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On September 28, 2000, the second intifada began, fueled by decades of repressive occupation, incited by Ariel Sharon’s provocative Haram al-Sharif visit before he was elected prime minister, protected by hundreds of Israeli security forces.
Palestinians were enraged over a dead-end peace process, inspired by Hezbollah forcing Israel’s May 2000 South Lebanon withdrawal.
On September 29, protests began. Israel responded harshly. A cycle of resistance and retaliation followed.
The five-year intifada took a terrible toll as follows:
- 4,166 Palestinian deaths, including 886 children and 271 women;
- 554 extrajudicial assassinations; 253 of them peaceful bystanders;
- 3,530 Palestinians disabled or maimed;
- 8,600 imprisoned, including 288 children and 115 women;
- 576 students killed, including 199 university-level ones and 32 teachers;
- another 4,713 students injured and 1,389 detained;
- 2,329,659 dunums of confiscated Palestinian land;
- another 73,613 dunums of razed land plus 1,355,290 uprooted trees; and
- 7,761 demolished homes and another 93,842 damaged.
Incited by Trump declaring Jerusalem Israel’s capital, protests erupted across the West Bank. Israel responded harshly, turning things violent.
After Trump’s announcement, a Palestinian national and Islamic forces joint statement announced three days of rage through Friday, saying:
“We call on all our people in Israel and around the world to gather in city centers and Israeli embassies and consulates, with the aim of bringing about general popular anger,” adding:Palestinians called for an emergency meeting of Islamic country leaders and the Jerusalem Committee to highlight their rejection of Trump’s outrageous move.
“A huge protest should be launched in order to reject out of hand the attempts of the US administration to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem or recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.”
“The right of the people and the nation to act in all legal and diplomatic ways within the international community, the international law in the Hague, in order to torpedo this attempt.”
Palestinian
protesters burn pictures of US President Donald Trump at Bethlehem’s
Manger Square on December 5 (Source: Beast Watch News)
On Thursday, Israeli police and soldiers attacked West Bank
Palestinian demonstrators, numerous injuries reported, some seriously,
including by live fire, others by rubber-coated steel bullets and toxic
tear gas.In Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported four protesters wounded by live fire, others injured. Photos of Trump along with Israeli and US flags were burned, demonstrators chanting “Death to America.” “Death to Israel.”
The PLO announced a general strike, closing schools and businesses across the West Bank.
Hezbollah spokesman Hassan Fadlallah called Trump’s move “treacherous and malicious aggression” against Palestinian rights, likely to have “catastrophic repercussions,” urging resistance, the only option.
Trump’s disgraceful action stripped the mask off Washington as an honest peace broker, something it never was, opening a hornet’s nest in Occupied Palestine. Things could stay ugly for some time.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the CRG, Correspondent of Global Research based in Chicago.
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The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Stephen Lendman, Global Research, 2017
