Israeli, Palestinian Arabs unite in unprecedented general strike, violence erupts

Israeli and Palestinian Arabs from East Jerusalem and the West Bank they joined this Tuesday to denounce the Israeli occupation. They launched a general strike unprecedented to protest against the repression and especially against the bombings perpetrated by the Hebrew state in the Gaza Strip. The day ended with violence.

The Palestinian Fatah movement called for a “day of wrath” and a general strike for this Tuesday. A call that has also extended to several Israeli Arab towns and “mixed” places in Israel, where the tension between Jews and Arabs is very strong.

Israeli police and soldiers cracked down on Palestinian protesters as part of a general strike in Israel, the West Bank and Jerusalem.

At least 14 Palestinians they were injured by strokes with live ammunition Israeli soldiers during protests in different parts of the West Bank, the health ministry of the Palestinian autonomous government, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) reported.

Three of the injured were in serious condition, with neck injuries and the abdomen, the ministry said in a statement. Four other Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, the note said.

Israeli TV Channel 12 said Palestinian protesters rioted at one of the gates of East Jerusalem’s Old City, the walled citadel that is home to holy sites of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

An Israel Police spokesman told the channel that the protesters threw stones and bottles officers, and responded with gas and gunfire in the air and arrested eight people, including one who attacked an officer.

The strike and the expected demonstrations were called to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza against the Palestinian Islamist movements Hamas, which reigns in the region, and the Islamic Jihad, and other Israeli policies.

Hamas and the secular Fatah Party, which controls the West Bank-based PNA, have called Palestinians who are citizens of Israel and those living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank on a “day of anger” and protests.

The Gaza Strip is geographically separated from the West Bank through the territory of Israel.

Jerusalem is located between Israel and the West Bank and includes a western part of Israeli sovereignty.

The eastern part of the city, predominantly Palestinian, was occupied by Israel in 1967 along with the West Bank and Gaza, and then annexed.

The protests could further amplify the crisis shaking the region after a spasm of violence in Israel among its Jewish and Palestinian citizens and a crackdown on other protests in the West Bank last week.

Coinciding with the offensive in Gaza, Palestinians, Israelis and Israelis took to the streets of “mixed” towns in a rampage, attack and burn shops and cars in the worst wave of violence of its kind in more than two decades.

Some of the worst riots took place in the central city of Lod, where an Israeli Palestinian was located. beaten down by Jewish extremists on May 10 and an Israeli Jew died on Monday from injuries sustained that day in an attack by Palestinians Israelis.

More than 370 people were arrested last week in Lod over riots and clashes, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “intolerable” and “anarchy.

Soldiers have been deployed to Lod to assist police, and the city has declared an emergency and is under a nighttime curfew.

Palestinians Israelis are those who stayed at home in what is now Israel, and did not go into exile, when the Jewish state was founded in 1948, and they constitute 20% of the Israeli population. Israel seized the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a war in 1967, and the Palestinians want to establish an independent state there, more in Gaza.

The strike seeks to repudiate the offensive in Gaza and Israeli policies which many activists and human rights groups say constitute an apartheid system which denies Palestinian Israelis the rights that Jewish Israelis have.

Israel rejects this characterization and says that all of its citizens They are equal Before the law. He also accuses Hamas of the offensive and incitement to violence against Israel throughout the region.

Strike

The strike was called by the Palestinian community in Israel and supported by the PNA in the West Bank, where schools and all public offices they woke up closed.

Abu Nacer closed his restaurant. Going on strike is the only way for this Palestinian businessman from East Jerusalem to express his solidarity. “More than a strike, it is a day of mourning to pay homage to the dead in Gaza. God help them. If the Palestinians in Jerusalem could do more for them … But we live under occupation“, dice.

“This is the first time that we have felt the Palestinians so united. Israeli Arabs they support us, and we support them as well, ”he said.

Rebhi, owner of the neighboring store, also lowered the blind. “I fear that the next intifada, the great uprising, will not only be against the Israelis, but also against the Palestinian Authority. These officials of ours are helping Israel oppress us. In particular, cooperating in the field of security.

In their demonstrations, many young Palestinians like this merchant denounce Israeli oppression, but also the collusion of its leaders, whom they consider to be traitors.

Source: agencies and RFI

AP