An-Naksa 46th anniversary
Chronology of events:
An-Naksa, the Debacle, also known as June
1967 War or the Six Day War. On the morning of Monday, June 5, 1967,
Israeli military aircraft raided the Egyptian airfields, destroying the bulk of
the Egyptian air force.
Ground attacks started immediately thereafter on
the Jordanian and Syrian fronts, bound to Egypt with military common defense
pacts. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) ravaged the Sinai Peninsula with almost no
fight - Egyptian units deprived of air cover. By Friday June 9, IAF
stood on the East Bank of Suez Canal, captured the Golan Heights and the rest
of the Palestinian territories (Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza Strip).
Since the start of the occupation, Israeli policies
and practices under various governments - in a striking challenge to
international law and UN Security Council resolutions - have been characterized
by:
- confiscation of land;
- construction of settlements;
- crushing Palestinian resistance movements -
politically and militarily;
- violation of human rights;
- unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem - hardly
three weeks after the start of the war - making it the eternal
indivisible “Capital” of Israel.
Based on the shock of defeat, fear of the unknown,
Palestinian society has passed through several phases of resistance under this
occupation:
- non-cooperation between 1967 and 1970, which led
to the crippling of the society, as schools, universities and courts were
closed, in addition to continuous general strikes among professionals and
business network;
- “Sumoud” - steadfastness - between 1970 and 1982,
marking the rise of a national front from PLO factions;
- isolation - following the exodus of Palestinian
fighters out of Jordan in 1970, and out of Lebanon in 1982;
- Intifada I (1987-1990) and II (2000-2003) -
popular uprisings - with the aim of ending the Israeli occupation and building
a new society based on freedom and independence on national soil;
- negotiations under the banner “Land for
Peace” and Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 - leading to the Oslo
I and II accords in 1993 and 1995, respectively.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians
reached a total deadlock many years ago, despite changes of governments.
Successive Israeli Governments have systematically
threatened and imposed sanctions against Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem,
and have continued their settlement activities everywhere, expropriation of
lands, house demolitions, deportations and other violations of human
rights, the most blatant being the construction of an 8 m high concrete
Separation Wall built on Palestinian lands despite a negative Advisory Opinion
of the International Court of Justice in The Hague rendered on 9 July
2004 - let alone attacks on Christian and Islamic religious sites by fanatic
settlers.
Before resuming negotiations with the Palestinians,
Israelis put forth yet another impediment: namely that Palestinians should
first recognize the “Jewish character” of the State of Israel - while
Palestinians from their side, accepting the challenges, claim the cessation of
all settlement activities and the release of prisoners in Israeli jails.
US successive administrations seem unwilling to
exert any form of pressure on Israel - which is indeed the only way to get out
of the political impasse and bring parties back to the negotiations table.
Some live witnesses from a close and reliable
source:
Between 1948 and 1967, there were a number of Arab
Consulates General posted in Jerusalem, considering the international character
of the City (Embassies were located in Amman): Egyptian, Saudi Arabian, Syrian,
Lebanese and Iraqi. Also, there was a Representative Office of the Arab League.
Some of the Arab Consuls had chosen to flee away to
their respective Capitals before the outbreak of the war. Early in the morning
of Tuesday, June 6, some Arab Consuls - Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi and
the Representative of the Arab League - sought refuge at the adjoining Belgian
Consulate General in Sheikh Jarrah. In the afternoon of the same day, the Israeli
Army had already seized the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, after invading UNRWA buildings.
Israeli heavy-armed paratroopers – in violation of international law - rushed into
the compound of the Belgian Consulate General despite the fact that the gate
was closed and the Belgian national flag raised over the building. They
knocked savagely on the main door, claiming to search the building for
Jordanian snipers posted on the roof. There were none. When they came to
know about Arab Consuls hidden inside the Consulate, they arrested all the four
Arab diplomats, notwithstanding their sheltering inside a foreign Consulate. These
diplomats were dragged out of the premises to detention, inside Israel, which
lasted until the end of the year, when a swap of prisoners took place with each
of the Arab countries !
On Wednesday, June 7, the Israeli Army hoisted
the Israeli flag over the tower of the Ophthalmic Hospital belonging to the
London-based Order of St. John of Jerusalem - a private British property in
Sheikh Jarrah. Thanks to the intervention of the British Government, through
the offices of the British Consul General in Jerusalem, the Israeli flag was
removed from atop the building right on the following day.
Simultaneously, the Israeli Army seized the
prestigious, 4-storey Ambassador Hotel, again in Sheikh Jarrah, and made it its
General Headquarters for nearly four years. The basement of the Hotel served as
a detention area for the captured Palestinians living in the area.
On the same day, the entire Old City of
Jerusalem fell under occupation; Israel confiscated the keys to Bab Al-Magharbeh
(Western Gate of Al-Aqsa Mosque) compound, never to return them to the Islamic
Waqfs (Trusteeship). The Israeli flag was hoisted over the Western Wall …
On Sunday, June 11, the inhabitants of
the Old City’s Mughrabi Quarter adjacent to the Wailing Wall were given three
hours to evacuate their homes, before the entire quarter was demolished to
create a plaza !
On Wednesday, June 14, the Wailing Wall
was opened to the Israeli public while the inhabitants of the Old City were put
under curfew.
On June 28, the Knesset voted on the unilateral annexation of the Eastern part of Jerusalem, declaring it the “unified, indivisible, eternal Capital” of the State of Israel. On the same day, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem were allowed for the first time to walk inside Israeli-held Jerusalem (West Jerusalem), and contemplate with pain and bitterness their homes and properties – inhabited by Jewish immigrants - for the first time since the day they were evicted therefrom back in 1948 …
On June 28, the Knesset voted on the unilateral annexation of the Eastern part of Jerusalem, declaring it the “unified, indivisible, eternal Capital” of the State of Israel. On the same day, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem were allowed for the first time to walk inside Israeli-held Jerusalem (West Jerusalem), and contemplate with pain and bitterness their homes and properties – inhabited by Jewish immigrants - for the first time since the day they were evicted therefrom back in 1948 …
On June 29, Israel dismissed the elected
Mayor and council members of the Arab Jerusalem Municipality. Mayor Rawhi
Al-Khatib was offered to join the Israeli-held municipal council of the City -
which he flatly rejected.
In an attempt to ensure Israeli control of the
roads in the entire City, Israel allowed nine Egged bus routes to operate
parallel to the Arab public transport system. Meanwhile, Palestinian vehicles
were forced replace their old plate numbers by Israeli registration ones.
On July 18, the West Bank Islamic High
Court of Appeals was required to transfer its seat to Ramallah or Nablus, while
the Jerusalem Court was ordered to place itself under the Israeli Muslim Court
of Appeals in West Jerusalem.
On July 21, Anwar al khatib, Governor of Jerusalem,
former MP Daoud Husseini, lawyers Abdul Muhsen Abu Maizer and Ibrahim Bakr were
banished by Israel from certain areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
because of their refusal to accept the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem.
On August 11, a one-day curfew was imposed on the
inhabitants of East Jerusalem. Census was taken, and a week later, Palestinians
were forced to acquire Israeli blue ID cards.
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Under the circumstances there is no more sense talking
about a two-State solution. This idea is dead. The Israeli practices -
like building and expanding settlements, confiscating lands, Judaisation of
Jerusalem, disrupting geographical continuity between the different
localities of the West Bank, position of Israeli leaders and political parties
- have buried it completely. Israeli leaders confirm their outspoken
rejection in principle and in practice of any withdrawal to pre-June 1967
lines.
We often hear about proposals, mediations and
initiatives from different sides - but they all lack credibility. They
are all deemed to fail as none of them claims, puts pressure, or
does anything to put an end to the excessive Israeli practices on the
ground, with a view to pave the way before a two-State solution. The
Palestinian leadership conversely offered everything it could in order to reach
a peaceful settlement. It accepted to renounce nearly 78% of historical
Palestine lands, opted for negotiations, modified the PLO Charter, accepted
security coordination. All these concessions were met by more and more settlements
and by hooliganism and vandalism by settlers who make fun attacking peaceful
Palestinian residents, cutting olive trees, assaulting shrines - under the
protection of Israeli soldiers …
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