Calls for ‘day of rage’ against Israel on Friday as fears of intifada grow
Mahmoud Abbas / AP
BY:
The Palestinian government has called on its “fighters” to launch a
“day of rage” against Israel on Friday that will include armed attacks
in Jerusalem, a move that has sparked fears that widespread riots could
wreak havoc on the holy city.
Israeli authorities shut down access to Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque
late Wednesday following the shooting of a Jewish citizen by Palestinian
terrorists.
Israel’s call to block access to the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem’s Old City—the first such closure since 1967—led the Palestinian government to call for armed resistance and accuse Israel of declaring war.
“Fatah calls to its fighters and to the masses of the Palestinian
people to aid the Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Jerusalem,” the
Palestinians’ main political party said in a statement published Thursday and translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
“The movement called to set tomorrow as a day of rage throughout the
homeland and in countries which are home to refugees, to express the
Palestinian people’s opposition to any attack on the holy places and
foremost among them the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the statement said. “Consider
desecration of Al-Aqsa as a declaration of a religious war against the
Palestinian people and the Arab Islamic nations.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also escalated tensions on
Thursday by accusing Israel of declaring war on the Palestinian people.
“This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the
Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic
nation,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina quoted the leader as saying
in comments made to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency.
“We hold the Israeli government responsible for this dangerous
escalation in Jerusalem that has reached its peak through the closure of
the Al-Aqsa mosque this morning,” Abbas reportedly said.
The call for a new war on Israel comes just two months after Israel
launched a major military operation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip
after terrorists stepped up rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
Middle East analysts expressed great concern about the situation and
said that Abbas’s rhetoric could spark renewed violence in Jerusalem, a
city that has experienced relative calm for quite some time.
“There is a very unique phenomenon we’re observing right now, unlike
anything we’ve seen before,” said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of
research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
“There really does appear to be a movement that is trying to win
hearts and minds and to get people riled up,” said Schanzer, explaining
that Palestinian activists in the Temple Mount area are reportedly
stoking tensions against Israel.
“Usually, the West Bank or Gaza set the tone for conflicts with
Israel. This time, Jerusalem Arabs are leading the charge,” Schanzer
explained.
Abbas’ comments accusing Israel of declaring war via its closure of
the Temple Mount could make an already volatile situation even worse.
“Abbas is taking a potentially combustible situation and pouring gasoline on it,” Schanzer said.
While hostilities in Jerusalem have been simmering since the July
killing of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir—whose abduction came
just days after the murder of three Israeli kids by Hamas—Wednesday’s
attack on the Temple Mount appears to have sparked fears of a new
intifada.
Al-Aqsa was sealed off by Israeli police following an attack on Jewish activist and Rabbi Yehuda Glick, who remains in critical condition.
The Palestinian government and its allies have used the closure to
accuse Israel of trying to eradicate Muslim holy sites such as Al-Aqsa.
Some officials have even called it a “conspiracy,” according to the Palestinian media.
Jordanian diplomat Hael Abd-el Hafiz Daud reportedly called the move
“a dangerous escalation by the Israeli authorities and state terrorism
that is unacceptable.”
“We cannot keep quiet about it,” Daud was reported to have said.
FDD’s Schanzer said that tensions are high going into Friday.
“We could be on the brink, but lets not declare war on behalf of the Palestinians,” he said.
The government-sanctioned calls for violence also come just days
after tensions between the Israeli and U.S. administration reached
historic new highs.
Obama administration officials were quoted as calling Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “chickenshit,” comments that roiled both
governments and exposed a deep rift.
Noah Pollak, executive director of the pro-Israel Emergency Committee
for Israel (ECI), said that the Obama administration is abetting
Palestinian violence.
“What adds fuel to the fire is the Obama administration’s endless
hostility to Israel and refusal to ever criticize the Palestinians for
incitement and anti-Semitism,” Pollak said. “Mahmoud Abbas instigates
violence; Obama responds by calling him a man of peace.”
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