temple Mount and also claim the site, which has caused a history of violent clashes.
“Those responsible for any violations should be held to account, and policies and procedures on the use of force reviewed with a view to avoid any further violations,” she said.
Israeli police accused Palestinians of throwing stones towards the Western Wall and said its officers “used crowd dispersal means in order to stop the violence.”
Alaa al-Haddad, a Palestinian worshipper, told The Guardian that Israeli forces were restricting access at the holy site, which had created “tensions that led to clashes.”
“It’s all because the occupation forces are regularly storming the holy Al-Aqsa mosque,” Haddad added.
The raid already prompted rocket strikes fired at Israel. Tel Aviv responded by sending warplanes to strike the Gaza Strip.
The Trends Journal has reported on the simmering tensions in Israel after a series of mass shootings killed over a dozen. (See “SHOOTING BREAKS OUT IN ISRAEL: REVENGE OR TERRORISM?”)
One of the individuals injured during the clash was Walid al-Sharif, 21, who suffered a serious head injury, according to Al Jazeera. His family claims he was hit by a sponge-tipped bullet fired by the Israeli police. Police denied the allegation, and said he was injured while hurling stones at officers.
Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian-Israeli member of the Israeli Knesset, visited the man at the hospital and told reporters that his condition was critical after “suffering from widespread brain damage.”
As we reported last year, allegations of Israel attacking worshippers at the same mosque which is Palestinian territory that Israel has illegally occupied contributed to the 11-day war on Gaza.
TRENDPOST: While the Western media continually chastises Russia for its war against Ukraine and its intent to occupy Ukraine, those who note Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land are denounced as being “anti-Semites.”
In the 1967 six day war, Israel invaded and seized Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights, expelling some 300,000 Palestinians from their homes, while gaining stolen territory that was three and a half times its original size.
The recent dawn raid resulted in about 400 arrests when police moved in to evict about 2,000 worshippers. The Daily Sabah reported that police deployed gas bombs and rubber bullets. Children were not spared and beaten by the officers, witnesses alleged.
These attacks occurred as “peace talks on ending Israel’s rule over Palestinians and setting up a Palestinian state on occupied lands are a distant memory,” the Associated Press reported.
The report said Tel Aviv has been more focused on countering Iran and building new alliances across the Arab world.
Israel announced Saturday that it will close the country’s only crossing for Palestinian workers coming from the Gaza Strip, which was seen by some as a “collective punishment”
“Following the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday,” COGAT, a unit of the defense ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said in a statement obtained by Al Jazeera.
TRENDPOST: Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. They violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 that states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
The U.N. Security Council, the U.N. General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed the Fourth Geneva Convention applies, that this is occupied territory, and Israeli settlements there are illegal.
TRENDPOST: In our 5 February article, “ICC TO PROBE ISRAELI WAR CRIMES,” we reported that Israel has recently faced international scrutiny over allegations of war crimes during the 2014 Gaza War (“Operation Protective Edge.”)
Israel called the International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate in February a politically-motivated move. Palestinians praised the move. The Biden administration also criticized the ICC’s move.
TRENDPOST: We’ve reported on the financial pain that Israel has inflicted on Palestinians who have nothing to do with these attacks.
Al Jazeera pointed out that Israel’s move to close the Erez Crossing will only “compound the pain for families struggling to make ends meet” during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Hazem Wassem, a spokesman for Hamas, told The AP in a statement that the group will not accept these terms.
“This will not succeed. The police of collective punishment against the Palestinians has always proven to fail,” he said.
We have pointed out that Western media describes these Palestinians as “militants” in reports in an effort to delegitimize them.
TRENDPOST: Presstitutes and politicians use the term “militants” to deride any group that fights against invaders of their country or opposes their dictates. For example, those who fight against U.S. occupation, destruction, and mass murder of millions of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq are labeled “militants.”