FAQ on Current Jerusalem Unrest

[ProgressiveMuslim]

What sparked the current unrest in Jerusalem?

The current tension comes in the context of illegal Israeli settlement expansion in occupied East Jerusalem and the expulsion in the past 16 months of several Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the city. Weekly demonstrations have been held in Sheikh Jarrah and have grown in size in the intervening months. Tensions were exacerbated as settlers, backed by the Israeli government, recently celebrated the confiscation of Palestinian homes and sang the praises of mass murderer Baruch Goldstein.

Further, Israel's decision in February to add the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in occupied Hebron and the Mosque of Bilal ibn Rabah/Rachel's Tomb in occupied Bethlehem to a list of national Jewish heritage sites caused alarm among Palestinians. The March 15 rededication of the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City caused similar alarm.
Palestinians from the West Bank were prohibited by Israeli forces from entering Jerusalem between March 11 and 16. In response to this and to extensive Israeli settlement activities in the city, Palestinian leaders called for demonstrations on March 16 in Jerusalem. A Fatah representative in Jerusalem, Dimitri Diliani, said, however, that current Palestinian anger is not against the synagogue "in its religious context, but rather as a natural expression of protest against cumulative violations carried out by the state of Israel as an illegal occupier of East Jerusalem."


read on...
http://imeu.net/news/article0017612.shtml#1

[henank]

1. Answering some of the questions

From the linked article:

Further, Israel's decision in February to add the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in occupied Hebron and the Mosque of Bilal ibn Rabah/Rachel's Tomb in occupied Bethlehem to a list of national Jewish heritage sites caused alarm among Palestinians.

Why should those acts cause alarm? The Cave of the Patriarchs is well-known as a Jewish shrine, THE Jewish shrine in fact, after the Western Wall. Rachel's Tomb similarly is a famous Jewish shrine. Whose Foremother was Rachel if not the Jews? It was never a Muslim shrine until the Jews retook possession of it.

The March 15 rededication of the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City caused similar alarm.

Again, why should the dedication of a synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City cause alarm to anyone? Does anyone here remember WHY the synagogue needed rebuilding and rededicating? It's because the Jordanian army destroyed it in 1948.

Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state

Well, why didn't they make it into their capital when they had possession of it for all those years? Seems like it only became important when the Israelis captured it.

[Douglas Carpenter]

2. Hebron, Bethlehem and East Jerusalem are not in Israel - They are in Occupied Palestinian Territory

This is not debatable and never has been among sane and rational people. All international legal bodies, and all international human rights organizations along with the United Nations, United Nations World Court of Justice, international law and the whole international community are in absolute agreement.

Unless one is suggesting that Israel should formally annex the Occupied Palestinian Territories and grant full and equal citizenship and full and equal voting rights to the indigenous population.

Those who are making the two-state solution impossible are making the single-state solution inevitable.