Photo: AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean
Dark clouds have once again loomed over Israel and the Palestinian territories, with no hope of dispersing anytime soon, if ever. After the latest Israeli actions in the Palestinian territory and terrorist attacks by Palestinians in Israel, a new escalation of the conflict is expected
It is difficult to find any rational explanation for any conflict in which innocent victims die, but the latest escalation in Israeli-Palestinian relations shows for the umpteenth time the complete irrationality of this cancer of the Middle East, which is not lacking in the aforementioned irrationalities in most other countries.
First, on January 26, the Israeli army raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, "to arrest Islamic Jihad militants planning 'major attacks'." Nine Palestinians were killed in the fighting during the raid, one of the victims was a 60-year-old woman.
Due to the fear of an escalation of the conflict, the UN Security Council met, at that session the US representative said that the Palestinians should not take "unilateral measures", and the Russian representative said that Moscow would support such a Palestinian initiative. How effective the calls for peace were was shown the next day, January 28, when in front of the synagogue in the suburbs of Jerusalem A 21-year-old Palestinian shot and killed seven, and seriously injured several other people.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip celebrated the attack, and Palestinian factions such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine hailed the "heroic operation in Jerusalem" as "a natural response to Israeli crimes and the massacre in Jenin," and stated that the "heroic operation" shows that the Palestinian resistance will continue.
Just a few hours after the attack in front of the synagogue, near the Old City in Jerusalem, a 22-year-old man and his 45-year-old father were wounded by gunfire. They were shot by a Palestinian boy who is 13 (thirteen!) years old
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a series of punitive measures against Palestinians in response to the attacks in Jerusalem. Among other things, the houses of those suspected of being involved in the attacks and the family of the attackers will be demolished, the Israeli police and army will be strengthened, and an action will be taken to arrest and confiscate illegal weapons.
A plan was also announced, according to which it will be easier for Israelis to acquire weapons and speed up the issuance of permits to carry weapons. The new Israeli government, filled with ultra-conservative "hardliners" like never before in history, supported all announced measures. Given the controversies and daily protests that have greeted that government in Israel, it would seem that any distraction, such as intensifying the conflict with the Palestinians, suits it.
How in a country where people are already massively armed to the teeth, further arming will move anything for the better, the Israeli government did not comment. Just as Palestinian officials have not said how "heroic actions" in which innocent people are killed will help the "Palestinian cause," and whether it is heroic or terrifying that a thirteen-year-old picked up a gun and shot people in the street.
Meanwhile, during the night, Israeli settlers broke into the house of a Palestinian family in the town of Turmus Aya, north of Ramallah, and then set the house on fire. Dark clouds have once again loomed over Israel and the Palestinian territories, with no hope of dispersing anytime soon, if ever.
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