Umm Muhammed Umar

Disturbing and unprecedented scenes took place at al Quds yesterday, when the State of Israel marked what it calls Jerusalem Day. This marks the day that it took control of the eastern part of al Quds, Jerusalem, in 1967. Radio Islam spoke to Hafidh Ebrahim Moosa, on the Palestine Report.

Hafidh Ebrahim said that the Israelis incorrectly call this day ‘Reunification’, meaning the day that they had unified the western part of Jerusalem (which they captured in 1948) with the eastern part, of Jerusalem, including the Old City and Masjidul Aqsa (1967). He said, “The fact that this is an event that is marked annually, with such pompousness and obviously assertion of Israeli sovereignty,  through the flag March, when thousands turnout in the Old City of Jerusalem waving Israeli flags, gives a sense that this is an open wound for Palestinians, adding insult to injury.” He added, “marking it with such pompousness comes on the back of the apartheid policies, the house demolitions, the evictions, and the changing of the character, which is difficult part of daily life for Palestinians, of the city of Jerusalem.” Hafidh Ebrahim explained that marking this with a festival of hate is something that makes this all the more obnoxious for Palestinians, “one has to see the kind of behaviour, the kind of words and slogans that were shouted, and are typically shouted each and every year, during this flag match.”  He said that once again the Prophet of Allah (Peace be Upon Him) was cursed, there were slogans commemorating Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Akleh’s death, slogans condemning Arabs to death, and further, pepper spraying of an old Palestinian woman in the face, and spitting in the faces of Palestinian onlookers. A settler youth grabbed and stole the phone of a journalist who was documenting the events nearby. Settlers also descended on the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, smashing car windows, overturning goods in shops and setting vehicles alight. Hafidh Ebrahim said, “They even mocked the dhikr of ‘Allahu Akbar’, which Palestinians read in the face of settler violence.

According to Hafidh Ebrahim the Israeli police do not concentrate on those committing the crimes. There was a campaign of mass arrests of Palestinians, and many injuries amongst Palestinians. Of great concern was the incursions inside Masjid Al Aqsa. Hafidh Ebrahim said that an Israeli report read that something like 2600 Israeli settlers had trespassed Masjidul Aqsa, and what was totally unprecedented was the huge scale of flags Israeli flags that were waved inside the Masjid. He said that the Israeli police gave space for that to occur. He added, “And for the first time since 1967, so many settlers had done full prostrations openly inside Masjidul Aqsa, with no haste at all.” The status quo of Al Aqsa as a Muslim owned place of worship was now totally tested.

Hafidh Ebrahim said that Marwan Beshara, Al Jazeera senior political analyst, made a telling observation, saying that the scenes from Jerusalem are telling of the future generation of Israel and should raise serious concerns for future peace and security. He said, “This is a generation of indoctrinated young Israelis, taught to hate the Palestinians and hate the Arabs, almost genocidal in their education and upbringing.” He added, “They want to take over all of Historic Palestine and they want to push out the Palestinians and they believe that all of a Historic Palestine is theirs.” Hafidh Ebrahim noted that the fact that the State of Israel has to expend so much military might, and go through much decision making and planning, just to have an event to fly its own flag, in the place that it calls its own capital, tells us who is really in control, and that it seriously does not have serenity over a place that it claims for itself.

Separately, the al Haqq Centre, a Palestinian human rights organization, has released a report with forensic details, called the Khudayr Warehouse – Israel’s Chemical Attack on the Gaza Strip. The investigation examines Israel’s targeted attack of the warehouse during the last Israeli major incursion and war on the Gaza Strip, which took place in 2021. On the May 15^th 2021, on the first day of the Israeli offensive, the Israeli Air Force attacked the agrichemical warehouse located in the northern Gaza Strip, in Beit Lahia – the largest warehouse for agricultural support supplies in the Gaza Strip. It contained about 50% of the agricultural supplies of the entire Gaza Strip, which meant that it was particularly vital for farming within the Gaza Strip. The artillery that was used by the Israelis set fire to hundreds of tons of pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, and other farming materials, creating a toxic cloud that enveloped a large part of the Northern Gaza Strip. The investigation found that the Israeli occupation forces attacked the warehouse knowing full well that there were toxic chemicals contained in it, and that the type of weapons used had been to exacerbate the fire, and so was tantamount to chemical weapons being used by indirect means. Hafidh Ebrahim said, “such acts are clearly prohibited and prosecutable as chemical warfare under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”