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October 31, 2014 Special Dispatch No. 5869

Palestinian Authority Newspaper Supplement: 'Jerusalem – The Capital Of The Intifada'

October 31, 2014
Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 5869

The October 29, 2014 edition of the Palestinian Authority (PA) daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida included a magazine supplement called Al-'Asima ("The Capital"), which was headlined "Jerusalem – The Capital of the Intifada."[1] The magazine, under the general supervision of Fatah official 'Othman Abu Gharbiya, highlights PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas's call to come to Jerusalem and defend the Al-Aqsa mosque. It also features articles, columns, and news on Jerusalem, including accusations that Israel is damaging east Jerusalem's holy sites and residents.


Magazine supplement cover page

The following is a review of the contents of the magazine:

'Abbas' Call: Defend Jerusalem In Any Way Possible

The magazine's first article quoted PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas' statement at the October 17, 2014 Conference in Defense of Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds in Al-Bireh: "We are all required to stand at the forefront at Al-Aqsa, and not to simply say that there are already people there. The journey to the front lines should be led by Fatah members in the Jerusalem area. Fatah, which was founded in 1965, should complete the message and the method, and should liberate the territories and defend the holy sites. It is not enough to declare that the settlers are coming; rather, we must prevent them from entering Al-Aqsa and our churches in any way possible. They must not enter them and desecrate them. We will face them, chests exposed, to defend the holy sites."

Calls To Oppose The Occupation Of Jerusalem

In an article titled "The Situation of the Occupied Capital," Jerusalem and PA mufti Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein was quoted as calling upon the Palestinian population to take part every day in "a general mobilization to combat Israel's plots to harm Al-Aqsa."

Nassar Ibrahim, who is active in the Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI), wrote in the magazine that the occupation must be made to pay a price via resistance, stating: "The resistance is a complete campaign – political, popular, social, cultural, informational, perceptual, and economic. [It is] nonstop daily resistance, resistance that covers Jerusalem, Palestine, and the universe, resistance that makes the occupation pay a direct price for every one of its actions."

Magazine editor Younes Al-'Ammouri devoted the editorial to the situation in Jerusalem, calling for more action than is currently being taken. He wrote: " We must restore the importance of the popular, public role by protecting the public if it turns to confronting the Israeli enterprise. There must not be a scenario in which the East Jerusalem public launches a confrontation but has no support or backing."

Jerusalem Hit-And-Run Attacker Described As Martyr, True "Man Of Resistance"

The magazine described 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shaloudi, who on October 23, 2014 drove a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing two and injuring seven, and who was subsequently shot and killed by police, as a martyr. Amjad Abu 'Asab, a spokesman for East Jerusalem Palestinian prisoners, called Al-Shaloudi "a man of resistance in every sense of the word," who represented the current thinking in East Jerusalem and had been "influenced by the daily harassment of its residents."

Magazine Supervisor: Israel Perpetrates Despicable Massacres In Jerusalem

'Othman Abu Gharbiya, the magazine's general supervisor and 'Abbas's representative at an October 20, 2014 event held by the National Committee for Jerusalem as the Eternal Capital of Arab Culture, said that the occupation forces are carrying out "the most despicable acts of harassment and slaughter" in Jerusalem, and accused Israel of attempting to split Al-Aqsa between Jews and Muslims with regard to prayer times and prayer locations.


Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visits Al-Aqsa (Source: Al-Ayyam, PA, October 28, 2014)

Endnotes:

[1] Al-'Asima (PA), October 29, 2014.

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