Middle East Monitor / February 13, 2023
The Israeli security cabinet yesterday approved several measures against Palestinians, including strict military action in occupied East Jerusalem, local media reported.
Following its meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a series of measures aimed at suppressing Palestinian resistance were approved. They include the deployment of extra police and military troops in the occupied holy city along with “increased police operational activity against inciters and supporters of terrorism.”
“The security forces will act in a targeted manner against the perpetrators of terrorism,” Netanyahu said in reference to Palestinian resistance fighters.
The cabinet also legalized nine isolated Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu claimed that the decision, which listed the illegal outposts as Avigayil, Beit Hogla, Givat Harel, Givat Arnon, Mitzpe Yehuda, Malachei Hashalom, Asahel, Sde Boaz and Shacharit, came in response to a string of Palestinian “terror” attacks in East Jerusalem.
To legalize the settler outposts, the government will have to prove that they were established on what Israel considers to be “state land”.
According to The Times of Israel, this will likely be difficult given that many of them, including almost all of Sde Boaz and Givat Harel, were built on private Palestinian land.
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PA justice ministry warns about Israel targeting Jerusalem
Middle East Monitor / February 13, 2023
The Palestinian ministry of justice in Gaza warned on Sunday that the Israeli occupation authorities are targeting the occupied holy city of Jerusalem. The ministry pointed out that any aggression on the city “amounts to a flagrant violation” of international law.
Threats by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to carry out a military offensive in the occupied city similar to the 2003 Israeli attack on Jenin — so-called “Operation Defensive Shield” — were cited by the ministry.
The Israeli cabinet approved yesterday a series of military measures against the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, including reinforcements for the military police.
“Israeli threats against the city of Jerusalem and its Palestinian residents are flagrant violations of international laws and conventions which ban occupation powers from attacking civilians, endangering their lives or destroying their property,” explained the ministry. It called upon the international community to intervene immediately to thwart Israeli plans to target the Palestinians in the occupied holy city.
Ben-Gvir’s threats and the Israeli government’s planned action are part of a demographic battle to Judaize the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim city of Jerusalem, said PA officials. The justice ministry called for support for the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem so that they can remain resilient and steadfast in the face of Israeli threats and aggression.
