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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 31-Oct-2014
31-Oct-14 World View -- Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem

Web Log - October, 2014

31-Oct-14 World View -- Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem

U.S. foreign policy in further chaos as Israel's Netanyahu is slammed

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem
U.S. foreign policy in further chaos as Israel's Netanyahu is slammed

Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem

Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem (AFP)

Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem (AFP)

Tensions are rising sharply in Jerusalem after the Israeli government shut down all access, for the first time since 2000, to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, following Mecca and Medina. The Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas said that the move was "tantamount to a declaration of war."

Events have been moving quickly this week, following the announcement earlier this week on Tuesday by Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would plan for 1000 new settlements in East Jerusalem. There have been clashes between Palestinian activists and Israeli security forces.

The same site is also known as Temple Mount, and is the holiest site in the Jewish religion, because it's believed that buried underneath the Mosque are the remains of the Temple at Jerusalem. In 66 AD, the Jews in Judea began a rebellion against their Roman colonizers. The Romans massacred tens of thousands of Jews and destroyed the city of Jerusalem including, in 70 AD, the Temple at Jerusalem.

In 2000, then-prime minister Ariel Sharon went to Temple Mount and prayed there, infuriating the Palestinians, and triggering the "second intifada," the Palestinian uprising against the Israelis that lasted until 2005. A compromise was devised that would permit Jews to visit Temple Mount as tourists, but not to pray there.

So on Wednesday morning, a Palestinian activist shot and wounded Rabbi Yehuda Glick, an American citizen, who was leading a group of advocates to permit Jews to pray at Temple Mount again.

On Thursday morning, Israeli police stormed the home of Mutaz Hijazi, 33, the Palestinian activist accused of the attempted assassination of Glick. A gunfight ensued, during which Hijazi was shot and killed.

The shooting triggered fresh clashes in East Jerusalem, and prompted Gaza militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to call on Palestinians to begin a "third intifada."

The increasing violence prompted Israeli officials to close Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa mosque compound to everyone, Jews and Muslims alike. That act has triggered more violence, and triggered Abbas's claim that it was a "declaration of war."

Mustafa Barghouti, a senior Palestinian Authority official, issued a press release announcing that a third intifada was underway, and, in anticipation of the Muslim prayers on Friday, calling on the "Palestinian people as a whole to defend the Al Aqsa Mosque, the dignity of the Palestinian people, and their freedom."

Hoping to quell further violence on Friday, Israel has announced that Muslims will be permitted to return to the Al Aqsa Mosque on Friday prayers. However, only men over age 50 will be permitted to enter. Whether this will reduce the level of violence remains to be seen.

East Jerusalem has been the epicenter of increasing clashes between Palestinians and Israelis ever since the bodies of three Israeli teenage settlers were found weeks after they were abducted on June 10 by terrorists that Israelis believe were commissioned by Hamas. They were the subject of an extensive manhunt throughout the West Bank, during which hundreds of Palestinians, mostly members of Hamas, were arrested. Israel was shocked three weeks later, when the teens were found dead in a pit in the West Bank. There followed a spiral of violence that led to the Gaza war in July and August, and continuing clashes since then around Jerusalem. The National (UAE) and CS Monitor and Jerusalem Post and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

U.S. foreign policy in further chaos as Israel's Netanyahu is slammed

President Barack Obama and Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu viscerally hate each other -- this is well known. Also well-known is that the entire U.S. administration is bitterly hostile to Netanyahu, blaming him for all the ills in the Mideast.

Obama and John Kerry have had a foreign policy characterized by one humiliating failure after another. One of the recent disasters occurred in late July when Kerry submitted a 'peace proposal' for the Gaza War that met all the demands and talking points of Hamas (ending the "siege"), but did not address any of the security concerns of Israel (disarming Hamas). The proposal was so ridiculous that it made Obama and Kerry even more irrelevant in the Mideast than they already were.

And now anonymous administration officials are being credibly quoted as calling Netanyahu both "a chickenshit" and "a coward." The US administration have made themselves completely irrelevant in the Mideast. Since they're completely irrelevant anyway, why can't they just shut up? The Atlantic and LA Times

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 31-Oct-14 World View -- Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (31-Oct-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 31-Oct-2014 31-Oct-14 World View -- Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem

Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem

U.S. foreign policy in further chaos as Israel's Netanyahu is slammed

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 31-Oct-2014
31-Oct-14 World View -- Palestinians accuse Israel of 'declaration of war' as tensions mount in Jerusalem