Prepared By: Muath Seyam & Nael Oeda

Israeli Occupation Army Assassinated 29 Palestinians

the Israeli occupation army continued its aggression against the
Palestinians, killing 29 Palestinians inside the West Bank and al-Quds city
in October 2022. The occupation army also arrested dozens of Palestinian
youths. In response to the aggressions of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), Palestinian
resistance groups continue to target the IOF’s checkpoints that besiege Palestinian cities
and camps in the West Bank. The activities of the resistance groups in Nablus city and
Jenin city represent the primary source of concern for the occupation army. The IOF
constantly attempts to besiege and storm those cities and kill Palestinian resistance
members inside. The occupation army used an explosive device attached to a motorcycle
to assassinate a member of the Palestinian resistance groups inside the city of Nablus.
Human rights organizations assert that what the occupation is doing inside
Palestinian cities are crimes against humanity and extrajudicial killings. Israel and the
United States of America continue to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to arrest the
resistance fighters. The PA’s security services are showing a timid response to the order,
as they are on the horns of a dilemma, whether to continue the security coordination with
the occupation or to take the Palestinian people’s side by covering and supporting
resistance groups.

The 25th Knesset Elections to Aggravate Political Instability in Israel

fter a fierce race between the camp of former prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and the camp of the current prime minister Yair Lapid, the
results of the 25th elections for the Israeli Knesset, which were voted on
November 1, 2022, showed a lead in favour of Netanyahu’s far-right-wing bloc, allowing
him to form the new government. The current electoral scene is dominated by the trend of
Israeli society towards the Zionist far-right amid the confinement of the influence of left-wing parties. This election is the fifth in 4 years, and the results indicate that despite Netanyahu’s success, there are possibilities of a politically heterogeneous government to
be formed by the winning camp.
Therefore, the scenario to re-run the elections once any party withdraws from the
coalition is most likely to happen. Europe and the United States have taken a wide range
of steps to boost Lapid’s chances, trying to prevent the annoying and embarrassing
Netanyahu from being back in power.

Unfavourable Expectations for Algerian-brokered deal to end disputes BetweenFatah and Hamas

Algeria hosted the 31st Arab League Summit aiming to achieve some
gains, most notably the achievement of a Palestinian-Palestinian
reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas movements after a 15-year-old
split. It started with Fatah’s refusal to deal with the government formed by Hamas after
winning the 2006 elections. Algeria held several meetings that began a year ago,
culminating in the signing of an agreement between the two factions.
Although, insiders described the deal as nothing more than a protocol agreement.
They firmly expect that Fatah will refuse to implement the terms of the agreement despite
signing it. Algeria is one of the countries that strongly support the Palestinian cause.
Besides, it has genuine respect among the Palestinian factions. Still, the internal
Palestinian situation is complicated due to the intersection of Israeli and American
interests in favour of the continuation of the Palestinian rift.

Prepared by:
Nael Oeda and Muath Seyam

This briefing will try to provide the reader with a clear perception about the Judaization
procedures happening in Al-Quds city and the attempts of the Israeli occupation to create a
new reality there that will lead the Middle East region towards more tensions.

Background Information

1- The “Judaization of Al-Quds” is a term that describes the continuous attempts by the
Israeli authorities to strip the historical Islamic and Christian identity from the city,
and to impose a new identity, the Jewish. This is done through several means :

• The settlement, confiscation of land and displacing of Palestinians from their
  property inside the city.
• Withdrawing IDs from Palestinians in Al-Quds city, leaving them without identification papers
• Taking advantage of international support. The most important of which was the violation of the international arrangements in force by the United States under President Trump’s administration and the relocating of its embassy to Al-Quds city .
• Issuing laws targeting the Palestinian existence, such as regulation and planning law, and the law of banning the call to prayer (Athan) over loudspeakers in November 2016.
• The Israeli violations against Masjid Al-Aqsa such as carrying out excavations under the Masjid, impeding the restoration process, preventing groups of Palestinians from praying in it, denying residents of the Gaza Strip from reaching and entering it, facilitating the Zionist incursions, and unleashing the settlers to storm in and violate under the protection of the Israeli police and army.

What is Happening and Causing Concerns Right Now?

1. Preparations and calls are being made by the Zionist settlers to carry out the largest
   historic storming in the Masjid Al-Aqsa on the 29th of September, on the so-called
   “Hebrew New Year ”.
2. The extremist “Temple” organizations, on September 6, 2022, submitted a petition to
   the Israeli Supreme Court to allow settlers to blow the trumpet inside Masjid Al-Aqsa,
   during the so-called “Hebrew New Year”. They even demanded Throne’s botanical
   oblations to be allowed in, including citrus, palm fronds, willow branches and
   “myrtle” roses during the biblical “Throne Day”, which runs from October 10 to 17,
   2022.
3. This escalation and acceleration of the Judaization measures come within the Zionist-
   Israeli plan to Judaize Masjid Al-Aqsa, but certain factors contributed to this, most notably :

• The tendency of the Zionist society towards adopting extreme right-wing ideas
  more than ever before .
• The Israeli election race, which will start in November 2022, coincides with the
  Jewish holidays, and this will push the political and partisan level to meet a
  large part of the aspirations of the Zionist right-wing supporters to win their
  votes, all of which are Judaizing aspirations targeting Al-Quds city .

Expected Repercussions of Recent Developments

1. It is expected that the Zionist Judaization movements to cause tension inside Al-Quds
   city and the rest of the Palestinian cities, especially regarding the issue of incursions of
   Masjid Al-Aqsa. Furthermore, the tension might extend to the Middle East region and
   the rest of the Islamic and Arab countries (a varying levels) because of the status that
   Al-Quds city has among Muslims all over the globe.
2. It is expected that popular Palestinian confrontations with the occupation will erupt
   and may extend to an armed confrontation with the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza
   Strip. There is a set of previous evidence of rounds of mass and armed confrontations
   caused by Israel’s Judaization policy in Al-Quds city and inside Masjid Al-Aqsa, which in its entirety are provocative measures to the feelings of Palestinian and non-Palestinian Muslims from the Arab and Islamic nation. One of the most recent of these rounds was the confrontation with the “Sword of Al-Quds”, which lasted from May 10, 2021, to May 21, 2021.

What is Required?

The components of the Arab and Islamic nation (official, partisan, scholars, and
institutions) are urgently required to act with practical positions, to address the influential
friends in international politics such as countries, ambassadors, and organizations, and to
contact influencers and pressures on the occupation to deter it from its Judaizing
movements, and to ensure that the situation in Palestine does not explode. They are
required at the immediate, tactical, and strategic levels to provide political, diplomatic,
material, and moral support to the Palestinian people, in a manner that enhances the
steadfastness of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and enables them to
obtain their rights in liberation and enjoy civilian rights within an independent Palestinian
state.

Palestine Studies Project