In Jerusalem, “Religious War” Is Used to Cloak Colonialism
Nur Arafeh
is the Policy Fellow of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, and
is a consultant at the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International
Studies at Birzeit University.Al-Shabaka
is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate
and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and
self-determination within the framework of international law.
Theescalating clashes between Israeli settlers and Jerusalemite
Palestinians are the harbingers of a major eruption with incalculable
consequences. Immediately billed as a “religious war” by the media and
Israeli right wingers, they are in fact the outcome of longstanding
Israeli plans to Judaize the city and empty it of its Palestinian
inhabitants. Nur Arafeh analyzes the major changes that
Israel has illegally imposed on Jerusalem and addresses the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO)/Palestinian Authority’s (PA) effective
abandonment of the population to fend for itself. She concludes with
policy recommendations to the PLO/PA, Palestinian academics and
analysts, and the international solidarity movement.
Israeli security forces in the occupied East
Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amoud, in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque
on Oct. 31, 2014. (AFP/Jack Guez, File)
Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amoud, in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque
on Oct. 31, 2014. (AFP/Jack Guez, File)
