A weekend of violence which began on Friday, July 21, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories left three Palestinians dead, hundreds of others injured, and three Israeli settlers killed by a Palestinian assailant. Clashes continued in some parts of occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank on Sunday, July 23, leaving one Palestinian shot dead by Israeli fire and dozens more wounded.
Palestinians arrested in Wadi Joz, occupied East Jerusalem, after police attacked more than two thousand participants in Friday midday prayers outside the al-Aqsa Mosque following Israel’s recent provocation of installing electronic security gates just in front of its entrance, July 21, 2017 (Photo: Activestills)
Israeli forces shot at least two Palestinians with live ammunition, critically injuring one, in the town of al-Eizariya in the central occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem during clashes there Saturday evening, July 22, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma’an Palestinian news agency.
The seriously wounded Palestinian succumbed to his wounds a short time later, the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement. The Popular Resistance Committees identified the victim as 24-year-old Yousif Kashur, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) from the town of Abu Dis just north of al-Eizariya.
The Palestinian assailant who murdered three Israelis from the Solomon family in the West Bank settlement of Halamish on Friday night had posted on Facebook nearly 90 minutes before the attack that he was “going to die for Al-Aqsa.”
In the hours preceding the attack, 20-year-old Omar el-Abed posted on Facebook: “I am writing my will and these are my last words. I am young, I have not yet reached the age of 20, I have many dreams and aspirations.”
“But what life is this, in which they murder our wives and our youth without any justification. They desecrate the Al-Aqsa mosque and we are asleep, it’s a disgrace that we sit idly by,” he continued, asking those who have weapons “but only take them out for weddings and celebrations: Are you not ashamed of yourselves? Why won’t you declare war for God? They have closed al-Aqsa mosque and your weapons are still.”
On Saturday night several demonstrations were held throughout Israel to protest the escalating violence in an around Jerusalem. Hundreds demonstrated in Paris Square in Jerusalem, among them Hadash and Communist Party of Israel activists and members of Standing Together, Meretz and Combatants for Peace.
After the demonstration, its organizers published a manifesto: “The government must not be allowed to set Jerusalem on fire! We will not let them drag us all into another war! Roads are blocked, entire neighborhoods are placed under curfew, and huge forces of police are deployed throughout the city — yet there is no security in Jerusalem, because this is not the way to achieve security. This is how you start a conflagration. This is how things only get worse. We are already all too familiar with this process. Once again, the government is choosing the path of violence. Once again, we will pay the price. For this reason we must stop them!”
“Instead of choosing another round of violence, we must struggle for an end to the occupation and for Israeli-Palestinian peace. East Jerusalem will be the capital of the Palestinian state, and free access will be guaranteed to the holy sites of all religions. Only in this way will we be able to end the violence and fear.”
Other demonstration were held in Arab cities across Israel on Saturday, including in Nazareth, Um el-Fahem, Sakhnin, Arrabe and Kafr Manda.
