While the Arab World revolts, Israelis covet Jerusalem: mosques, Arab names and all
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Play Image 1 of 12: Mutual speeches Obama and Netanyahu or dueling speeches as they came to be known: these mirror speeches, following one another, seemed to be in avoidance of a face-to-face conversation that might actually develop a viable plan. Instead, both May addresses stayed non-committal.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: The Israelification of Jerusalem: an initiative from Knesset to make Hebrew the district names. Such that Sheikh Jarrah, Beit Hanina and Silwan or Raas ul il Amoud, would be appropriated with their Hebrew counterparts. I.e, Abu Dis village would be Kidmat Sahyoon, and Toor district - Tal Hannya.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: Arson attack on mosque near Ramallah defies any spirit of hope: the burning of a mosque early June by Israeli settlers put paid to hopes for revolutionized thinking. This attack followed the evacuation of an illegal settler colony as part of their payback, anti-government 'price-tag' campaign.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: That same day, Ultra-rthodox Jews trampled around the holy grounds of al Aqsa mosque in a provocotive statement to the worshipers and Palestinians, whereby they added salt to injury by brandishing bottles of liqueur which they consumed on the sacred premises.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: Yet another provocative act of unmeasured hostility from the Israeli side surfaced with a report from PNN on HIV infected women from Russia imported with the express Mossad-mission of transferring the virus to the Palestinian worker community who work & sleep for weeks within historical Palestine.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: A clumsy and later retracted appeal for return to the '67 borders by Obama during his address to AIPAC left the heavy reminder of the stalled peace plan, and Israel's stance to refuse adherence to a freeze on settlements.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: 44th Naksa day for Arabs is Jerusalem Day for jubilant Israelis: 40,000 marched to mark the anniversary of the Six Day War, provocatively steering a route through the heart of East Jerusalem, facing off Palestinians at the Old City. Far from the spirit of change, ripe with regional revolutions.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: Haaretz reports on Israeli paranoid passport drive: More and more Israelis apply for a foreign passport, not for easier travel but because there confidence flails about the future of their nation. Second passports are common from Germany.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: French friends? Peace may have not quite been derailed by this Israeli attempt to provoke Palestinians: some questionable hopes are pinned on a recent French proposal to broker peace. The French inspiration is based on the 1967 borders with additional land swaps to compensate Israelis.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: Israeli peace march on the eve of 'Naksa' in June, not quite as formidable as the display for Flag day the following day with half the turn-out; but over 2000 took to the Tel Aviv streets to register their anti-government stance of Palestinian occupation for 44 years.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: The settlement status quo and belligerent behavior of late belies these isolated acts of peace-seeking. A staunch message from Netanyahu's rebuttal speech: would 'never' revert back to the pre-67 borders. Settlements as Ma'ale Adumim are located controversially on the fringe of Jerusalem.
Pause Play Image 1 of 12: National and Gay pride in the same week: June 10th many Israelis were otherwise 'occupied' with Gay rights' celebrations in Tel Aviv. Some 70,000 people attended Tel Aviv’s annual Gay Pride Parade versus the 2,500 that came out for peace in the same city earlier in the week.
While the Arab world has been subverting the system and making some noise, Palestinians have by and large remained quiet as the spotlight left them. Bar a few attempts to wage peaceful protests on Israel's surrounding borders mid May, Palestine has been somewhat sidelined by the 'Arab cause'.
Or looking at it another way, Fateh and Hamas made a unity agreement before the disgruntled Palestinians had a chance to pipe up. The Raffah crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was reopened successfully again after teething problems the first time round in late May. While all is raging in the wider Arab hemisphere, Palestine seemed to be taking a back burner by all, not least themselves.
Not by Israel though. Some contingents of Israel proper seem to have taken a no-holds-barred approach in this period, as they provoke and poke at Palestine's sensitivities: nothwithstanding the most charged sore spot - Jerusalem. As unrest rages in the wider Arab world, Israel steals the opportunity to pursue its Jerusalem dream- marking its territory on Arab names and key mosques.
