Arab riots have “announced that… Lod is ours, Ramle is ours,” says Ramallah governor
Official PA TV, special broadcast on violent Arab riots and Hamas rocket barrages
Ramallah and El-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam: “Today, in honor of the flag of Palestine that has united the members of the Palestinian people from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River and announced to everyone that Palestine is greater than all the factions, …thousands of residents are coming out in the Ramallah and El-Bireh district, and in all the homeland’s districts. There are those who think that this is a strike or a vacation, but this is a true intifada coming out into the streets in all parts of our people, who have completely understood that this occupier does not distinguish between one faction and another. This occupier wants to kill everything Palestinian; it does not distinguish between one religion and another, because it wants to cancel our Palestinianess in the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel) and in the occupied Palestinian lands. Today Palestine has announced that it is Palestinian from the sea to the river – against this terror, against this occupation. It has announced that the Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood of Jerusalem] is ours, Lod is ours, Ramle is ours (i.e., all Israeli cities).”
[Official PA TV, May 18, 2021]
Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021 – On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.” In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for "raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas' spokesman told Palestinians "the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Hamas, Abbas' political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting. Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks. In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews. [Walla, May 16, 2021] The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.