PA daily op-ed: Israel employs “official, organized terror” and “settler terror surpasses that of ISIS”
Op-ed by Hafez Al-Barghouti, regular columnist for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
Headline: “And Allah knows the intention”
"Yesterday we noted how the Israelis managed to connect between the terror of Al-Qaeda and the Palestinian struggle, and started marketing it as terror after the September [11] events in New York, and here [US Secretary of State John] Kerry follows [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and uses the same description for the outburst of rage against the occupation and its actions, and the struggle of the oppressed [Palestinian] residents of Jerusalem to defend their homes and holy sites is now considered terror. It would have been appropriate that we get through the crisis after the Paris attacks patiently, because the world is busy with its events, and we are not at its top priority, and Al-Qaeda has not given us anything but the consequences of its Jihadi terror, originally established by the US, and ISIS which walks in its footsteps – also started as the product of a Western intelligence mechanism. Our ability to be united now is what will prevent the occupation from taking advantage of the world’s distraction, in order to go wild with our blood, and strengthen themselves in terms of public diplomacy before the international community. We must be fearlessly [honest] with ourselves, and beware of the consequences of rushing unorganized, or out of a wish to die, into revenge… Because this is the public image the occupation wants to create for us, although we are facing official, organized terror, and terror by groups of settlers, whose barbarity surpasses that of ISIS, and the occupation goes to great lengths to provoke us, as though it prays for random revenge, in order to photograph and spread it.
It is true that the action of individuals is not directed [by anyone], and cannot be organized with the click of a button, but public awareness should lead to an organized, moral struggle, rather than an absurd one.
Moreover, it should lead to protecting the lives of the children, youth, and young people, as the current stage is not significant, but rather secondary in regard to the history of the struggle, and whoever claims he will move fleets and shake the earth beneath the feet of the occupation, knows the way to do so, even if he does not implement it.
However, this is not through encouraging children to [find themselves] shot on a sidewalk. It is also true that we cannot soothe the raging spirits or the boiling blood, but as we said, the general public awareness expressing rejection can create an atmosphere that will reduce being pointlessly dragged into the traps that the occupation sets everywhere, and Allah knows the intention.”