Written by: Ahmed Siam 

Most importantly, those who do not believe that the city of Jerusalem is experiencing its worst condition since it fell under the British occupation in 1917 and was subjected, like the rest of the land of Palestine, under the authority of its mandate, as it is subjected to the most horrific campaign of Judaization that has affected stones, people and trees, and an occupation that spares no effort in harnessing the situation to its advantage and recruiting supporters and local and international Zionist funds to achieve His dreams that he had always had in the Holy City, which were based on Jewish religious principles and Zionist ideology. 

At the core of this campaign is the targeting of Islamic and Christian holy sites, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the great Zionist dream of imposing complete control over it, demolishing it, and silencing the voices of takbeer that emanate from it daily to remind the world of the conspiracies and dangerous targeting that surround it, and erecting the alleged temple on its ruins, God forbid. Then move to the Christian sanctities to silence the voices of the Resurrection, whose bells have not stopped ringing the sad songs of love and peace since it fell under the grip of the Israeli occupation, based on the false Jewish-Zionist ideology, based on obliterating any Islamic-Christian dimension in the Holy City and denying the other. 

Not far from this is the stifling economic measures practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities on the Jerusalemite citizen in particular and the Palestinian in general, and the restrictions imposed on him to limit his demographic expansion in Jerusalem and thus push him to think about voluntary migration from the land of his fathers and grandfathers, in addition to attempts to replace the deep-rooted Arab culture, obliterate history and geography, and Israelize. Education and many arbitrary measures aimed at expanding the circle of the Judaization process, and in between these attempts to penetrate the social and societal structure and disrupt society by creating internal and sectarian strife and problems and sowing them among the people of one people. 

On the other hand, on the Palestinian side, the voices - official and popular - did not remain silent calling for Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the future independent Palestinian state, and the necessity of confronting the occupying Israeli measures, but without significant resonance or practical measures on the ground and without clear and direct financial or political support, and the Jerusalemite citizen He often finds himself alone in the battle to defend dignity that he is waging on behalf of more than a billion Arabs and Muslims. Perhaps the events that the Holy City witnessed in recent years and the heroic response of the Jerusalemites in defending Al-Aqsa Mosque and the rest of their sanctities and their presence were without any significant support or references despite the presence of Some historical and religious symbols, whose presence and interaction had a positive impact on the popular decision to confront the occupation measures, created a feeling among the people of the Holy City that they were without a father or shepherd to follow up on their concerns, and orphans at the table of meanness, especially since there are figures who consider themselves symbols but are new to the struggle reality. Without a historical dimension, it was absent from the Jerusalemite scene at the time, and it can be said that this feeling began to manifest and appear in public after the martyrdom of the Emir of Jerusalem, Faisal al-Husseini (Abu al-Abd), may God have mercy on him, who was a popular incubator for all Jerusalemites that the people of Jerusalem lacked until this moment. 

After the absence of Faisal Al-Husseini, and after him the symbolic martyr Yasser Arafat, who used to give Jerusalem the highest priority, and from him, may God have mercy on him, he quoted a famous phrase that he always repeated, the content of which revolved around (he bought Jerusalem fifty times!!) and since then the clouds gathered in the sky of the Holy City, and the cells accelerated. The cancer of the occupation settlement is expanding between its folds and ends, and the multiplicity and diversity of its workers, raising resonant slogans that Jerusalem is Arab and the eternal capital of the Palestinian state and it is necessary to give priority to the supreme national interest, but without real evidence on the ground, which created a form of national and functional chaos, and facilitated the process of evasion. From the responsibility, each side hurls its accusations at the other, which makes the central issue lose its importance and facilitates the Judaization procedures for the occupation and its agents, not to mention the occupation’s threats to some activists active in Jerusalem with arbitrary punitive measures against them if they carry out their activities, which has placed them in the cycle of surrender to the fait accompli, weakened national action and created a gap. Between the citizen and those who call themselves a leadership or authority, and vacating the arena for the occupation and its aides, who do whatever they want against the city and its residents, in addition to the scarcity of resources spent on Jerusalem, which do not meet the minimum urgent needs compared to Israeli budgets. 

It can be said in light of the above that the Israeli occupation has succeeded to a great extent in seizing control of Jerusalem and is on the verge of undermining Palestinian action in all its forms to achieve its dreams, limit the Arab presence, and penetrate the internal front of the Palestinians as well as the Arab front, with unparalleled American support, in particular. With former US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as a united and the capital of the so-called “State of Israel” and the subsequent agreements with Arab entities and normalization with them, leaving the Palestinians alone as usual, but this time in an explicit and public way and without shame or feeling of Arab affiliation and the common ties that unite them. Arab peoples. 

Which prompted the Palestinian leadership to look at the issue seriously and work to unify the Jerusalem authorities under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, despite the Israeli occupation restrictions on its work and the denial of mutual recognition agreements between the two sides. The Palestinian Central Council, in its 31st session, agreed to unify Jerusalem references within the framework of the Jerusalem Department of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and work to formulate a national strategy to confront the Israeli strategy, based on linking the Jerusalemite citizen to his national cause and responding to his needs in a way that serves thoughtful projects aimed at strengthening the steadfastness of Jerusalemites and their institutions with their various functions, and adopting a political, economic and social vision. And practical, financially supported plans to confront the policy of Judaization and annexation. 

One of the most important functions of this unified reference, according to what was agreed upon nationally - which was started immediately and the initial basic building blocks of it were laid - is to develop an agreed-upon national action program for struggle, far from theorizing and conferences that do not satisfy or relieve hunger, and which is based on the serious effort to provide The elements of support in all its forms and the strengthening of steadfastness in Jerusalem, foremost of which is embracing the young, committed struggle energies that confront the occupation and its brutal, arbitrary measures. This would also work to mitigate the repercussions of the occupation authorities’ retaliatory operations against the people of the Holy City, within a proactive counter-programme that limits targeting. The Israeli goal of Jerusalem, its holy sites, and its people, and the formation of a cohesive internal front with Jerusalem as its compass and serving the higher national interest, not factional or self-interests, and initiating a local, Arab, and international campaign warning of the occupation’s plans and attempts to obliterate Jerusalemite society, or assimilate it with the imported replacement culture without rights, or grant it incomplete rights in preparation for its removal. . 

The step taken by the Palestinian leadership is without a doubt very important and in the right direction, especially since it confirms the authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization, provided that it is absolutely serious in the issue of adhering to Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the state that it seeks in the truest sense of the word.

 But before that, the Palestinian leadership is required today more than ever, especially after the tendency of Israeli society to the extreme right, as was clearly demonstrated in the recent Israeli elections, to place the issue of Jerusalem and its people among the highest priorities, to mobilize local, regional and international forces and to expose the Israeli falsehood that international legitimacy has rejected in more than one year. Appropriate and emphasizing the Palestinian Arab presence in the Holy City and strengthening it by strengthening the steadfastness of the Jerusalemites. 

Above all, the leadership is called upon to make the best use of the outcomes of the recent Arab Summit held in Algeria, which emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian issue and the necessity of continuing efforts to protect and defend Jerusalem and its sanctities in response to attempts at Judaization and Israelization, through measures to change its demographics, its Arab Islamic and Christian identity, and the existing historical situation. Therefore, the leadership is required to control all other visions operating in Jerusalem that are tweeting outside the flock and are apparently not concerned with the Palestinian national decision according to what is clear from the atmosphere and are working alone, far from collective national action and without a clearly defined strategic plan, and even insisting on working otherwise. The decision is inconsistent with the supreme national interest of Jerusalem, does not give any importance to national considerations, and does not take the serious challenges facing the city of Jerusalem and its people seriously, for no purpose, except as it appears to conflict with the factional or subjective interests of these visions, which may expose the Central Council’s decision to its demise. Before his birth, and perhaps this is a golden opportunity that the leadership seizes to respond and miss the opportunity to the recent popular attempts calling for reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization and restoring its reputation as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arab people in all its places of presence, as the process of revitalizing the organization begins from Jerusalem. 

Here lies the impossibility of implementing the theory of unifying references in an integrated manner before controlling the matter centrally with the agreed-upon national vision within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which means returning the Jerusalem file to the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people as it was during the era of the late Faisal Al-Husseini, and resolving everything that conflicts with the Council’s decision. The Central Committee of Committees operating in and around the city of Jerusalem, preventing the formation of any committee that conflicts with the national decision, expanding the scope of work to include all actors and activists in the Holy City under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and preparing to confront the repercussions of the Israeli elections from the principle of defending existence and protecting the Palestinian future in the face of renewed ideological extremism. And on the rise in Israeli society.

 The conflict is entering a new phase that may be the most dangerous for Jerusalem and the national issue since the ill-fated Balfour Declaration. An open Talmudic war led by the terrorist “Ben Gvir,” the heir to the new Kahanism, which has come to represent the compass for the Israeli occupation and its upcoming racist right-wing government led by Netanyahu, who is known for his dogmatism and corruption, and may move to a war of liquidation and uprooting. And the eradication of everything that is Jerusalemite, Palestinian, Arab, and the expected open and fierce confrontation with the next fascist right-wing government will be a turning point in the future of Jerusalem in particular and the Palestinian issue in general, and it begins with unity, unification, union, and agreement on a national program to confront and confront the Talmudic Zionist project in all its manifestations. The threat and danger are existential in Its essence and results do not tolerate adventure, gambling, laxity, conspiracy, or machinations against others, because its repercussions will affect everyone without exception.