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MINISTRY OF TOKYO
US-ANGLO CAPITALISMEU-NATO IMPERIALISM
Illegitimate Transfer of Inalienable European Rights via Convention(s) & Supranational Bodies
Establishment of Sovereignty-Usurping Supranational Body Dictatorships
Enduring Program of DEMOGRAPHICS WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of European Displacement, Dismemberment, Dispossession, & Dissolution
No wars or conditions abroad (& no domestic or global economic pretexts) justify government policy facilitating the invasion of ancestral European homelands, the rape of European women, the destruction of European societies, & the genocide of Europeans.
U.S. RULING OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR TO SALVAGE HEGEMONY
[LINK | Article]

*U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR*

Who's preaching world democracy, democracy, democracy? —Who wants to make free people free?
[info from Craig Murray video appearance, follows]  US-Anglo Alliance DELIBERATELY STOKING ANTI-RUSSIAN FEELING & RAMPING UP TENSION BETWEEN EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA.  British military/government feeding media PROPAGANDA.  Media choosing to PUBLISH government PROPAGANDA.  US naval aggression against Russia:  Baltic Sea — US naval aggression against China:  South China Sea.  Continued NATO pressure on Russia:  US missile systems moving into Eastern Europe.     [info from John Pilger interview follows]  War Hawk:  Hillary Clinton — embodiment of seamless aggressive American imperialist post-WWII system.  USA in frenzy of preparation for a conflict.  Greatest US-led build-up of forces since WWII gathered in Eastern Europe and in Baltic states.  US expansion & military preparation HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED IN THE WEST.  Since US paid for & controlled US coup, UKRAINE has become an American preserve and CIA Theme Park, on Russia's borderland, through which Germans invaded in the 1940s, costing 27 million Russian lives.  Imagine equivalent occurring on US borders in Canada or Mexico.  US military preparations against RUSSIA and against CHINA have NOT been reported by MEDIA.  US has sent guided missile ships to diputed zone in South China Sea.  DANGER OF US PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES.  China is on HIGH NUCLEAR ALERT.  US spy plane intercepted by Chinese fighter jets.  Public is primed to accept so-called 'aggressive' moves by China, when these are in fact defensive moves:  US 400 major bases encircling China; Okinawa has 32 American military installations; Japan has 130 American military bases in all.  WARNING PENTAGON MILITARY THINKING DOMINATES WASHINGTON. ⟴  
Showing posts with label East Jerusalem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label East Jerusalem. Show all posts

December 28, 2015

Modern History - Israel vs. Palestine List

History
Israel vs. Palestine


Israel War of Independence (1947-1949)
Jewish militias vs. Arab militias
turns to war on declaration of independence of Israel
& intervention of several Arab armies
settlement:  1949 Armistice Agreements
signed by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
armistice lines:  the Green Line

Reprisal Ops (1950s-1960s)
IDF military ops
response to Arab guerilla incursions
from Syria, Egypt & Jordan
Israel declares:  high 'blood cost' to enemy side
as deterrence from future attacks

Suez Crisis (1956)
Egypt attacked by:  Israel, Britain & France
intention to occupy Sinai Peninsula
& take over Suez Canal
response to Egypt decision to nationalise Suez Canal
(following US-Anglo withdrawal of offer to fund Aswan Dam)


Conclusion:
US & USSR (Soviet Russia) forced Israeli invasion to retreat
Israel reopened Straits of Tiran & pacified southern border

---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
Six Day War (1967)
Israel vs Egypt, Jordan & Syria

(contributors:  Iraq, Saudi Arab, Kuwait & Algeria)

Conclusion:  territory held by Israel expanded significantly
-->  The Purpose Line
  • West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem) - taken from Jordan
  • Golan Heights - taken from Syria
  • Sinai & Gaza - taken from Egypt
---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
War of Attrition (1967-1970)
Egyptians seek to recapture Sinai from Israel
  • Egypt
  • Jordan
  • Syria
  • PLO
  • USSR
ceasefire 1970 - frontiers remain same

---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
 
Operation Gift (1968)
29 Dec. 1968
Israeli IDF commandos destroy
  • 12 passenger aircraft
  • 2 cargo planes
at Beirut International Airport
response to attack on:  Israeli Airliner El Al Flight 253
by Palestinian Lebanon-based
militant org:  Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

29 Dec. 1968
Israeli commandos destroy 14 aircraft #Lebanon
12 passenger aircraft +
2 cargo planes
@ $43.8 million - British insurers would not cover all
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Israeli_raid_on_Lebanon
 
---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

Yom kuppur War (1973)
20-days
  • Arab states coalition
  • led by Egypt & Syria
  • seek to recapture territories
  • seized by Israel 6-Day War (1967)
  • surprise attack
  • Arab forces defeated
  • no significant territorial changes
---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

    Palestinian Insurgency
     - South Lebanon (1971-1982)
    PLO relocated from Jordan to South Lebanon
    base for international ops
    attacks on Galilee, northern Israel
    Galilee
    1948 Arab–Israeli war outcome:
    nearly the whole of Galilee came under Israel control

    large portion of the population fled or was forced to leave
    leaving dozens of entire villages empty

    large Israeli-Arab community remained based in and near the cities:
    Nazareth, Acre, Tamra, Sakhnin, & Shefa-'Amr
    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

    Israel response:  Op Litani (1978)
    first Israel large-scale invasion of Lebanon
    • IDF seek to expel PLO from Lebanon
    • ground & rocket attacks from Lebanon
    • Israel retaliation
    escalation --> leads to:  Lebanon War (1982)
    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

    Lebanon War (1982)
    • IDF invade southern Lebanon to expel PLO
    Israeli response to:

    1.  terror attacks on northern Israel

    2.  assassination attempt
    against Shlomo Argov, Israel to UK ambassador
    assassination attempt by:   Abu Nidal org
    Result:

    1) exclusion of PLO from southern Lebanon

    2) 'Israeli Security Zone' in southern Lebanon
        (ie Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon)

    •     IDF was allied with Christian militias
        Israel eventually withdrew troops, May 2000
    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
    South Lebanon Conflict (1982-2000)
    20 years of warfare

    Israel IDF
    • + Israel proxy (Lebanese Christian militias)
    • vs. Muslim guerrillas (led by Iran-backed Hezbollah)
    in Israeli occupied southern Lebanon, claimed as 'security zone'
    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

    First Intifada (1987-1993)
    6 years
    large-scale Palestinian uprising against Israel
    West Bank & Gaza Strip

    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
    Second Intifada (2000-2005)
    large-scale Palestinian uprising against Israel

    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

    Lebanon War (2006)
    Israeli military op
    • response to abduction x2 Israeli reservists by Hezbollah
    led to wider confrontation

    Hezbollah vs IDF

    UN brokered ceasefire

    thereafter, Israel lifted naval blockade of Lebanon

    result:
    1)  pacification of southern Lebanon
    2)  weakness of Hezbollah (serious casualties)
    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
    Gaza War (2008-2009)
    Dec-Jan - 3-week armed conflict

    Israel vs Hamas

    escalation of Israel-Palestine conflict

    rocket fire from Gaza Strip
    Israel response:  Op Cast Lead
    Op Cast Lead:  surprise Israel air-strike on Gaza Strip
    Israel attacked:
    • military targets
    • civilian targets
    • police stations
    • government buildings
    in opening assault
    ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

    2013 - Peaceful Period
    • x50 rockets by Palestine
    • x10 Israel air-strikes
    • x44 Palestinians killed
    • 100 plus Palestinians injured
    • x6  Israel fatalities (x5 West Bank)
    • x44 Israel injuries 
    Israel | Palestine
    6 / 44 deaths
    44 / 100 injuries
      ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

      Operation Pillar of Defence (2012)
      Israel military offensive on Gaza Strip
      8-day IDF op
      • killing of Ahmed Jabari, chief Hamas
      • launch of large numbers of Hamas rockets
      • IED explosion on Israeli side of tunnel under Israeli Est Bank barrier
      Hamas alleges: 
      • IDF attacks on Gaza civilians in lead-up to op
      Hamas cites: 
      blockade of Gaza Strip & Occupation West Bank & East Jerusalem as reason for rocket attacks

      Hamas fired:
      • over 1,456 rockets into Israel

      Op Pillar of Defence:
      • IDF struck over 1,500 sites in Gaza Strip

      result:
       Israel
      • rockets killed x3 Israeli civilians
      • a home in Kiryat Malachi received a direct hit
      Palestine
      UNHCR report:
      • 174 Palestinians were killed
      • 100s wounded
      • large number of families displaced

      Israeli operation condemned by:
      • Iran
      • Russia
      • Egypt
      • Turkey
      • + several other Arab & Muslim countries
      ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------
      Operation Brother's Keeper
      IDF initiated 11-day op

      in search of x3 kidnapped Israeli teenagers
      • 350 Palestinians arrested
      • arrest of nearly all Hamas West Bank leaders
      • x5 Palestinians killed
      • Hamas denied responsibility for kidnapping
      • suspect confessed
      under Israel Shin Bet (internal security) heavy torture
      ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

      Gaza War (2014)
      Operation Protective Edge (2014)
      Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan
      (lit. Operation Strong Cliff)

      50-day war


      Israel military offensive on Gaza Strip

      lead-up:
      • kidnap & murder x3 Israeli teenagers
      • kidnap & murder of Palestinian teenager
      • increased rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas
      J. J. Goldberg, editor Forward: 
      • Israel military indictment contains no evidence of orders from Hamas
        --> kidnapping organised by lone actors
        assumed that kidnappers planned prisoner swap
        • Israel kills x2 suspects in shoot-out
          • first suspect (lone-acting, member of Hamas)
          • imprisoned - x3 life terms (+ compensation)

            Israel
            targeted destruction of homes
            of Hamas and other militia members
            violates international humanitarian law
            -- > constitute war crimes    [wikipedia]
            ** this is not full extent of the alleged war crimes

            3,700 rockets fired towards Israel

            32 Hamas tunnels destroyed by Israel

            750 Palestinians - alleged Hamas militants & commanders killed by Israel

            2014 Gaza War - COSTS
            • Palestinians killed: 2,139
            • Palestinian children killed: 490
            • Israeli soldiers killed: 64
            • Israeli civilians killed: 6
            • Israeli children killed: 1
            • Palestinians wounded: 11,000
            • Palestinian children wounded: 3,000
            • Gaza residents displaced: Up to 500,000
            • Homes destroyed in Gaza: 20,000
            Source: UN
            via Independent:  Independent
            Other cost:  international aid


            Israel  |  Palestine

            71 dead / 2,193 dead

            ? wounded  / 11,000 wounded

            ? displaced / 500,000 displaced



            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Israel



            ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

            COMMENT

            Most of the above info is as per the Wikipedia entries.

            It's just my summary, in the hope of remembering some of this.

            Figures haven't been double-checked and I've not looked further  into the war crimes issue.




            October 15, 2015

            What A Wonderful World ...

            comment



            Yesterday I thought I could see things from the Palestinian perspective ... and then I came across an article about a burnt down church in the West Bank:

            Terrorists Burn Down Bethlehem Church, Palestinian Authority Blames ‘Electrical Malfunction’

            by Jordan Schachtel
            28 Sep 2015
            Islamic extremists set fire to the St. Charbel Monastery in Bethlehem over the weekend, and Christian leaders in Bethlehem—a Palestinian Authority-governed area of the West Bank—have demanded that the Palestinian government do more to prosecute the criminals responsible for the reported arson attack.

            Father Gabriel Naddaf, an Arab-Israeli Christian, blamed “Palestinian extremists” for burning down the church.
            MORE
            http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09/28/terrorists-burn-bethlehem-church-palestinian-authority-blames-electrical-malfunction/

            While I'm not religious, I find this kind of creepy and I'd consider it something of a 'red flag' if I were in the neighbourhood.

            ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

            Just as I've recoiled over the church burning in the West Bank, some other appalling item comes up on my twitter feed, that also has me recoiling in disgust:
            It says that it's an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) officer kicking and beating an elderly East Jerusalem Palestinian, that's getting evicted from his about to be demolished home.
            It's really sickening and it's wrong.  Probably one of the most indecent things I've seen the military do.  Don't they impart a sense of honour and dignity in the military in Israel?

            ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------

            I later turned my attention to Afghanistan ... and what do I find on the Afghanistan feed? 

            A US "Green Beret Cut from Army for Intervening on Behalf of Child Assault Victim in Afghanistan"  - here.

            Apparently, this is a Pashtun cultural problem - here.

            Judging by what I've read, the Taliban are almost the good guys ... give or take the bit of sharia limb severing punishment here or there.   

            This kind of puts all that nutty cultural relativism and 'refugees welcome' zealotry into perspective.

            It also makes it hard (for me) to care to any meaningful extent about what goes on in places that are so warped and uncivilised.






            October 14, 2015

            East Jerusalem

            Article
            SOURCE
            extracts - various


            Israel will 'never' limit settlement building in East Jerusalem – Israeli FM
            Published time: 16 Nov, 2014 18:28
            Edited time: 16 Nov, 2014 18:33

            Israel will never stop its settlement constructions in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

            Lieberman’s comments come just four days after Israel approved plans to construct some 200 homes in Ramot, despite clashes in the region prompted by settlement expansion.

            Settlement expansion has been a controversial issue; Palestinians regard the holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, and strongly oppose any Israeli expansion.

            Washington responded to the news negatively, reasserting its opposition to the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem. It stated that Lieberman’s announcement may “exacerbate this difficult situation on the ground and...will not contribute to efforts to reduce the tension.”

            Israel claimed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, with its annexation never being recognized internationally. Since then, Israel has built numerous settlements which are now under military regulation, with different laws being applied arbitrarily to certain areas.

            Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, among 2.4 million Palestinians. The Israeli occupied territories have been seeking full Palestinian statehood and independence from Israel for decades. But despite international criticism, the Israeli government encourages the Jewish population in the West Bank to build new settlements.


            https://www.rt.com/news/206023-israel-jerusalem-settlement-building/

            Israel plans 1,000 settler homes in Jerusalem
            About 1,000 units to be built in parts of Arab areas of occupied city that Palestinians want for their future state.

            27 Oct 2014 20:25 GMT |

            The Israeli government has said that it is advancing construction plans to build about 1,000 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem that Palestinians want to be part of their future state.

            ...

            Israel has said all of Jerusalem will forever be its capital, citing historical, religious and security reasons. But the international community, including the US, does not recognise Israel's annexation of the eastern sector of the contested city.

            Our correspondent said Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, was under pressure by his right-wing coalition partners, who are pressing for the building of the new settlements and have threatened to withdraw their support from his government.

            Tensions have been high since June, when the body of three three Israeli teenage settlers were found weeks after they were abducted by unidentified group. Israeli groups retaliated by abducting and killing a Palestinian teenager in East Jerusalem, spurring riots.

            The abductions set off a series of events that led to the 50-day Gaza war.

            http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/israel-plans-settlements-east-jerusalem-20141027101953784884.html


            ... dire water shortages in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza

            The Jewish Israelis and the Israeli authorities do not seem to see these Israeli Palestinian neighbors, of whom 74% live under the poverty line, among them 53% of the children, according to official figures from 2009-2010.

            As noted by Friends of the Earth in Israel, the changes in demographics, standard of living and technology have made the current allocation of water resources, set 20 years ago as part of the second Oslo Accords, irrelevant. The management of the joint environment and water within the framework of this agreement has been proven ineffective. The Israeli-Palestinian committee, established to manage the joint water resources in the West Bank, has not met in an official session for more than two years.

            [ ARTICLE refers to raw sewage pollution  ]

            http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/east-jerusalem-arab-israelis-water-pollution-palestine.html#


            By DANIEL K. EISENBUD \  01/20/2015 21:31

            Israeli bulldozers demolished an illegally constructed Arab home in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya shortly before dawn on Tuesday, officials said.

            The owner, Rebhi Dari, told Arab media he could not legally procure a building permit through the Jerusalem Municipality, nor afford the associated expenses for doing so, and therefore was forced to construct it without a permit so he could house his family.

            “The occupation simply does not want us here. We are not welcome in our own city, Jerusalem,” Dari said in an interview with a Palestinian publication.

            “They are fighting our steadfastness – that is why they ask for large amounts of cash for some paper work. Approving an application for a construction permit takes years and ends up being denied.”

            Dari claimed that his family was forcibly removed from the home after receiving demolition orders 24 hours before, which resulted in rioting, though Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said no disturbances had taken place.

            Following the demolition, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) issued a statement condemning what it deemed an “ethnically motivated” forced displacement.

            “The demolition of Palestinian homes and other structures resulting in forced displacement and land expropriation are politically and ethnically motivated,” the organization said Tuesday.

            “The aim [of destroying Arab homes] is to limit development and confine the four million Palestinian residents of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza to small enclaves, thus effectively foreclosing any viable, contiguous Palestinian state and ensuring Israeli control and the ‘Judaization’ of the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem,” it said.

            The ICAHD added that the Jerusalem Municipality also is threatening to destroy 100 more illegally built Arab homes in Isawiya.

            The municipality, however, has stated repeatedly that all illegally built structures throughout the city, including in Jewish neighborhoods, are demolished regardless of if the owner is Jewish or Arab.

            Still, Meretz Councilman and east Jerusalem portfolio holder Dr. Meir Margalit described the demolition as an “inhuman act.”

            “It’s terrible to demolish a house,” he said by phone Tuesday. “When you demolish a home you don’t just destroy the building, you destroy the family that lives in it.”

            Moreover, Margalit contended that the demolition will further implicate Israel for alleged war crimes being pursued by the Palestinian Authority at the International Criminal Court.

            “I warn the Jerusalem Municipality that, just now, when the International Criminal Court in The Hague is investigating all kinds of crimes against humanity in the Israeli occupied territories – including east Jerusalem – they should know that house demolitions of civilians is a crime according to international law that the ICC will judge together with the settlements and other illegal activities.

            http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Government-demolishes-illegally-constructed-Arab-home-in-east-Jerusalem-388377


            Hardline Israelis anger Palestinians by trying to reclaim prayer rights at Jerusalem's most famous holy site
            As Muslims and Jews assert ownership over the Jerusalem's most famous holy site, some fear the competing beliefs risk igniting a full-scale religious conflict

            By Robert Tait, Jerusalem

            8:00AM GMT 07 Jan 2015

            ...

            The scene of the confrontation was the Al Aqsa Mosque complex, the most sensitive - and hotly contested - religious shrine in Jerusalem's historic Old City, and known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

            Such scenes have become increasingly common in recent months as radical Jewish groups - often backed by Right-wing Israeli politicians - have entered the site trying to claim worship rights in the face of opposition from Muslims, who insist it is rightfully and exclusively theirs.

            The all-male Jewish group was visiting because the compound is also regarded as the most sacred location in Judaism, whose adherents believe it to be where the two ancient Jewish temples stood and the site of their foundation stone.

            Similar stand-offs happen almost daily at the compound - a sweeping open plaza dominated by the 1,400-year-old Al Aqsa mosque, one of the world's oldest, and the dazzling gold-plated Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem's most recognizable architectural landmark and the spot from where the Prophet Mohammed reputedly made his flight to heaven.

            Their frequency has established the Al Aqsa/Temple Mount site as Jerusalem's most dangerous flashpoint, capable of triggering a third Palestinian intifada (uprising) or even an international conflict, according to Danny Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer who tracks political developments in the city.

            At issue, Jewish campaigners say, is the right of Jews to worship at their religion's holiest site. That right has been denied for as long as the complex has been an Islamic shrine since the 7th century AD. It was re-affirmed by a 1967 agreement between Israel and the Al Aqsa authorities, known as the waqf, after Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem, including the holy sites, from Jordan in the Six Day War.

            The accord, commonly referred to as the status quo, states that only Muslims have the right pray. Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit at certain times of the day but cannot pray.

            But nationalist Israeli Jews are trying to overturn it, arguing that the current arrangement tramples their civil rights and religious freedom.

            "The Temple Mount is holy. The status quo isn't holy, it's evil," said Ya'acov Hayman, leader of the Haliba organisation, one of several groups calling for "Jewish freedom" on the site.

            "We want legislation making sure that our rights are respected. We will soon be suing the government of Israel for failing to respect the civil rights of Jews and other non-Muslims on the Temple Mount. Ninety-five per cent of the area of Temple Mount is open space and there is no reason whatsoever why that can't be shared space. "

            Mr Hayman - who was last year arrested for openly praying and singing the Israeli national anthem inside the complex - said the rules must be changed even if it risked triggering a religious conflict with Muslims who would be likely to see it as an attack on their faith.

            "Al-Aqsa's presence in Jerusalem connects two billion Muslims across the world to Palestine," said Dr Ekrima Sa'eed Sabri, head of the Islamic supreme committee, which has authority over the waqf, and a former mufti of Jerusalem. "They think that if they can break the connection between Muslims and al-Aqsa, it will break the relationship between Muslims and Palestine.

            "It's a dishonourable competition between the Israeli political parties linked to the coming elections. Netanyahu is trying to appease the Right-wing so he can stay as prime minister."

            Mr Netanyahu - who had previously tolerated the visits of his ministers to the site - was forced to act in October after the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick, a prominent Jewish Temple Mount campaigner, by a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

            After Israeli forces tracked down and killed the would-be assassin, Muataz Hijazi, Mr Netanyahu ordered the complex temporarily closed, to Muslims as well as Jews - prompting Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, to accuse him of "an act of war".

            As tensions mounted amid a series of "lone wolf" attacks in Jerusalem and elsewhere that left 11 Israelis dead, the Israeli leader held crisis talks in Amman with King Abdullah of Jordan, which retains administrative control over the holy sites, and John Kerry, the US secretary of state.

            He agreed to restrain his ministers from visiting the compound in the presence of television cameras while lifting age restrictions on Muslims allowed to attend Friday prayers. He also denied any intention to alter the "status quo" banning Jews from praying there.

            That disclaimer is disbelieved by Al Aqsa officials, as well as by some Israelis, who believe the prime minister shares the same goal as the radical campaigners but has decided to proceed stealthily.

            "The status quo has already changed," said Shaykh Omar Awadallah Kiswani, director of the Al-Aqsa mosque. "With all the police and the restrictions on religious freedom we have seen, the place feels more like an armed camp than a place of worship. In the media, Netanyahu calls for calm. But he says one thing and does another, because I see what's happening on the ground. "

            The prime minister believes Israel must assert full control over a site which the late Moshe Dayan, the legendary former Israeli defence minister and military figure, decided should stay in the hands of the Muslim authorities, according to Menachem Klein, a political scientist at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv.

            "Netanyahu has reacted to external pressure from King Abdullah and John Kerry and decided to go carefully by lowering the issue's profile, " he said.

            "But it's not that he want anything different from what the radicals want. He just wants to go in small steps but keep the subject of the Temple Mount as a place Israel must rule fully. He is not sincere when he talks about keeping the status quo and is definitely not ready to negotiate transferring sovereignty to the Palestinians or anyone else."

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11328893/Hardline-Israelis-anger-Palestinians-by-trying-to-reclaim-prayer-rights-at-Jerusalems-most-famous-holy-site.html


            Paywalled
            Israeli Settlers Take Over Palestinian House in East ...
            www.haaretz.com › News › Israel

            May 6, 2015 - Residents of the Palestinian Silwan neighborhood said some 20 Jewish youths moved in the middle of the night while the family living there ... [were away]

            Who are the Jews of Silwan, and Why are They There?
            Oct 22, 2014

            First, it’s important to understand where and what the neighborhood actually is. “Silwan” is in fact an Arabic name for a vast swathe of territory in eastern Jerusalem, just outside the Old City, which encompasses the ancient City of David and the old Jewish neighborhood of Kfar HaShiloach – where a thriving Jewish community was ethnically-cleansed by Arab forces in the early twentieth century.

            It is believed to have been the site of the ancient Israelite capital, and as such returning to the area is a priority for Zionist idealists in their struggle to reclaim their national Jewish heritage. That’s reflected in demographic nature of those who live there, who identify as religious-Zionists.

            ...


            It was in fact for that very reason that the Yemenite Jews who arrived in Israel during the “First Aliyah” of 1882 – having walked thousands of miles by foot to reach the land of their ancestors – chose to live precisely there. Convinced the Messiah was imminent, they opted to settle in the heart of ancient Jerusalem, to watch the redemption unfold.

            ...

            As tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel began to mount in the early twentieth century, Kfar HaShiloach would bear the brunt of violent anti-Semitism whipped up by anti-Zionist firebrands like the Nazi-collaborating Mufti of Jerusalem.

            “Unfortunately, the community was decimated – just like most Jewish life in the heart of Jerusalem – by Arab pogroms, in 1929 and 1937; as well as in 1948,” when the British-led Jordanian Arab Legion systematically expelled all remaining Jews from the eastern half of Jerusalem – including the Old City, Western Wall and Temple Mount – and also seized control of Judea and Samaria.

            For Luria and those who move there, restoring the Jewish presence to those areas is not only an act of defiance but the ultimate fulfillment of the Zionist mission to return the Land of Israel to its people.

            We’re basically just fulfilling the Zionist dream,” he says. “Zionism didn’t die in 1948 or 1967.”

            http://linkis.com/pamb2

            Israel issues demolition order for mosque in East Jerusalem
            22nd August 2015
            JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli municipality officials delivered a demolition order Friday to the al-Qaaqaa Mosque, a house, and a studio apartment in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, local sources told Ma’an.

            ...

            The mosque, built three years ago, is a 110 square meter space that serves 5,000 worshipers.

            ...

            The ruling includes the demolition of a 1.5 dunam (.4 acre) sports field as well as a neighboring warehouse and animal shed.

            Silwan is one of many Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem that is seeing an influx of Israeli settlers at the cost of the demolition of Palestinian homes and eviction of Palestinian families.

            Israeli authorities have carried out around 370 demolitions of Palestinian property in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the start of 2015, displacing an estimated 432 residents, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

            Thousands of Palestinian residents are at risk of losing their homes, as members of the current right-wing Israeli government continue to champion longstanding policies to obtain a Jewish majority in East Jerusalem.

            East Jerusalem was occupied by Israel in 1967 in a move never recognized by the international community, and four decades of Israeli policy in the area have neglected the Palestinian community while fostering the growth of Jewish settlement.
            http://palsolidarity.org/2015/08/israel-issues-demolition-order-for-mosque-in-east-jerusalem/


            Israel to build Jewish seminary in East Jerusalem
            By AP and Times of Israel staff February 12, 2014, 8:44 pm

            JERUSALEM — A municipal planning committee on Wednesday advanced a plan to build a Jewish seminary in the heart of an Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, triggering angry Palestinian accusations that Israel was undermining already troubled Mideast peace efforts.

            ...

            The fate of East Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in the peace efforts. The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, as the capital of a future independent state. Israel considers East Jerusalem to be part of its capital and says it will never relinquish control of the area and its sensitive religious sites.

            In Wednesday’s vote, the city planning council gave preliminary approval for a nine-story Jewish seminary in the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

            ... Nimr Hamad, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the move “a new obstacle on the road to peace and a new obstacle in front of Mr. John Kerry’s mission.”

            “This also proves that the Israeli government indeed flouts the position of the international community and international public opinion, thinking they can impose facts on the ground,” he added.


            http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-build-jewish-seminary-in-east-jerusalem/

            Israel defends Jerusalem evictions
            August 3, 2009 -- Updated 1937 GMT

            JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel moved to defend itself in the face of international criticism Monday over its eviction of dozens of Palestinian families from a neighborhood of Jerusalem they have lived in for generations.

            ...

            In the court action, a settler group sued claiming the Palestinians had violated an agreement under which they were allowed to live in the houses.

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            After the Palestinians were moved out, two Jewish families moved in.

            ...

            "Tonight, while these new settlers from abroad will be accommodating themselves and their belongings in these Palestinian houses, 19 newly homeless children will have nowhere to sleep."

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            The United States, the United Nations and the European Union condemned the move.

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             "As Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton has stated previously, the eviction of families and demolition of homes in East Jerusalem is not in keeping with Israeli obligations under the Roadmap," said Robert Wood, referring to the 2003 "Roadmap for peace" plan.

            Israel has claimed East Jerusalem as part of its sovereign capital since taking the eastern part of the city from Jordan during the Six-Day War in 1967.

            Also condemning the evictions were British diplomats.

            "We are appalled by the eviction in East Jerusalem this morning," the British Consulate said. "These actions are incompatible with the Israeli professed desire for peace. We urge Israel not to allow the extremists to set the agenda."

            The evictions happened as Israel and the United States have been increasingly at odds over U.S. President Barack Obama's insistence that Israel's government freeze all settlement activity as a necessary step toward advancing negotiations with Palestinians.

            Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took strong public exception to American requests that an Israeli building project in the disputed and mostly Arab East Jerusalem be stopped.

            The Bush administration had no problem with such projects as long as Israel built within the construction lines of existing settlements in the occupied West Bank.

            http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/03/israel.evictions/



            Israel accused of ethnic discrimination after stripping Palestinians of East Jerusalem residency

            Israel has acknowledged stripping a record number of Palestinians of the right to live in East Jerusalem.

            By Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem
            8:15PM GMT 02 Dec 2009

            The announcement came as a confidential European diplomatic report issued its most damning assessment of what it claimed was an Israeli strategy to create a Jewish majority in the city’s predominantly Arab east.

            Israeli government figures obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request showed that 4,577 Palestinians had been stripped of the right to live in East Jerusalem last year, a record.

            Jerusalem’s most senior European diplomats alleged that Israel had embarked on a strategy to alter the city’s delicate demographic balance.

            According to the European report, a confidential year-end briefing which was leaked to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, municipal officials have consistently refused to grant Palestinians in East Jerusalem building permits. At the same time, the report claimed, the government had connived with right-wing Jewish settler groups to buy up Arab houses and expand Jewish settlements “into the heart of the Muslim quarter.

            Annexed by Israel following its capture in the 1967 Six-Day War, East Jerusalem is viewed by Palestinians as their capital and its status is a deeply emotive issue. Recent riots in and around East Jerusalem’s walled old city, home to some of the world’s most iconic religious landmarks, were partly fuelled by rumours of a Jewish plot to gain ownership of the area.

            Numbering 250,000, Palestinians have the majority in East Jerusalem, but their numerical superiority is being challenged by the presence of 190,000 Jewish settlers.

            According to the report, many of the settlements have been built on the periphery of East Jerusalem in an effort to cut it off from the surrounding West Bank, making it easier to argue that the city is a cohesive Jewish unit.

            ...

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/6712087/Israel-accused-of-ethnic-discrimination-after-stripping-Palestinians-of-East-Jerusalem-residency.html


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            COMMENT


            I was curious to see what kind of things may have led to the recent Palestinian on Israeli on Palestinian violence.

            Above are just some random articles that probably have some bearing on what's going on at present.

            The US, UK, and European politicians condemning Israel could withhold aid, arms and trade to Israel if they sincerely condemned the actions of Israel, but they don't.  
            So this condemnation of Israel is just politicians making the right public noises, providing feigned support of Palestinians and paying lip-service to concerns about international law. 
            Of course, that publicly stated 'condemnation' will never be backed by sanctions against Israel -- and Israel knows this and does what it wants.
            So that makes the US, UK, and European politicians complicit in the decades-long displacement, occupation and abuse of Palestinians.