Israeli cabinet approves draconian measures to punish Palestinians

Ramallah: The Israeli regime has approved the call-up of 1,400 reservists with 850 already dispatched to cope with the growing tension in occupied Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli cabinet also approved draconian punitive measures such as home demolitions for those suspected of participating in protests as well as banning new construction, consfiscation of property and the revocation of permanent residency for families.

The cabinet also approved not to hand over the bodies of attackers killed to their families for burial.

Instead, the Israeli regime said it would bury the bodies of the martyrs in cemeteries within the territory of the Israeli regime.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation police and military forces started on Wednesday sealing off exits in Palestinian neighbourhoods of occupied East Jerusalem and points of friction with cement and road checkpoints.

Activists say exits of the Jabal Al Mukaber neighbourhood have been almost entirely sealed off with the exception of one single exit on which Al Yassam (Israeli Police Special Patrol Unit) set up a checkpoint.

Palestinians say occupation forces are already present everywhere in occupied Jerusalem, and there was no need to call up more reservists.

“Palestinian violence is natural reaction to Israeli violence. Israelis must take responsibility for their role in initiating the violence. They cannot stop the violence by more violence,” said Mazen Abu Qalbain, a Palestinian activists and spokesman for Al Murabiteen (Defenders of Al Haram Al Sharif).

“Collective punishment will only exacerbate tensions and anger,” he told Gulf News.

Abu Qalbain said that the closure the Israelis impose on the Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem and other imposed security measures clearly show that Jerusalem is not Israeli’s ‘eternal and undivided capital’, as the Jerusalem Awakening (Habat Al Quds) has forced the Israelis to face with the competing Palestinian claim for a capital in east Jerusalem.

“Jerusalemites have sent a strong and clear message to the Israeli occupation and Palestinian National Authority (PNA) that Israel should immediately suspend its escalation which, on the other hand, will just be confronted by Palestinian further escalation,” said Fakhri Abu Diyab, who heads Jerusalem Local Committee in Defense of Jerusalem (occupied).

“A real change in the Israeli behavior in Al Haram Al Sharif can actively play a role in calming the escalating tensions,” he told Gulf News.

“Israel still believes that deterrence can calm the situation and stop violence, but that did not work out and it ends up clear that the Palestinians are deterring the Israelis,” he said.

The Israeli regime has placed stringent restrictions on Muslims from accessing Al Haram Al Sharif, Islam’s third holiest site. Most recently, the regime banned Palestinian members of the Israeli Knesset from visiting the site. Despite promises to defy the ban, a planned visit for Wednesday was canceled.

Palestinians say the restrictions are a part of grand Israeli plan to Judaise occupied Jerusalem and erase any trace of Palestinian identity.