A political reading of the events in Jerusalem after the “March of the Flags” 

Written by Mazen Al-Jaabari|

What happened on Sunday, May 29, during the Zionist media march commemorating the occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967, is considered an important event in the development of the conflict and its consequences on the future of Palestinian work and the status of the city of Jerusalem in light of the continuation of the colonial project on the land of Palestine and on the internal Palestinian situation. .

An in-depth reading of the general scene of the day of the march requires returning for a full year to the events of the results of last year’s May Uprising, in which the Palestinians achieved gains that they had missed for many years, especially the revival of the unified national identity that is being divided, fragmented, dissolved, and divided due to political projects that aim to marginalize the Palestinian issue. The May Uprising is a return. Restoring the single national entity in historical Palestine and in the diaspora, and also extending the gift and manifestations of national resistance work to all Palestinian geography, especially in the territories occupied in 1948, which unified the Palestinian place in the national space and restored respect to the Palestinian constants, which is the Palestinian land, the gift of last May, the restoration of respect for resistance in all its aspects. Its mass and armed forms (the Battle of Saif al-Quds) gave strong hope for mobilizing the forces of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation in all the Palestinian territories and revived the adherence that resistance in all its forms is capable of restoring unity to the Palestinian people and is capable of eliminating liquidation political projects, especially Oslo with all its components, and that it will overcome the factional division of During the field unit of the Palestinian resistance.

Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, through the steadfastness and resistance of its residents with the Palestinians from the territories occupied in 1948, who have been involved together in the various rounds of conflict from 2014 until today, have made Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque the center and core of the current conflict between the Zionist project and the national project in light of the weakness that has befallen the Palestinian body due to the Oslo project and the division. Sectarianism, Jerusalem continued to raise the flag at the center of the current conflict and its centrality was consolidated and it took the lead in the scene and its leadership in the struggle against the occupation despite the occupation’s tyranny, strength, dominance and oppression. The Battle of Saif al-Quds last year added new equations to the above, especially the link between armed resistance and mass resistance work, and secondly, emphasizing the centrality of The struggle in Jerusalem by linking the Palestinian geography of resistance and breaking decades of fragmentation of the Palestinian space in order to undermine the Palestinian cause. This straight equation with Jerusalem imposed a new reality that had to be built on nationally and not sectionally to strengthen the comprehensive national project that is being liquidated.

The occupation entity did not accept the loss in Bab al-Amoud, Sheikh Jarrah, and Al-Aqsa Mosque, nor in the intervention of the armed resistance, especially the impact of all of this on its Judaization and racist projects in the city of Jerusalem, and what is most dangerous to its deterrent power, which has been eroded in the face of the Palestinian resistance, and thus the lack of a sense of security among the Jews in the center of Tel Aviv. This confusion prompted them to work by all means to reduce the gains of the Palestinians through sanctions, repression, arrest, more demolition and settlement, racist policies, and the displacement of entire neighborhoods in the city, and the most dangerous thing is to freeze its projects and plans to change the religious and historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque due to the steadfastness of the Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem.

The period leading up to the holy month of Ramadan this year was a period of preparations on both sides and a stage of finger-biting. The occupiers wanted to destroy the gains made by the Palestinians by recreating the scene with the intensification of the aggression. The Palestinians were preparing to preserve the gains they had achieved during a full year of sacrifice, and they realized the importance of Do not take away their achievements due to the enemy’s ability to quickly advance its projects in the city of Jerusalem.

The events of the month of Ramadan this year were a great loss in the progress of the enemy’s actions through military force, emptying the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by force, and bringing settlers into Al-Aqsa Mosque. The enemy recorded a gain in storming the Al-Qibli Mosque, arresting all the Al-Murabitun, and imposing his presence by force. This coercive scene does not at all cancel out the scene of the Al-Murabitun and the resistance fighters. Inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was present and present in the face of the enemy, it took steps of confusion, mass struggle, and isolation, in addition to using and intensifying the use of media in the intense round of conflict over the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

This part of the conflict was tried to be portrayed by some as a victory, and some tried to exploit it as a sectarian in the issue of raising the flags, and few treated it as a loss in an important round that could have been preserved if there had been general national action. And here began the fiery statements and threats and talk of red lines and the introduction of terms such as “Touch” and raise the ceiling of response in the event of resistance and deal with the conflict as a round of fixed events and there is no need to build on it, thus ignoring the laws of conflict. Our experience with this enemy is that it is a conflict and rounds in which there are no fixed rules and no permanent victories or defeats, and that scoring points is a stage that must be built upon and not stopped. Therefore, in general, this reflects the depth of Palestinian factionalism and division and a return to square one.

The funeral of the martyr Sherine Abu Aqla and Walid Al-Sharif during the current month constituted a qualitative transformation in the Palestinian presence and formed the basis for a tangible Palestinian revival after the events of the holy month of Ramadan. It gave a new impetus to the public resistance and the involvement of all Palestinians in Jerusalem under the Palestinian flag. It demonstrated the symbolism of the conflict by raising the flag, which has become As a symbol of identity and sovereignty, and in this round the Palestinians achieved new gains after their loss in the month of Ramadan, and it was possible to build on them to confront the march of the media, and in these moments of time, realism was transcended to emotion and factionalism in emphasizing constants and drawing endings that contradict the merits of the national conflict and are closer to the concept of States, not revolutions, and this brought the Palestinians and the Palestinian resistance into a crisis that could have been overcome if we had approached reality, been humble in our abilities, and stuck behind the masses who have proven to have a high level of awareness, responsibility, initiative, and creativity in confronting the occupier.

Two days before the media march, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz stated during his meeting with activists from his Kahol Lavan party, “Hamas will not fire rockets this time as it did last year.” Exciting statements, especially considering the Israeli government’s decision to move forward with the media march as planned. And like every year, the opposition and the Israeli street rallied around the decision, which is a consensus that the march has turned into a national and political issue of the first degree after everything that happened from the last Jerusalem gift to the period that preceded the media march. In my opinion, two factors must be considered to analyze the determined and strong Israeli position, firstly, that The media march has turned into a struggle on the brink of fire, and abandoning it will preserve the political gains that the Palestinians have achieved over the past year, which is that sovereignty over the land belongs to the Palestinians and that Jerusalem is an occupied and divided city, in addition to the importance of tearing apart the Palestinian space. The second political factor is an internal political issue, which is the restoration of the reputation and deterrence of the government. The current coalition is in front of the Israeli street, which has been eroded by individual Palestinian operations. Secondly, it is to show that the government is capable of achieving achievements through the media campaign, which Netanyahu was unable to achieve when he was forced to change its course last year. It is possible that there are other factors that the Israeli government had information that The Palestinian resistance will not fire rockets as it did last year, and this is the core of its position to move forward and seize the opportunity to overcome last year's losses.

The media march represented new gains for the occupation, first by overcoming everything that was prohibited in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque: collective prayer, raising Israeli flags, dancing, biblical singing, and the large numbers of intruders. On the level of the media march, which began since the afternoon of the previous Saturday, in the form of small groups of The settlers continued until dawn on Sunday, during which they attacked the Palestinians, prayed at the gates of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, sang, danced and provoked the Palestinians. This day was crowned with the great march, which exceeded 50,000 settlers under the protection of thousands of soldiers, and which reached Damascus Gate and the Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old City and included Attacks, insults, walking around all the streets of the Old City, and raising Zionist flags.

On the other hand, the Jerusalemites joined the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and tried to disrupt the raids. They were attacked and many were prevented from entering the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Palestinian flag was raised in all Palestinian neighborhoods, and the Palestinians organized a flag march on Salah al-Din Street, and the confrontations extended to all Palestinian neighborhoods despite the disappointment felt. The Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem are left alone.

Finally, the Palestinian arena is still captive to division and political projects, and this is what weakens it in the face of the main enemy. The issue of unity is a fundamental issue in the conflict and in the strategic context it is necessary to end the occupation. Factionalism is a force that reflects resistance and resistance and alternative mass action until field resistance is achieved and all efforts are dissolved in the public interest. This front is necessary for the cohesion of the conflict and resistance until it overcomes the current Palestinian political reality. It is also not necessary until it ends the factional division that broke the back of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people are able to overcome this through resistance and steadfastness with all available forms of struggle capable of overcoming the internal political impasse. Past experience With all its faults and mistakes, we must learn from them and overcome them. We are in an existential conflict that will not be resolved by a round or a battle. Jerusalem must have a say in the Palestinian decision because it currently constitutes within it centrality and the ability to continue. It has overcome internal weakness and is the spearhead of the conflict currently, and this authorizes it to lead and It has an impact on the national decision and is also the gateway to resurrecting the comprehensive national project again.