Violent Israeli Arab riots are “a true intifada,” says PA daily op-ed

Excerpt of an op-ed by Ramzi Oudeh

Headline: “The viewpoint of deterrence has failed yet again!”

“The Palestinian people is continuing to resist the occupation in all possible ways. We have all watched the intifada of Jerusalem that is taking place these days, the brave resistance and the rebellion of the Jerusalem residents against the occupation at the Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood], the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Damascus Gate, and the Silwan [neighborhood]. We also saw the missiles of the resistance that were fired from the Gaza Strip towards the settlements, and we watched a true intifada of the Palestinians of 1948 (i.e., Israeli Arabs) in Lod, the Negev, Kafr Kanna, Umm Al-Fahm, and the rest of the cities of the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel). Jerusalem has been the headline of this intifada; Jerusalem has constituted a unifying framework for all parts of the Palestinian people. Our mighty people has succeeded through this intifada in developing an active viewpoint that contradicts the Israeli viewpoint of deterrence. This Palestinian viewpoint is based on protecting the basic national principles, continuing the popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), turning the popular rage into the material of struggle in all the arenas, expanding the scope of the sacrifices, and causing every possible loss to the occupation, even if it is a small loss.”

The op-ed was written during ongoing violent Arab riots in Jerusalem and other mixed Jewish-Arab cities in Israel, and while Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli population centers.

The terms "peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance" are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, ‎Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 ‎terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is." https://palwatch.org/page/9276