2023 SHAPING TO BE PEAK YEAR FOR ISRAEL-PALESTINE VIOLENCE

As the Israeli parliament potentially votes to limit their courts' power, the record-breaking fatalities of January and February 2023 remain an issue.

By Jake Austin, 3 March 2023

The BBC prepared a short showcase of destruction and violence caught on camera.

Since January first, sixty Palestinians and fourteen Israelis lost their lives violently, shedding new blood in a city already stained by centuries of unnecessary death. Compared to past years, this two-month stretch was more lethal than any comparable time frame in past years, according to United Nations trackers. The social and political forces driving this wave of violence endanger innocents as well as humanity's shared history, embodied both in the ancient buildings of Jerusalem's Old City and the natural landscapes scarred by debris and fire.

Two new movements are particularly concerning: the "break the wave" operation by Israeli police and the "Lion's Den" militant group of Palestinians. The Israeli police have taken more violent and direct approaches in their attempted capture of accused terrorists, including a Nablus-area raid where eleven Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops when violence sparked outside the building where the raid took place. In January, seven Israeli citizens were shot and killed when exiting a synagogue in East Jerusalem A similar attack conducted by radicalized thirteen-year-old boy killed two Israelis on the same day.

The issue in Israel gaining the most international attention at the moment is the Knesset's (Israeli parliament) potential reforms of the judiciary. Planned reforms include executive appointments of Supreme Court justices and limited ability for politicians to be prosecuted, prompting criticism of executive overreach. An attempted crackdown on a protest by Israeli citizens backfired, with general strikes spreading, including by Israeli military intelligence reservists who broke usual decorum to denounce the reforms and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The people are suffering, and clearly have cause to feel unsafe whether Israeli or Palestinian. Both the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority have a moral obligation to denounce all violence, but recent history shows that to be sadly unlikely. Perhaps it is because elements in both governments align with the same pro or anti-settlement feelings that drive the attacks. Only interpersonal, grassroots movement between people can create peace, breaking the fatal cycle between violence and uneasy truce. We at ONE are hoping to contribute to those working hard in those grassroots program, aligning our mission with our actions and, as always, involving you. Thank you for reading!

SOURCES:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64757995

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64810148

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/3/israel-kills-15-year-old-palestinian-shot-in-the-back