"Jerusalem the Red Line”

============================================

Twe
et

Follow @PalestinePlus

<

Palestinian armed resistance

Jerusalem

Hamas chief calls for massive armed resistance to protect it

By Stuart Littlewood

The other day Hamas’s political chief, Khaled Meshaal, criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) for “criminalizing armed resistance”.

He claimed that, by dropping the armed resistance option, Arab states and the PA had lost the ability to deter Israel and its never-ending violations.

He said that in Jerusalem Israel was trying to divide the sacred al-Aqsa in a first step towards demolishing it, and the regime was using the turmoil in the Arab world as an opportunity to sneak through this “taboo action”.

Apparently the Israeli authorities are going to impose some kind of “time-share” arrangement between Jews and Muslims for prayer at al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits on al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), the third holiest site in Islam. The Israelis are also said to be planning to build a synagogue there. The move has been called “an aggressive, advanced step that confirms Jewish designs on al-Aqsa Mosque at all levels”. Al-Aqsa is in the Old City, which is part of East Jerusalem and strictly speaking belongs to the Palestinians, not Israel. However, it is still under illegal Israeli occupation and control.

It is necessary, says Meshaal, to confront Israel’s plan to steal Jerusalem along with Al-Aqsa Mosque (and, of course, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and many other important places of worship in the Old City), but the PA’s slavish collaboration with the Israelis on security undermines the resistance option. “We need to take a clear stance, Jerusalem is a Red Line. Jerusalem is the soul of the cause.”

All factions must agree, Meshaal added, on a unified strategy and a unified goal to liberate and protect Jerusalem. “Our only path to liberation is resistance, and saving Jerusalem.”

Earlier in the year Meshaal declared that Hamas would change its spots and switch from armed resistance to popular uprising, Arab-Spring-style. On another occasion he said that although he considered armed resistance to be an essential element, it was a means not an end. There were other options available through diplomacy, media and charging the enemy to pay for his crimes.

The right to resist

So what are we to believe from these apparent contradictions ? Is armed resistance for real ?

Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, explained the position on resistance back in 2000 :

Palestinian resistance to occupation is a legally protected right. For 33 years, Israel has administered a military occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in consistent and relentless defiance of the overwhelming will of the organized international community.

The international consensus has been expressed through widely supported resolutions passed by the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations (hereafter UNSC and UNGA). UN resolutions 242 and 338 affirmed the legal obligation of Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories obtained in the 1967 Six Day War. This must be the end point of any peace process that can bring lasting peace. Until such time as Israel respects this obligation, the relevant principles of international law are contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (12 August 1949), in particular those provisions of the convention that require an occupying power to protect the status quo, human rights and prospects for self-determination of the occupied people, and oblige all signatories to enforce the convention in the face of “grave breaches”. Since 1967 and during the current uprising, Israel has refused to accept this framework of legal obligations. Its refusal has been pronounced, blatant and undisguised. Not only has Israel failed to withdraw from the occupied territories, during the occupation Israel has “created facts” – heavily armed settlements, bypass roads and security zones in the midst of a future Palestinian state – that seriously compromise basic Palestinian rights.

Falk also provides a useful summary of the numerous UN legal directives and resolutions on Palestinian rights and Israeli duties in this long, dragged out conflict.

Writing 13 years ago, remember, he says :

In the absence of the political will to enforce the body of international law on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, resolutions and conventions cannot on their own bring justice to the peoples of Palestine and Israel. Equally importantly, the flagrant violation of international law daily accentuates the injustice to the Palestinian people, intensifies their suffering and cannot be ignored in any approach to conflict resolution. The severity of these violations, and their persistence and frequency, also establishes the foundation for an inquiry into whether an abusive structure of illegal prolonged belligerent occupation does not itself amount to the commission of crimes against humanity, beyond the specific wrongs alleged in relation to Geneva IV and international humanitarian law.