Israeli-Palestinian escalation ‘inevitable’ despite international mediation: experts

Since the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assumed power in early January, anti-Palestinian measures have been taken, which has led to inflaming the situation between the two sides, despite international mediations by the US, Egypt and Jordan.

The more provocations there are by Israelis, the further tensions escalate between both sides, with several people, both Palestinians and Israelis, killed in reprisals, Palestinian political experts voiced to Jusoor Post.

Netanyahu’s new government was formed by joining far-right and hardline politicians, like Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who totally oppose the two-state solution and seek to get rid of the Palestinians, as well as desire to change the status quo of the Jerusalem, such as by allowing for Jewish payers to be performed inside Al-Aqsa Mosque. Jordan, through its Ministry of Awqaf [Endowments], is the guardian of the holy sites of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and there are nonnegotiable rights for Muslims in accordance with the 1947 agreements and old international agreements. While non-Muslims are allowed to visit the area, they are not allowed to pray there.

Recently, the Israeli security cabinet announced that the government is considering certain measures like “revocation of the rights to social security of the families of” Palestinians who carried out attacks on Israelis, in addition to deporting their families and carrying out the death penalty against the attackers, Israeli media reported on January 28.

The cabinet announced their intention to revoke the blue identity cards from Israel’s Arabs (commonly known as Arab 48). Israeli measures were announced amid international mediations by the US, Egypt and Jordan. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a tour of the Middle East that included Egypt and Israel to deescalate the situation in Palestine. An Egyptian-Jordanian intelligence team headed by Abbas Kamel, head of the Egyptian Intelligence Service, and his Jordanian counterpart, Ahmed Hossni, met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss ways of calming down the situation following the “massacre of Jenin.”

“It is a racist law against Palestinians who are living in occupied Palestine since 1948. I say they are not Israeli Arabs, but rather they are Palestinians and will remain Palestinians. This law differentiates between them and any citizen in the occupying state based on their ethnic origins,” Nasser Al Hedmi, a Palestinian expert and head of the Jerusalem Anti-Judaization Committee, told Jusoor Post after he was released by Israeli forces following interrogations.

“The issue is not an issue of law, nor an issue of deterrence, nor preserving lives, but rather an issue whose aim is racist; its aim is to punish the Palestinian people,” he added, noting that Israel has begun to see that all its attempts to dissolve the Palestinians have not succeeded over the past 75 years, and one of the reasons for the failure is its racism, he continued.

The power of the Palestinian Jerusalemites and Arab 48 has become a dangerous reality for Israel, which believes only in “the security solution,” he said, clarifying that Israel has worked from the beginning to infiltrate the neighborhoods of Jerusalem and among the Arab 48 community to divide the Palestinians and weaken them, but on the contrary this has given the Palestinians the advantage that they can also partake in the Zionist society and can move freely, allowing for the possibility of confrontations between both sides.

On January 27, a Palestinian man fatally shot seven Israelis outside a synagogue in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem. Two more Israelis – a father and his son – were also injured. The synagogue attack came as a response after nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were killed by Israeli forces in the city of Jenin, northern West Bank, one day earlier. Confrontations between Israeli forces/settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem were reported, in addition to rocket fire being exchanged between Hamas and Israel a few days ago.

“It is quite an important security breach,” Hedmi said, adding that “a large number of Palestinian Jerusalemites work within the Zionist society, including factories, shops, markets […] on a daily basis. As a result of the occupation’s provocation over what happened in Jenin, and as a result of [the synagogue attacker’s] Palestinian patriotism, he went and killed a number of people. So, [the Israelis] believe that the law is a deterrent.”

Hedmi, who was banned by the Israelis from moving freely inside Jerusalem and in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months for the fourth time in a row, added that the occupation forces are “punishing the Palestinians by death, but in fact, there are many people in Jerusalem and among Arab 48 who are not afraid of death but rather find salvation in death from the difficult life they live” due to the Israeli occupation.

Both the Palestinians and Israelis will not show laxity under the far-right government of Netanyahu, he said, adding, “Escalation has become a sure and inevitable matter.”

The measures and bills that Israel is trying to pass would undoubtedly lead to an increase of violations against the Palestinians of Jerusalem, Arab 48, or in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, said Palestinian political expert Abdel-Mahdy Metawe in comments to Jusoor Post.

These violations were committed daily by Israel, but without a legal frame, and the aim of passing these laws is to avoid international tribunals, Metawe said, adding, “We are dealing with a far-right government chaired by a prime minister who doesn’t believe in peace and a two-state solution.”

Regarding the possibility of escalation during the holy month of Ramadan between Israelis and Palestinians, as far-right Jewish groups are planning to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Jewish prayers despite this being impermissible in accordance with international laws, Metawe said that this far-right government is trying to carry out its ideology and change the status quo in Jerusalem, so escalations could occur whether in Ramadan or after Ramadan.