It has been 10 days now since the administration of United States President Donald Trump ripped up conventional thinking and poured petrol over Palestine by declaring occupied Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. And on Friday, the very real and tragic consequences of this misjudged, misguided, miscalculated and mistaken move was evident in four families that were mourning their loved ones — killed by occupation forces as they protested this unsavoury and erroneous decision.
The four Palestinian martyrs were gunned down by occupation forces in a series of clashes across the divided land, and at least another 150 Palestinians were injured in the inevitable and anticipated venting of anger over the Trump move. There has been no let-up in the level of rage expressed by Palestinians at this provocative policy decision, one that only feeds the needs of the Israeli regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rabble of right-wing rabbis. What’s more, the protests will only continue and the violence will escalate as Palestinians rail against this wrong.
The international community has rightly castigated the Trump administration for its miscalculation, the fulfilment of a purely political promise that flies in the face of history, heritage, seven decades of diplomacy, international agreements and accords, and runs contrary to a raft of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The deaths also come at a time when US Vice-President Mike Pence is visiting Israel and Palestine. That is a visit that has been reduced to shambles as Palestinians rightly withdraw from previously arranged meetings and engagements. Pence too has been shunned by Palestinian Christians and the Coptic church, a reminder of the long and deep multi-religious sensitivities that ought to prevail in a land where three great strands of faith are woven into a rich tapestry of history. That social fabric now has been ripped by this egregious slight to Muslims and Christians alike, one that only serves the need of the Netanyahu regime and the Jewish lobby in New York and Washington.
There is a sad reality too now that these protests must continue until the rights of all Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike, are recognised in a similar declaration, or that the White House administration reverts to the previous widely held view of the diplomatic and international community. That reality means that the legitimate and just protests of Palestinians are met with bullets and paid in blood from occupation forces now emboldened by a grievous misstep in Washington.
