For 50 years, the residents of Jerusalem, home of Islam’s third holiest mosque, have lived under the yoke of an occupying regime, one intent on erasing every vestige of its Arab heritage, one that tramples on the shared history of three major religions in a rush to pursue a myopic vision of Zionism.
Israel is intent on ripping up centuries-old religious pragmatism and accommodation in its belief that Jews alone have a right to practise their faith, ignoring traditions and ecumenical partnerships with Muslims and Christians alike.
And by pursuing its bigoted and exclusionary policies, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is creating tinderbox-like conditions where any spark will result in a backlash from the oppressed people of Palestine and occupied Jerusalem.
From Washington, the future of occupied Jerusalem is under threat, with the administration of US President Donald Trump willing to rip up decades of measured policy and relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.
But the threat isn’t just in the realm of diplomacy and the international stage. On the ground, in every facet of the city’s life, the occupying power is subverting the history and heritage of Palestinians.
From its suburbs, occupied Jerusalem is under threat, with a light rail system shunning Palestinians areas and only servicing enclaves of Jews loyal to and supported by the powers of occupation. Its city buses operate an apartheid-inspired network, shunning Palestinians riders.
The homes that have sheltered generations of Palestinians are deemed to be illegal, lacking paperwork to satisfy the bureaucratic minions that serve the occupying administration; wells that have provided water to those Palestinians too are deemed unsanitary; olive groves that have proudly stood for centuries are cut down; and dwellings bulldozed after homeowners dared to raise a finger or a voice against the wrongs and injustices.
At mosques, loudspeakers have been silenced, not fitting with the sounds of an occupying power deaf to the world’s angry voices speaking in unison against the Israeli occupation.
In alleys worn smooth by the footsteps of all faithful for millennia, only Hebrew signs are now permitted. And now the latest crime: 140,000 Palestinians are to be forcibly removed from the city to reinforce the Israeli occupation.
Israel’s acts are illegal, its policies discriminatory, its reasoning flawed, its history blind, and for 50 years has done as it pleased. How much longer should Palestinians endure such indignities? And who now will right the wrongs of occupation?
