ISRAELI military forces invaded the al-Aqsa Mosque compound yesterday morning in a continuation of the violent attacks on Palestinian worshippers gathered for dawn prayers at the compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds in East Jerusalem.
Israeli troops stormed into the compound firing tear gas and stun grenades injuring at least 43 Palestinians in the raid, which followed a day when as many as 30 Palestinians were wounded after Israeli forces attacked worshippers gathered for dawn prayers at the compound on Thursday.
Again, Israeli troops used rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, stun grenades and pepper spray against Palestinian worshipers who have braved escalating violence from the Israeli regime since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.
The week before, Israeli forces had launched a similar indiscriminate attack on worshippers at the mosque wounding 150 to break up the gathering for prayers.
Following this assault, last Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked a Palestinian protest in the occupied West Bank demonstrating against a march by thousands of Israeli rightwing settlers marching through the Palestinian town of Burqa, the previous site of an illegal Zionist settlement.
A young Palestinian, Lutfi Ibrahim Labadi, died on Friday from wounds after being shot by Israeli troops during skirmishes that erupted when they stormed the city of Jenin and opened fire on hundreds of Palestinians protesting against the desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the attacks on worshippers.
Friday’s assault is a further continuation of the deadly acts of aggression across all the Palestinian territories through the month of Ramadan – a deliberate escalation of the Zionist regime’s campaign to drive the Palestinian people from their homeland.
These attacks by the Zionist state have only strengthened the resistance of the Palestinian people, who refused to be crushed in their fight for their right to a homeland and who have won the support of workers throughout the world for their heroic struggle against an apartheid state that exists as an outpost of imperialism in the Middle East.
Far from being intimidated, the Palestinians are preparing for the coming confrontation. Tariq Salmi, a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement, said that his group has learned how to deal with the Israeli regime which only understands the language of force.
He told the press: ‘Resistance groups, while increasing their readiness, are following up on the developments in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds and will not remain indifferent to the crimes of the occupiers’ adding: ‘Israeli occupation is the red line to the Palestinian people. Muslim nations and resistance groups will fight on until the menace is completely eradicated and Palestinians’ historic rights are restored.’
Zaher Jabarin, a senior member of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, called on the international community to abandon its ‘double standards’ on Palestine, stressing that the Palestinian nation has the right to resist and stiffen its resistance for its right to an independent homeland.
Speaking on Thursday before the latest attack on al-Aqsa mosque, the Syrian foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, accused the US and its allies of conspiring to eliminate the issue of Palestine.
He said: ‘Western states are fiercely plotting to liquidate the Palestinian issue and strip Palestinians of their inalienable rights, especially the right of return.’
He said that the heinous crimes being committed at the al-Aqsa Mosque ‘are being carried out amid generous US support and an embarrassing silence of the international community’.
The imperialist powers remain silent on Israeli crimes while funding and arming the Zionist regime, enabling it to carry out its barbaric war on Palestinians. The working class must not and will not be silent onlookers of Israeli shootings and murders.
All the massive support for the Palestinian struggle expressed in massive demonstrations and motions at union conferences must be turned into action.
With Palestinians rising up, now is the time to put this support into action. The UK trade unions must strike liberating blows for Palestine by taking general strike actions to bar all Israeli goods and services from the UK. The US and EU unions must do the same.
A general strike in support of Palestine in the UK by all trade unions will be a massive step towards the establishment of an independent state of Palestine where Arabs, Jews and Christians can live together in peace.
Begin the mass mobilisation at once!
