Israeli arrests of violent Arab rioters in the "occupied interior" will be responded to with an “explosion,” threatens top PLO Official
Headline: “Abu Bakr: The residents of the occupied Interior are being subjected to a new stage of ethnic cleansing and expulsion”
“Chairman of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr demanded today, Monday [May 24, 2021], that the international community with all its institutions act immediately to put an end tothe racist revenge attack that the Israeli occupation police is waging against our people in the occupied Palestinian Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel)…
Abu Bakr said that the Palestinians in the occupied Interior are undergoing a new stage of ethnic cleansing and expulsion…
Abu Bakr explained that the Israeli occupation forces conducted a wild and unprecedented wave of arrests yesterday in the occupied Interior…
He added that in recent days and up to this morning over 1,550 Palestinian from the occupied Interior have been arrested and indictments were submitted against 150 of them, and this is on the background of their participation in the events protesting the systematic Israeli policy of harassing the Palestinian people, and especially what is happening in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem (refers to violent Arab riots; see note below -Ed.)…
He added: ‘The Israeli occupation’s racism and hatred for our people in the occupied Interior was revealed this morning in the public threat that tonight there will be an unprecedented attack against all the Palestinian cities and villages, and that an unprecedented wave of arrests will be conducted. This means that the occupation government has prepared plans to commit this crime.’ He held [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his right-wing government fully responsible for the explosion of the situation in the coming days, and said that these crimes will not pass in silence and they will not be taken lightly.”
Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021 – On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.” In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for "raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas' spokesman told Palestinians "the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Hamas, Abbas' political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting. Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks. In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews. [Walla, May 16, 2021] The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.