Alwaght- The third Palestinian Intifada has entered its sixth week with no signs of abating. Palestinians are continuing to confront the occupation and settlers using minimalist weapons but unlike the first Palestinian uprising which broke out in 1987 against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip which saw stones throwers become the symbols of resistance, Palestinians have changed the means to the same end. Instead of picking up stones and hurling them at the Israeli killing machines, Palestinians have taken up a more efficient approach and that is knifing their enemies when they least expect it.
Since October 1, Israeli regime forces or settlers have killed 69 Palestinians - including unarmed protesters and alleged attackers - across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip.
Nine Zionists have died in stabbing incidents in the same period.
The wave of stabbing operations was a result of spontaneous combustion within the Palestinian territories where rage and frustration have been accumulating over the years and were exacerbated by the latest war on Gaza, the continuing illegal settlement expansion policy, the failure of the so-called peace talks, and the persistent desecration of the holy al-Aqsa mosque.
In an opinion article published on CNN, Yousef Munayyer wrote against PA President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of his speech at the UN General Assembly: “For the first time in recent memory, a majority of Palestinian respondents, 51%, oppose a two-state solution, with 48% supporting it. This is because, as the same poll notes, 65% believe that the two-state solution is no longer practical because of Israeli settlement expansion.”
He went on to say: “No one has a better understanding of what Israeli settlements mean for the prospects of Palestinian statehood than the very Palestinians living next to them. Yet what is most needed today is sorely lacking, namely a reframing of Palestinian strategy.”
For years, Palestinians have been killed, detained, beaten, tortured, humiliated, and deprived of basic human right in the shadow of the Israeli occupation and under the auspices of the so-called international community.
As a result anger has been boiling for an equivalent number of years. It so happened that in October 2015, the volcano of sweltering grievances erupted spewing waves of wrath.
What has been dubbed as the third Palestinian Intifada is the natural human reaction to the Israelis’ inhumane actions. The regime in Tel Aviv has committed crimes against humanity but has not been held liable for its atrocities.
This has activated public Palestinian fury regardless of political organizations. The latest movement has been prompted by individual Palestinians who decided to sacrifice their own lives to fight oppression and not by political organizations.
Attempts to exert pressure on Palestinian leaders to end the lone wolf operations will therefore lead to nowhere. Should proposals of reconciliation be presented to PA President Mahmoud Abbas or to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, they will unlikely bring about the expected results.
The reason would be that while it may be possible to suppress an uprising led by a political figure or group through threats or settlements, no power can conquer a nation’s resolve to liberate its homeland.
