At the beginning of Ramadan, police and special forces barely distinguishable from fully kitted-out soldiers descended on young Palestinians who, intending to meet up at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, found the plaza blocked off. They also attacked those at prayer in the al-Aqsa mosque. These events and others, along with Israeli settlers’ wanton expulsions of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, led to the current clashes in Israel and Palestine—this round apparently now coming to a halt with a cease-fire. They also led to an unprecedented general strike by Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories.
The rubber bullets and tear gas shot into crowds, the pummeling of heads into cement and asphalt, the arrests, and the expulsions magnify the cruelty—and that’s the point. But they also brought the dehumanization and the daily roster of injustices faced by Palestinians into sharp relief—just as George Floyd’s murder last year did for anyone who had wanted to absolve America of racial terrorism.
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