Normalization of relations has not benefited Palestinians

Bennett’s cabinet no different from Netanyahu’s

Tensions have risen in Palestine in recent days. After a few martyrdom-seeking operations were carried out in the occupied territories, Israeli forces stormed the Al-aqsa Mosque compound in midapril and arrested and injured a great number of Palestinians. The events happened while several Arab countries were normalizing their relations with Israel. Therefore, it seems that the normalization of relations has not benefited Palestinians in the slightest. On that, we had an interview with Mehdi Shakibaei, an expert in Middle East affairs. Shakibaei particularly follows the developments related to Israel. He maintains the Zionists know that the continuation of tensions is not in their favor.

What reasons are there for the recent escalation of conflicts in the occupied territories?

Two sets of reasons should be noted, one coming from within Palestine and the other coming from within the Zionist regime.

Exploring the sources found within Palestine, it should be pointed out that following Donald Trump’s statement in which he considered Al-quds to wholly belong to Israel, the Zionist regime has been directing its attention to the same issue for over a year now. Taking advantage of the situation, it has strived to slowly Judaize the Al-aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and finish laying the groundwork for the ultimate goal of total integration of Al-quds for Jews. This policy provoked and enraged Palestinians not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank, the Al-quds Governorate, and the 1948 occupied territories.

That’s why we are now witnessing the escalation of public protests which reached a peak in May 2021 when the Israelis decided to force the evacuation of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and leave it in the hands of Jews. The resistance of residents, along with protests in support of the resistance forces in the Gaza Strip, culminated in the Saif al-quds Battle where the Zionist regime suffered a hefty loss in terms of security. Despite achieving a cease-fire agreement, the popular protests continued after the battle. In return, the Zionist regime has sought to continue the Judaization of Al-quds far from the prying eyes of media to this day. Now, it is pushing for the temporal and spatial division of the Al-aqsa Mosque compound between Muslims and Jews, just like it did with the Ibrahimi Mosque 20 years ago. This is the first step for Zionists for integrating Al-quds. These things caused Palestinians to sort of be on high alert, and now that the Israelis have ratcheted up the pressures, the resistance and conflicts have grown within Palestine, too.

On the Zionist side, however, it can be said that the regime has suffered a great security disaster. The resistance groups landed heavy blows to the face of the regime. They passed through every distinct security system and targeted critical points within districts such as Tel Aviv and Haifa and the surrounding areas of the Dimona nuclear facility.

This has shocked the Israelis and forced them to make up for the disgrace in some way. Therefore, while the Israelis were mounting their pressure on the resistance movement in the Gaza Strip and further encircling the West Bank, they turned to normalizing their relations with some Arab countries as well. At last, a meeting was held a few weeks ago in the occupied Naqab (Negev) region attended by the foreign ministers of some Arab countries in order to publicize the matter of normalization, put Palestinians under more political and diplomatic pressures, and encourage more Arab countries to normalize their relations.

At the same time that the meeting was in order, however, a martyrdom-seeking operation was carried out successfully in Tel Aviv, a city that has numerous security layers. The operation as well as other such operations that were launched during those days disgraced and dealt a huge blow to the security of Zionists. To cover up the disgrace, the Zionists fell back on their trusted method of recent decades, arresting and beating the protesters and desecrating the Al-aqsa Mosque.