On the new "escalation of violence" in Israel and Palestine
ANA GARRALDA
Those who have lived for long periods in Jerusalem, a city as holy as it is devilish, often find themselves stuck in the throat of the hackneyed concept of a "new spiral of violence" whenever the murders of Palestinians or Israelis once again appear in the summaries of news programmes on radio and television or in the pages of the international press.
And it chokes them because in those few seconds of viewing images, or in the minutes it takes to read or listen to a chronicle, it is impossible to glimpse even a glimpse of the reality that millions of people live every day, every month, every year. of people who would never star in the news if it were not for the fact that violence or death has been around them.
Cases such as that of Abdala Samih Ahmed Qalalwa, a 26-year-old young man who was killed on February 3 by an Israeli soldier when, after getting out of his car, unarmed, he headed towards a military checkpoint near the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank. According to the Army's version, Abdala ignored the shots fired into the air by the military, continued to approach and tried to attack them, which led another soldier to shoot him in the chest. Had he wanted to reduce him, the soldier's weapon would have pointed at his legs, as dictated by the rules of engagement defined by the Army itself. At least that's what the theory says; in practice, commanders and soldiers often ignore them.
Abdullah, like the thousands of young Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the last half century (since more than 30 years began only in the West Bank) bled to death shortly after, without being able to corroborate the version offered by the Hebrew authorities, as to This often happens with such incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Today it will be impossible to know the reasons that led the Palestinian to supposedly get out of the car on that fateful day, but what is known is that he had just become a father, that he had a stable job as an employee of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and that he was from a town south of Jenin, the city that in recent weeks has been the target of the largest Israeli military raids since the Second Intifada. "What we experienced in 2002 was child's play compared to what we have suffered here these days," said a Palestinian businessman on international television.
On January 26, one of these incursions into the Jenin refugee camp resulted in the death of ten Palestinians (seven militiamen and three civilians, including a 60-year-old woman) in an operation that sought to end a Jihad terrorist cell. Islamic, according to a statement issued jointly by the Army press office, the Security Agency and the Israeli border police. Hours later, another Palestinian was killed in what Israeli security forces called a "violent riot" near Jerusalem.
The constant night raids, the arbitrary arrests, the high unemployment rate or the lack of prospects in an area punished by more than half a century of occupation, are the ideal breeding ground for the growing recruitment of young people by Palestinian organizations that Israel , the United States or the European Union consider terrorists (Islamic Jihad, Hamas or the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Al Fatá).
Abdala Samih Ahmed Qalalwa was not one of them, but he suffered, like the nearly three million Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the collective punishment meted out daily by the Israeli state – in the form of military checkpoints, revocation of work permits or confiscation of land – on a population with no prospects for the future and who feel increasingly abandoned by the international community. “Many call all of us Palestinians ‘terrorists’, but what about the Ukrainians? When they defend themselves against the Russian invasion, are they also terrorists? What about those of us who just want to feed our families?” complained local residents.
The day after the Jenin massacre, many Israelis asked themselves the same question when a 21-year-old Palestinian, apparently unaffiliated with any armed organisation, shot dead seven of his compatriots (including a 15-year-old boy) as they were about to enter a synagogue in Jerusalem to celebrate the Sabbath. A “lone wolf attack”, according to the Israeli police, which was quickly exploited by the Islamist movement Hamas, whose spokesman described the attack as “a heroic act of revenge for the Jenin massacre”. However, it did not claim responsibility, nor did it claim responsibility for the attack carried out on the same day by a 13-year-old boy, who shot and wounded two Israeli settlers living in the Silouan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. The second attack by a “lone wolf” in less than forty-eight hours.
Once again, the international media spoke of a “new upsurge in violence” or the “worst escalation” in years. But this is not about “cycles.” From the structural to the physical, violence is a daily, constant experience. For example, few Western news bulletins reported the fact that more than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire last month, and if they did, it was in light of the deaths of Israeli citizens. Likewise, they do not address in depth the brutal upsurge in personal and material attacks by heavily armed settlers against the property of Palestinian families in the West Bank. And this happens every week.
Faces like Abdala's would not have appeared in the media had it not been for the fact that, days before his death, another young man killed seven Jewish citizens. For many, it is better to avoid such reflections while their leaders offer them a more comfortable, simpler vision of their reality: "the Palestinians hate us without reason, they attack us and there is no choice but to punish them." This premise was present in the arguments of the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, when, after the attacks, he announced more forceful punitive measures; or when his Minister of National Security, the ultra-nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that he would speed up the granting of firearms licenses for civilians. "I want more weapons on the streets so that the citizens of Israel can defend themselves," he said.
In short, a real violence, but also fueled by the different interests that underlie a totally asymmetrical “conflict”. With massive resources and perpetual impunity, one side can physically and psychologically isolate itself from the inhumane ways it dominates the other. Meanwhile, the second justifies his actions by the oppression he suffers at the hands of the first.
It might be thought that, in the eyes of the international community, Palestinians are forced to live under the assumption that they are considered expendable and nameless entities on whom violence can be inflicted without blinking an eye. It is revealing that their appearance on the news, a chronicle or a journalistic text usually depends on the greater or lesser damage they cause to the other party. And it is that from the news coverage, to the condolences of diplomats or the condemnation of international organizations every time an attack occurs, the lives of Israelis always come first. Also in the headlines.
