The Institute for Middle East Understanding conducted the following interview with Ingrid Jaradat Gassner on the current situation in Jerusalem. Jaradat Gassner is the Coordinator of International Advocacy and Public Relations for the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem. The interview was posted on the IMEU site here.
Q – Tensions in Jerusalem, particularly in the eastern, occupied half of the city, have been extremely high since the summer. How would you describe the current situation?
IJG – “The current situation in East Jerusalem is one of acute political and inter-communal crisis. It is characterized by increasingly aggressive and provocative actions of Jewish nationalist-religious fundamentalist groups, and overt support by the Israeli government of these groups and their efforts to impose more Jewish settlements in the midst of Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City and to change the status quo and obtain (partial) control of the Al Aqsa (Noble Sanctuary) compound. The declared decision of the Israeli government to crush Palestinian protests by means of brutal force is reminiscent of Israel’s ‘iron fist’ and ‘breaking bones’ policy of the first intifada. This policy has resulted in a deep sense of insult and humiliation among all sectors of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian population, including among youth and the un-politicized.”
Q – What’s at the root of the current unrest?
IJG – “The root cause of the acute current crisis is the effort of all Israeli governments since 1967 to transform occupied East Jerusalem into a Jewish-Israeli city, through aggressive settlement expansion that has encouraged settler violence, and a myriad of policies that have deprived Palestinians of the basic elements of a dignified life, such as freedom of movement, having a home, family and income from work, and respect of their culture, heritage and religious sites. The more immediate causes of the current crisis are of course the events that have transpired since this summer, in particular the collective punishment of the Palestinian population, including mass arrests and severe movement restrictions that followed the abduction and murder of the three Israeli youth in the West Bank, the kidnapping and murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem, and the Israeli settler takeover of apartments in Silwan.”
Q – Some observers believe that a third intifada, or uprising against Israel’s occupation, is underway in Jerusalem. Do you think this is an accurate assessment?
IJG – “A renewed Palestinian popular uprising against Israeli oppression will happen only when protests spread beyond the limits of East Jerusalem and find the support of leadership that inspires and raises political demands which are an alternative to the status quo. These ingredients are currently not in sight.”
Q – Israeli authorities have recently announced severe measures they hope will quell the unrest, including passing a law that calls for prison terms of up to 20 years for stone throwing. Israeli police have also been targeting Palestinian children, arresting and holding dozens of minors for a month or more before facing trial. Do you think these attempts to suppress discontent will succeed?
IJG – “As already mentioned, this policy, which is reminiscent of the ‘iron fist’ and ‘breaking bones’ policy of the Israeli government in the first intifada, results in a deep sense of insult and humiliation, in addition to the usual oppression and daily hardship. In the absence of a Palestinian leadership that is willing and able to channel anger and humiliation into a political uprising, more Israeli repression is a recipe for more inter-communal violence by private individuals and groups, Palestinians and Israelis.”
Q – What will it take to calm the situation?
IJG – “A necessary first step would be a clear and strong diplomatic intervention by Jordan, the European Union and the United States, which ensures that the status quo in the Al Aqsa compound is respected by the Israeli government and that Palestinians have free access for worship. Jordan as guardian of the Al Aqsa compound, for example, would have to follow-through on its threat to suspend its agreements with Israel, and would have to be backed by the EU and the US. Subsequently, Israel’s powerful allies, in particular the US and the EU, as well as the United Nations, would have to adopt diplomatic and economic measures which make settlement expansion in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank too costly for Israel to proceed.”
Q – The US has been critical of recent settlement announcements in Jerusalem, but has refused to spell out any consequences for continued Israeli disregard for American concerns and policies. Do you think this lack of American resolve emboldens Israeli hardliners?
IJG – “Yes, of course. As long as Israeli politicians and the public will believe that there is no price to be paid for settlement expansion in terms of international relations and economic cooperation, settlement expansion will be supported by the Israeli public, political parties and governments.”
Thanks for this truthful interview.
It’s cogent, and one that I can pass along to the willfully uninformed and ignorant.
Thank you, Ingrid Jaradat Gassner.
In the US at least, this is a voice that we need to be hearing on NPR, This Week, Fox & Friends, the Washington Post, the CBS Evening News, the New York Times, Meet the Press or any of the other ways that most Americans get their news.
My guess is that framing the current violence in Jerusalem as the result of a long and ongoing plan of the Israeli Government just isn’t going to happen. Connecting the dots — especially where these particular dots lead — is the one thing that our major media outlets spectacularly fail at doing.
What will happen, if anything, are some juicy pictures of violence in isolation, and an attempt by our good friend Israel to defend themselves against rootless anger. It’s a pigeonhole just waiting to be filled in with some details. But not too many, of course.
There is a reason that Americans are so largely ignorant about both geography and history and why they are also so easily lead into supporting foreign misadventures.
Maybe I woke up extra pessimistic this morning; I’d really like to wrong about all this, but I don’t think I am.
I have yet to hear anyone in the zio media, mention that the ongoing violence stems primarily from the occupation, and that it is time the occupation must end. The words “occupation, blockades, and suffering of the Palestinians”, are NEVER heard nor discussed by the zio pundits.
It is as if they are all dirty words.
RE: “Root cause of current crisis is Israeli government effort since 1967 to transform East Jerusalem into a Jewish city”
MY COMMENT: This is yet another reason that Jerusalem must be made an ‘international city’ pursuant to General Assembly resolution 181 (II) November 29, 1947, which provides for the full territorial internationalisation of Jerusalem: “The City of Jerusalem shall be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime and shall be administered by the United Nations.”
Netanyahu recently made it clear (albeit speaking only in Hebrew) that as far as he is concerned there will never be a sovereign nation-state of Palestine in the West Bank (with, or without, E. Jerusalem as its capital). Consequently, unless Jerusalem is protected by virtue of its being made an ‘international city’ administered by the UN, it is just a matter of time before the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa mosque and numerous other historic sites come under existential threat as Israel’s radical, extremist nationalists (like Yehuda Glick and Moshe Feiglin of the Temple Institute) become more and more determined to completely “Judeaize” the city.
Let`s be honest about it (even if not politically correct) – there is indeed a deep desire and a concrete plan to make Jerusalem the capital of the (only) Jewish State. This is an integral part of the normalization of the Jewish people, which like all other nations, after millennia of being in exile and subject to horrendous experiences, now have a state of its own and a capital – the choice of which, given Judaism and Jewish history, cannot be but Jerusalem. This by no means excludes an Arab minority and a Christian role (with its holy places there) but the envisaged framework is the above. There is no need to be ashamed about it or deny it.