Over the past few days, Israel has seen an upsurge of violence: first isolated and unprovoked Arab attacks on ultra-Orthodox Jews, and worshippers returning from Ramadan services clashing with police in Jerusalem’s Old City. Then a Jewish extremist group marched through the city, waving banners reading “Death to Arabs,” and attacked an Arab home—after which Arabs began to riot. Not to be left out, Hamas and its affiliates have resumed the violent protests at the Gaza border fences, and fired dozens of rockets and mortars at villages in southern Israel. Khaled Abu Toameh explains what Palestinian leaders, focused on the upcoming elections for the Palestinian parliament, have to gain:
The Palestinian factions, . . . specifically Fatah and Hamas, seek to use the issue of Jerusalem as a distraction from the internal problems and challenges they are increasingly facing on the eve of the elections.
Israeli authorities . . . evidently underestimated the calls made by the factions and their leaders over the past few weeks to turn Jerusalem into a battlefield for “constant clashes” with the Israeli security forces and “settlers.” . . . The demonstration organized this past Thursday by far-right Jewish activists outside the Old City was used by the leaders of Fatah, [which governs the West Bank], as an excuse to escalate the violence. It was portrayed by the Fatah leadership as part of an attempt to “storm” al-Aqsa Mosque and the homes of eastern-Jerusalem residents.
The issue of Jerusalem is of significant importance to the Palestinian Authority and Fatah leaders, particularly in light of accusations that they have done almost nothing to assist [its] Arab residents or “thwart Israeli conspiracies” against the city and al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hamas and the Gaza-based factions, meanwhile, are also trying to cash in on the Jerusalem riots ahead of the elections. The rockets fired into Israeli territory over the weekend were aimed to show the Palestinian public that these factions are also involved in the “battle” against Israel in Jerusalem. . . . Like Fatah, Hamas is also hoping to use the issue of Jerusalem as an excuse to divert attention away from its failed governance and policies.
Read more on Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/fatah-hamas-use-jerusalem-unrest-to-deflect-attention-from-own-problems-666228