In the past week, Israel Invade Enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and continue to attack Sheikh Jarrah near occupied East Jerusalem, and Israel’s brutal military offensive Many Palestinians lost their lives in the blocked Gaza Strip.

However, an extraordinary phenomenon has also taken root in Israel, where thousands of towns, villages, and so-called “hybrid” cities Palestinians have taken to the streets to defend themselves in a state of being Jewish. Identity.

“It is worth noting that within 48 years [modern-day Israel, with reference to the 1948 declaration of the state]”Palestinians who have long been neglected or regarded as’Israeli Arabs’ once again forcefully reaffirm that they are Palestinians,” said Layla Hallaq, a Palestinian activist based in Haifa.

Harak told Al Jazeera that the current demonstrations are “unprecedented” and are characterized by a general solidarity movement among Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the scattered Palestinians.

“Their protest is not only solidarity, but also one of the common cause and common suffering of every Palestinian.”

Palestinian citizens in Israel make up about one-fifth of the Israeli population, and today there are about 1.6 million people.

Unlike most Palestinians, Ethnic cleansing These Jews were formed by the Zionist paramilitary forces before and at the beginning of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. They were the descendants of internally displaced persons who managed to stay in their towns and villages.

Regarding their position in the territory that was forced to take over to establish the State of Israel, they are sometimes referred to as “1948 Palestinians.” Regarding the delimitation of Israel from the Occupied Palestinian Territory under its control, the territory has also been described as “within the green line”.

Despite having Israeli citizenship, human rights organizations still record on file Dozens of Israeli laws discriminate against Palestinian citizens on a wide range of issues including education, housing, political participation, and due process. They are considered second- and third-class citizens.

Mass protest

In the past week, Palestinian protests have occurred in towns across Israel, from the Naqab (Negev) desert in the south to Ramla, Jaffa and Lid (Lod in Hebrew) in the middle of the country. , And then to the “triangle” area and the northern part of Haifa and Nazareth.

Demonstrators support Palestine Sheikh Jarrah’s familyHe is about to face displacement and opposes Israel’s fierce attack on the Al-Aqsa compound, which has injured hundreds of Palestinians.

This is not the first time that Palestinian citizens of Israel have protested against Israeli policies.

In 1976, six Palestinians were shot and killed for protesting against Israel’s mass expropriation of land. Land day And a commemorative event is held on March 30th every year. In October 2000, there were 13 Palestinians Shot When they were led by the then Prime Minister Aliel Sharon (Aliel Sharon) visiting the Al-Aqsa compound and sparking the second uprising.

Israel has historically pursued a policy of dispersing the Palestinian population under its control within and within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which makes it more difficult to maintain a sustained solidarity among the Palestinians in various areas of Palestine with a long history.

But experts say that ongoing protests within Israel show how the Palestinians are actually connected.

Nimer Sultany, a public law reader at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, told Al Jazeera: “Recent events have not only highlighted the unity of the colonial oppressive system, but also the unity of the Palestinian struggle. Sex.”

“Just like in previous rounds of protests, for example, in October 2000, the Palestinian demonstrators in 1948 actually demonstrated the necessity and practicality of the anti-colonial struggle.”

The picture shows a car and a garbage container burnt down in Rhodes City on May 13 [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

“Colonial Objectives”

Sultani said that Israel’s peacekeeping policy Jewish majority The population within the Green Line is no different from the demographic projects in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where they work to remove Palestinians from their lands and impose It’s the existence of Jews.

“In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, there are as many colonial goals of maintaining’Jewish population control’ or’Jewish sovereignty’ and Judaizing Palestine as there are Naqab (Negev), Jalil (Galilee), and’mixed cities’ “There are triangles,” he said.

An example is the city of Lid, a city about 25 kilometers away from Tel Aviv, which has now become a flashpoint for protests. The city used to be inhabited by 19,000 Palestinians before Israel was established, but in July 1948 most of the residents were racially purged. More than 200 people were killed in the massacre. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin participated in the massacre.

Lid’s population today is 77,000, 30% of whom are Palestinians. For many years, Palestinian residents have complained about institutional racism, which has exacerbated marginalization and poverty.Hardline Jewish settlers have also moved in from the occupied West Bank Since 2004, Contributed to the tension.

On May 11, at the funeral of Mousa Hassouna in the central city of Lid near Tel Aviv, Palestinian citizens of Israel gesturing and waving the Palestinian flag. [AFP]

May 10, due to tensions upgrade In East Jerusalem, Israel plans to expel Palestinian families and attack the Al-Aqsa. A Palestinian flag was posted on the Luther lamppost to replace the Israeli flag in Lid. That night, a Palestinian resident named Moussa Hassouna was shot and killed by Jewish settlers. The settlers attacked his funeral the next day.

Violent confrontation continued, and tough Jewish settlers arrived from the occupied West Bank.

Mayor Yair Revivo has been close to Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after being accused of inciting charges against Palestinians. He said last week that he had lost his view of the city. control. On May 11, Revolvo met Netanyahu, who subsequently declared a state of emergency in Lydd, the first time since 1966. At least 16 Israeli border police forces have also been deployed.

Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Saturday night: “The Jewish state will not tolerate the massacre of our citizens.” “We will not allow our Jewish citizens to be lynched… At the same time, we will not allow Jews to lynch the law. Take it in your own hands and attack innocent Arabs.”

Settler violence

However, although the Israeli police said that a suspect in the murder of Hassouna had been arrested, the Israeli Minister of Public Security Amir Ohana requested that the shooter be released.

“The arrest of the gunmen among Lord and his friends, they were obviously doing self-defense, which is terrible,” Ohana (Ohana) Say. “A law-abiding citizen with arms is a force multiplier for the authorities to immediately eliminate threats and dangers.

Hassouna’s Lydd neighbor Fadi Abu Kishek told Al Jazeera that the settlers came from outside the city, “burning Palestinian cars, attacking mosques, destroying our cemetery, and marching in areas where Palestinians live”.

These mobs are made up of right-wing fascist groups such as Lehava, Hilltop Youth and football superstars La Familia and Beitar Yerushalayim, and sometimes Israeli residents from other cities also join in.

“The settlers instigated and attacked, the Palestinians defended themselves, [and] The police rushed to the scene and started throwing bombs and arresting Palestinians,” he said. “This is the reality we are dealing with. “

Jamal Abu Kasher, a resident of Lydd, looks at one of several ruined graves in a Muslim cemetery on May 14, 2021 [Heidi Levine/AP Photo]

Other cities have witnessed attacks by mobs of Jewish settlers, some of whom marched in the streets under the protection of Israeli police, yelling “Death to the Arabs.”

In the city of Bat Yam in central Israel, Lynching mob brutally In a scene broadcast by a Palestinian man on Israeli national television, videos and images shared on social media showed attacks that destroyed Palestinian houses and homes and attacked their homes in Haifa and Acre (acres). children. When the Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of the Yafa Ajami community, two Palestinian children also suffered severe burns.

Adalah, the Israeli Legal Center for Palestinian Citizens, reports that far-right Jewish Israelis have used social media to organize attacks in recent days, and they have sent messages to each other saying that they “died as a result of killing Palestinians.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed shock at the violence in Israel.

“I am particularly concerned about reports that the Israeli police have failed to intervene in violent attacks on Palestinian citizens in Israel. Far-right groups are using social media to gather people carrying’weapons, knives, sticks, and hockey weapons” against Israelis. Palestinian citizen”, Bachelet Say.

Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian house in Jerusalem #Jaffa yesterday. The Palestinian child in the house was severely burned.

Settlers groups roamed the streets of occupied cities and villages, calling for attacks on Arabs.pic.twitter.com/4sMPT7uIIY

-Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) May 15 2021

At the same time, according to lawyer Janan Abdo, at least 800 Palestinian citizens of Israel, including dozens of minors, were arrested within a week. Abdul said in a statement: “Many of the detainees need medical treatment and have suffered a lot of head injuries.”

The “lie” of coexistence

Both Harak and Sultani refused to describe the continued violence as “inter-ethnic conflict”, saying that this expression does not recognize the power imbalance between Israel as a colonial power and the colonized Palestinians.

Harak said: “What we have witnessed in the past week is the natural response of people who have faced occupation, oppression, siege and discrimination for 73 years.” “These are state-sanctioned systematic and racist attacks against the Palestinian minority within Israel. “Sultani added.

For Abu Kishek, a resident of Lydd, Israel’s suppression of recent protests has brought the oppression of Palestinians throughout the historic Palestinian area into the focus of attention and deprived the so-called The appearance of “coexistence” in “hybrid” cities. Inside Israel.

Watch: When Israeli police visited Ramli, Israeli Jews and Palestinian drivers threw stones at the car together. pic.twitter.com/Czhc0TcEOg

-IMEU (@theIMEU) May 15 2021

He said: “This coexistence slogan is aimed at the West and is absolutely a lie.”

“Israel has misappropriated the past, present and future. They treat us as if we should thank them for allowing us to live here on this land.”