PA daily op-ed: Jerusalem synagogue massacre was a “natural response” to Israeli “crimes and violations”
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, columnist for the official PA daily
“The operation in the yeshiva (i.e., the Jerusalem synagogue terror attack), which is in the area of Deir Yassin (the Palestinian village which was the site of a massacre in 1948 that claimed the lives of 250 Palestinian Martyrs [Shahids]) [parenthesis in source]… in which 4 of the heads of the yeshiva, or synagogue, were killed and 6 wounded, was carried out in response to the [recent] series of Israeli crimes and violations. Two days ago, the Palestinian driver Yussuf Al-Ramouni was hanged in the same area; the same place was the site of the kidnapping of the Martyr youth Muhammad Abu Khdeir and the mutilation of his corpse on July 2, 2014. [In addition, it was carried out] in the wake of the increase in [the number of] Israeli violations in the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount), and the attempt to anchor in law its division according to time and place between Muslims and Jews, as happened at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron. [The operation] was also a result of the takeover of approximately 25 apartments in the neighborhood of Silwan…
By continuing the policy of Judaization, the expropriation of lands, the alteration of the Holy City’s landscape, the attacks on the holy places and the Islamic and Christian houses of worship – especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque – they are pushing the situation toward an abyss…
One should not agree to any action whatsoever against religious sites, lest the leadership of the Israeli terrorism state exploit the occasion as part of its deceptive campaigns…
At the same time, the entire world knows that the Netanyahu government waged the wild war against the southern districts (i.e., the Gaza Strip) in July and August, destroying 70 mosques completely and 150 partially, and damaged 12 cemeteries. Since 1967, there have been 60 attacks on churches, monasteries and monks, and one should also recall Baruch Goldstein’s massacre in February 1994, which claimed the lives of 29 Martyrs (Shahids) and injured 150; the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1968 (sic, it was in 1969) and the attacks on the mosques in the Palestinian [West] Bank and within the Green Line, where the number of mosques that have been set on fire is 9 and counting… Therefore, the operation (i.e., terror attack) carried out by Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal from Jabal Mukkaber was nothing other than a natural response to the crimes and massacres perpetrated by the Israeli extremist right-wing government, which acted according to a calculated plan to extinguish any spark of hope for a political solution…
Israel and its leadership have not learned from past experience at all, and have not internalized the Palestinian people’s ability to wage a struggle. They eluded themselves that it would be possible to subjugate the Palestinian and eradicate his consciousness, so that he would accept the [Israeli] policy of establishing facts on the ground. However, the facts prove that the opposite is the case. If only the Israelis would [learn to] understand reality from the recent self-sacrifice operations, before it is too late.”
Notes: Jerusalem synagogue terror attack – On Nov. 18, 2014, two Arab terrorists, Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal from East Jerusalem, entered a synagogue in Jerusalem and attacked worshippers with guns, knives and axes, killing 4 worshippers and a Druze police officer. Seven people were injured, 3 of them seriously. The terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli Security Forces that arrived on the scene.
Yussuf Al-Ramouni – Arab bus driver from East Jerusalem who was found hanged at a bus terminal in Jerusalem on Nov. 16, 2014. Although an autopsy performed by the Israeli Abu Kabir Forensic Institute and a pathologist chosen by the family of Al-Ramouni revealed no signs of violence, Palestinian leaders and media immediately presented the incident as a murder perpetrated by Jewish settlers.
Muhammad Abu Khdeir - Palestinian teen kidnapped and murdered by Israeli extremists in Jerusalem on July 2, 2014, in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel in the West Bank on June 12. Following Abu Khdeir’s murder, Palestinians took to the streets of East Jerusalem in violent and continuous protests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers immediately condemned the revenge killing in the strongest terms. Israeli police arrested six Israeli suspects on July 6th; under interrogation, three of the suspects confessed to murdering Khdeir.
The physical division and division according to time refers to a proposed law (May 2013) being reviewed in Israeli Parliament that would allow for both Jews and Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount. The law seeks to implement separate prayer times for Muslims and Jews at the site.
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre - On Feb. 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a member of an Israeli far-right movement, opened fire on Muslims praying inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, known to Muslims as the "Ibrahimi Mosque," killing 29 and wounding 125. Following the attack, which was widely condemned by Israeli leaders and Jewish communities abroad, the Israeli government took concrete steps to prevent similar attacks from occurring by dividing the area of worship into Muslim and Jewish sections and designating several extremist movements, including Goldstein’s, as illegal terrorist groups.
The fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque – In 1969, Michael Rohan, a deranged Australian Christian, set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. For years, the Palestinian Authority has falsely accused Israel of setting the fire.
“The operation in the yeshiva (i.e., the Jerusalem synagogue terror attack), which is in the area of Deir Yassin (the Palestinian village which was the site of a massacre in 1948 that claimed the lives of 250 Palestinian Martyrs [Shahids]) [parenthesis in source]… in which 4 of the heads of the yeshiva, or synagogue, were killed and 6 wounded, was carried out in response to the [recent] series of Israeli crimes and violations. Two days ago, the Palestinian driver Yussuf Al-Ramouni was hanged in the same area; the same place was the site of the kidnapping of the Martyr youth Muhammad Abu Khdeir and the mutilation of his corpse on July 2, 2014. [In addition, it was carried out] in the wake of the increase in [the number of] Israeli violations in the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount), and the attempt to anchor in law its division according to time and place between Muslims and Jews, as happened at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron. [The operation] was also a result of the takeover of approximately 25 apartments in the neighborhood of Silwan…
By continuing the policy of Judaization, the expropriation of lands, the alteration of the Holy City’s landscape, the attacks on the holy places and the Islamic and Christian houses of worship – especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque – they are pushing the situation toward an abyss…
One should not agree to any action whatsoever against religious sites, lest the leadership of the Israeli terrorism state exploit the occasion as part of its deceptive campaigns…
At the same time, the entire world knows that the Netanyahu government waged the wild war against the southern districts (i.e., the Gaza Strip) in July and August, destroying 70 mosques completely and 150 partially, and damaged 12 cemeteries. Since 1967, there have been 60 attacks on churches, monasteries and monks, and one should also recall Baruch Goldstein’s massacre in February 1994, which claimed the lives of 29 Martyrs (Shahids) and injured 150; the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1968 (sic, it was in 1969) and the attacks on the mosques in the Palestinian [West] Bank and within the Green Line, where the number of mosques that have been set on fire is 9 and counting… Therefore, the operation (i.e., terror attack) carried out by Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal from Jabal Mukkaber was nothing other than a natural response to the crimes and massacres perpetrated by the Israeli extremist right-wing government, which acted according to a calculated plan to extinguish any spark of hope for a political solution…
Israel and its leadership have not learned from past experience at all, and have not internalized the Palestinian people’s ability to wage a struggle. They eluded themselves that it would be possible to subjugate the Palestinian and eradicate his consciousness, so that he would accept the [Israeli] policy of establishing facts on the ground. However, the facts prove that the opposite is the case. If only the Israelis would [learn to] understand reality from the recent self-sacrifice operations, before it is too late.”
Notes: Jerusalem synagogue terror attack – On Nov. 18, 2014, two Arab terrorists, Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal from East Jerusalem, entered a synagogue in Jerusalem and attacked worshippers with guns, knives and axes, killing 4 worshippers and a Druze police officer. Seven people were injured, 3 of them seriously. The terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli Security Forces that arrived on the scene.
Yussuf Al-Ramouni – Arab bus driver from East Jerusalem who was found hanged at a bus terminal in Jerusalem on Nov. 16, 2014. Although an autopsy performed by the Israeli Abu Kabir Forensic Institute and a pathologist chosen by the family of Al-Ramouni revealed no signs of violence, Palestinian leaders and media immediately presented the incident as a murder perpetrated by Jewish settlers.
Muhammad Abu Khdeir - Palestinian teen kidnapped and murdered by Israeli extremists in Jerusalem on July 2, 2014, in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel in the West Bank on June 12. Following Abu Khdeir’s murder, Palestinians took to the streets of East Jerusalem in violent and continuous protests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers immediately condemned the revenge killing in the strongest terms. Israeli police arrested six Israeli suspects on July 6th; under interrogation, three of the suspects confessed to murdering Khdeir.
The physical division and division according to time refers to a proposed law (May 2013) being reviewed in Israeli Parliament that would allow for both Jews and Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount. The law seeks to implement separate prayer times for Muslims and Jews at the site.
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre - On Feb. 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a member of an Israeli far-right movement, opened fire on Muslims praying inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, known to Muslims as the "Ibrahimi Mosque," killing 29 and wounding 125. Following the attack, which was widely condemned by Israeli leaders and Jewish communities abroad, the Israeli government took concrete steps to prevent similar attacks from occurring by dividing the area of worship into Muslim and Jewish sections and designating several extremist movements, including Goldstein’s, as illegal terrorist groups.
The fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque – In 1969, Michael Rohan, a deranged Australian Christian, set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. For years, the Palestinian Authority has falsely accused Israel of setting the fire.