Tuesday’s horrific killing of four rabbis at a synagogue in Jerusalem must be seen for what it is – an outcome of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s attempt to provoke a religious war, ultimately to detract from the legitimate resistance and the struggle for Palestinian statehood.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which claimed the bloody attack, is one of the only remaining secular parties in Palestine. This is not their usual sort of attack, and it is a worrying sign of where the conflict is going.
The attack comes as tensions seem to be increasing daily across Jerusalem and the West Bank, and of course the summer war against Gaza, in which nearly 500 children alone were killed by Israeli forces, must be seen as a contributing factor to the current atmosphere.
It came days after a mosque in the West Bank was torched, and as Netanyahu continues to announce new settler homes seemingly every week, on land that the Palestinians want for their future state.
It also comes as the holy Al Aqsa site is being used as a battleground by Netanyahu’s government, which is protecting right-wing Jewish groups who demand the right to pray there.
Has Netanyahu’s inner circle forgotten that it was a visit to the site by Ariel Sharon in 2000 that ignited the second intifada? Of course not, they are well aware of just how fragile a semblance of peace there is, and just how crucial the site is to maintaining it.
Pope Francis Wednesday called on both sides to make “courageous decisions” to achieve reconciliation. Until Netanyahu decides he wants peace, this can never happen.
