The US administration was given an opportunity; a period of nine months that included negotiations and visits from American officials. However, those nine months have passed without any result, commented Palestine’s Al Quds newspaper. “Israeli colonisation and policies of Judaisation and displacement are ongoing. Any initiative or plan proposed by the US must first and foremost guarantee the end of colonisation and the cancellation of recently-approved projects. Without such assurances, any initiative or plan proposed by the US will be nothing more than a manoeuvre to deter Palestine from approaching international organisations to punish and hold Israel and its leaders accountable for crimes against the Palestinian people, and their land and rights. Such manoeuvres will certainly be rejected.”
During the recent Israeli assault on Gaza, which lasted 50 days, there was never any dearth of condemnations of the brutality of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Oman Tribune. “In the context of ... [colonies] also, the same has been the case. Due to this global indifference, over a period of time, Israel’s ... [colony-building] activity has only increased in the Occupied Territories. The other day, an Israeli official said that the government had decided to okay the planning for more than 1,000 new ... [colonist] homes in two [occupied] East Jerusalem neighbourhoods. This move has been condemned by many. But such condemnations and expressions of concerns have not given the Palestinians even an iota of solace. Of course, there has been no scarcity of support for them. But they have all been symbolic, like the recent House of Commons vote.”
What would happen if Israel destroyed Al Aqsa Mosque, UAE’s Al Khaleej asked. “This is not an imaginary question, rather it is now actually being asked by the Arab and Islamic world due to the Zionists’ persistent attacks against Al Aqsa Mosque in particular, and [occupied] Jerusalem in general. Deliberate acts of desecration are being committed on a daily basis against Al Aqsa Mosque, in addition to threats on partitioning the Al Haram Al Sharif or banning the entry of Muslims. These daily escalation in acts of desecration aim to touch the pulse of Arabs and Muslims. In 1969, Al Aqsa Mosque was set on fire by Denis Rohan, an Australian who was diagnosed as being ‘insane’. The occupation [forces], however, intentionally cut off water from areas surrounding Al Aqsa Mosque, as it was firefighters from Ramallah and Hebron who put out the fire. This incident was only met with condemnations and denunciations. So what is stopping Israel from destroying Al Aqsa Mosque, when it knows that Arabs and Muslims will only resort to condemnations? Current circumstances signify that such an act might occur at any time,” Al Khaleej concluded.
Looking at the situation through the prism of the so-called Arab Spring, Qatar’s Al Sharq said Israel was taking advantage of the unrest that is encompassing the Arab world. “Just recently, [the] Knesset’s Deputy Speaker, Moshe Feiglin, accompanied huge forces that stormed the Al Haram Al Sharif in a move meant to incite the Arab and Islamic people.”
