Ramallah - "

Bankruptcy and spinning in a vicious circle", this is how observers describe the recent Israeli measures against the Palestinian people, stressing that most of these measures are already applied, while others saw that they are trying to "appease the settlers."

Yesterday, Saturday, the Israeli cabinet approved a series of measures that the Palestinian Authority considered "collective penalties" in response to two shootings in Jerusalem, in which 7 Israelis were killed on Friday and Saturday.

Among the announced measures are the immediate closure of the house of the family of martyr Khairy Alqam, who carried out the Friday operation, "in preparation for its demolition", depriving the families of the perpetrators of national insurance, and withdrawing the identity cards of Jerusalem residents (resident identity) from the families of the perpetrators.

It also decided to accelerate and expand the granting of licenses to carry firearms to Israelis, to strengthen security measures in settlements, to strengthen the presence of the police and the army, and to launch campaigns to collect "illegal" weapons.

The decisions of the Israeli "Cabinet" come ahead of a visit to the region that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will start in Egypt today, Sunday, then Israel and the West Bank, and CIA Director William Burns continues his talks to stop the escalation between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates // The decisions of the Israeli cabinet are racist collective punishments that incite further escalation and violence https://t.co/Y25pUd4lGF

— State of Palestine - MFA (@pmofa) January 29, 2023

A security approach to a political file

In this context, political researcher Ashraf Badr says that what the Israeli government publishes is not all it decides, "because the military censor's scissors do not allow everything to be published."

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Badr believes that the punitive measures confirm that "the occupation government is standing still and using used tools, and it has no solution but to use a security approach to solve a political issue," adding that "as long as the occupation's actions continue, the Palestinian reactions will continue with them."

Badr says that the Israeli sanctions reflect "a state of rotation in a vicious circle through an approach based on the logic of violence and colonial power," suggesting that Israel will avoid escalation during Blinken's visit, so that the field situation does not affect the warmth of the US-Israeli relationship.

However, it is expected that field events will impose themselves on the ground "through the Israeli extreme right's attempt to appear as if it is not subject to international balances like other parties."

Yesterday, the Cabinet approved a series of steps aimed at combating terrorism.

With one hand, we will intensify the deployment and activities of the security services, and with the other hand, we will inflict a heavy price on the perpetrators of terrorist operations and their accomplices.

— Prime Minister of the State of Israel (@Israelipm_ar) January 29, 2023

bankruptcy

For his part, Jerusalemite writer Rasem Obeidat says that the Israeli measures are not new, and have already been taken against Palestinian Jerusalemite families.

Obeidat added in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, "I do not believe that there is anything fundamental in the cabinet's decisions, and everything that was mentioned is a systematic and permanent Israeli policy against our people, the basis of which is dealing with it and its resistance from the barrel of a gun, tanks and planes."

He added that a large part of the Israeli measures are already in place.

Such as the closure and demolition of the homes of the martyrs and the withdrawal of health and national insurance, referring to the withdrawal of the identities of 11 members of the Qanbar family in Jerusalem, after an operation for one of its sons in 2017.

Obeidat believes that the Israeli authorities have practiced and continue to practice deportation, such as the deportation of 3 deputies and a minister from Jerusalem after they won the Legislative Council elections in 2006, and finally the human rights activist Salah Al-Hamouri, who was deported to France last December.

Regarding strengthening the forces and supplying settlers with weapons, Obeidat said that this was implemented through the formation of the so-called "National Guard", which began to be mobilized after the attack on Gaza in the "Battle of Saif al-Quds" in August of last year.

The reproduction of punitive measures, according to the Palestinian writer, is tantamount to "announcing the bankruptcy of the Israeli government, and an attempt to appease the settlers and convince them that it provides them with security and protection, in light of the anxiety and fear they live in."

Obeidat expects that the region is on the verge of an escalation that may reach its climax during the month of Ramadan, which coincides with the last week of the Jewish holidays.

"This government wants to resolve the conflict through force, believing that regional and international conditions and the official Arab collapse are factors that provide it with the capabilities to quell the resistance and lead to a safe Ramadan," according to Obeidat.

The writer ruled out that the US efforts in the region would lead to the calm that it seeks to devote itself to other regional files.

The enemy closes the house of the martyr Alqam in occupied Jerusalem #Translation_Alhadhd


By a decision of the enemy's cabinet, "The Cabinet" The enemy forces surrounded the house of the martyr Khair Alqam in the town of Al-Tur in occupied Jerusalem with large forces and closed the house with iron sheets after expelling its residents from it.

The rest of the details.. https://t.co/4GnwhpFY39

- Hodhod (@hodhod_pal) January 29, 2023

The American administration is a partner

On the political level, the Palestinian leadership held today, Sunday, its third meeting within days, in which it discussed field developments and Israeli decisions, according to what Wasel Abu Yusef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Al-Jazeera Net.

Commenting on the Israeli measures - prior to the arrival of the US minister - Abu Youssef said that they are "not new and another attempt to break the will of the Palestinian people by a government that ignores all criticism and reactions of the international community."

He believed that the US administration "is a partner with the occupation in everything related to this escalation, because there is no administration that implements what it is talking about, and obliges the occupation to what could constitute a reality for change," as he put it.

Abu Youssef expected more escalation on the ground, considering that the decision to arm the settlers was "a license and a green light to carry out the killing."

And he stressed that without "sanctions against the occupation and obligating it to the resolutions of international legitimacy and stopping the escalation, the Israeli government will continue its crimes based on a program that denies even the existence of the Palestinian people."

He pointed out that the Palestinian leadership continued to implement several decisions it took last Thursday, according to 7 working mechanisms.

In a meeting last Thursday, the Palestinian leadership decided to stop security coordination with Israel, and to go to the International Criminal Court to add the Jenin massacre file to the previous files in which the occupation was involved, according to what was announced by the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

After four hours of meetings, the Israeli mini-ministerial council did not come up with any decisions that differed from the directives that the Zionist military operates on in the West Bank!


Israeli terrorism will not change, as there is not an inch left of the land of Palestine that has not been hit by Israeli terrorism.

- Dr. Fayez Abu Shamala (@fayez2013851) January 29, 2023