The Zionist occupation does not leave out any occasion or holiday. However, it is exploited in the most horrific way, especially during the period of the so-called “Jewish holidays,” by tightening the noose and siege originally imposed on our Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories.
In the coming days – under the pretext of these holidays – the Palestinian territories will witness the imposition of more comprehensive closures, in a blatant use of religious events to achieve arrogant and colonial purposes through which the extremist government in “Tel Aviv” aspires to steal more of the Palestinian land and implement its occupation policies. Covering itself with the cover of these holidays, and preparing to pass the massive settlers’ incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque in a state of “calm” during the period of “Jewish holidays.”
In this report, we raise the extent to which the occupation exploits these holidays to impose more sanctions against our people, and the impact and seriousness of this on the various segments, especially citizens, merchants, and owners of factories in which thousands of workers work, in addition to the impact on the movement of the crossings and causing commercial losses to the economically exhausted sector. And besieged for 16 years in a row.
Economic and educational paralysis under the pretext of holidays
In response to this, Jerusalemite journalist Rasem Obaidat told Al -Hadaf News Portal , “During the coming period there will be three Jewish holidays, including (the Hebrew New Year) on the 16th and 17th of this month of September, and (the Day of Atonement) on which the holiday will be suspended.” Transportation and commercial movement are completely closed, as all crossings and entrances to villages and towns in Jerusalem are closed to prevent movement, which affects the commercial, economic and educational process. The occupation is trying to use these holidays to force Jerusalemites to adhere to the rituals of these holidays by disrupting their lives and interests.”
Obaidat explains, “When movement to and from the towns of Jerusalem is prohibited, there is no human influx, which affects the markets and commercial movement, and this is reflected in the educational movement because the entrances to villages and towns are closed to the movement of students and teachers. That is, the occupation turns the city of Jerusalem into a closed military barracks.” It also uses the holidays to create losses for workers and commercial traffic coming from the West Bank, or vice versa.”
Anticipated holidays detonator:
Obaidat confirms to Al-Hadaf, “During this period, the occupation is strengthening its security presence in the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and increasing the spread of surveillance cameras, given that all expectations indicate that the situation may explode from Al-Aqsa gate against the backdrop of what some extremist settlers are planning to impose.” New facts on the ground, while the occupation anticipated the holiday period by launching a massive campaign of arrests, raids, deporting Jerusalemites to the West Bank, and imposing house arrest, all under the pretext of these upcoming holidays.”
It should be noted that during these holidays, the occupation freezes all permits held by Palestinian workers to work inside the territories occupied in 1948, in addition to freezing the operation of some military checkpoints and closing a number of streets that pass through the settlements.
The life of a Palestinian does not matter:
In this context, political analyst Nihad Abu Ghosh believes, during an interview with “Al-Hadaf Gate ,” that “the occupation uses all holidays, whether they are religious, national Zionist, or even passing occasions such as the funeral of a great rabbi, or even artistic events, and seizes them as an opportunity to restrict the lives of the Palestinians.” On the other hand, facilitating the lives of the settlers, and this matter relates to a security aspect with respect to the occupation, but at the core of the security aspect we find that there is a racist and superior aspect, because the Jew, with respect to the occupation, has the right to take a vacation and enjoy it, and to travel and move here and there without his life being disturbed by the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Therefore, they do not want to see the Palestinian, neither in hotels, nor on transportation, nor even in the streets and alleys. Rather, it restricts the Palestinian because his entire life is unimportant, and his treatment is unimportant to them and their government.”
Abu Ghosh points out that “all these restrictions are not only reflected in the economic and material aspect, but rather are an idea stemming from deep-rooted racist arrogance, especially since they say that the life of the Palestinian is not important, and life should be for them only. This is of course a Zionist thought rooted in the thought of All previous, current and subsequent “Israeli” governments, and the resort to these orders and security solutions increases the more the nationalists take control of the government in the occupying state.”
An open license to kill:
It must be noted that during the period of these holidays, the frequency of the occupation’s crimes increases, including killing, arresting, displacing, uprooting and displacing, and the occupation soldiers’ hands become “soft on the trigger”, so the soldiers begin to open fire, and crimes increase under the pretext of securing the settlers participating in these holidays in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Abu Ghosh comments on this, saying: “The issue of the increase in the rate of crimes against our people is getting worse day after day. For example, in the past it was more difficult than it is today in terms of orders to shoot, but today there is an open license for every settler and soldier to shoot and kill.” The Palestinian was killed in cold blood for any reason, even just because of suspicion, or making a spontaneous, involuntary movement, and the Palestinian was shot, without any supervisor or accountant, and this is in light of the fact that there are dozens of crimes that have not been investigated, and since the year 2015 until the present day, no one has been tried. A settler committed a murder against Palestinian civilians, except for one soldier,” stressing that “this Zionist orgy comes with clear American complicity; Even if these crimes affected those who held American citizenship, such as journalist Sherine Abu Aqla, even though the crime was documented and photographed, or even activist Rachel Corrie.
Gaza: tightening of the imposed siege
As for the Gaza Strip, the occupation authorities close the “Kerem Shalom” commercial crossing in the south of the Strip, and the Beit Hanoun “Erez” checkpoint for the movement of individuals, in the north of the Strip.
Regarding the effects of tightening the siege, economic analyst Samir Abu Mudallala explains to Al- Hadaf the effects of these closures on the sector. He says: “The occupation takes advantage of any opportunity to close the crossings, because its security priority is always above the political and economic priority, and in the event of any warning or holiday, they are closed.” Crossings, as happened at the Kerem Shalom crossing about a week ago, and certainly these closures that come under the pretext of Jewish holidays are causing very large losses to merchants who have products exported from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank through this crossing, especially clothing and some vegetables and fruits.”
Abu Mudallala explains, “This month of September witnessed more than 8 days of closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing, and this is in addition to official holidays such as Saturday, for example, on which the crossing is closed every week. Therefore, all days of closure affect not only merchants, but also citizens in Gaza Strip, and sometimes if we do not have sufficient stock of some goods during the holiday period, this leads to an increase in their prices for the citizen in Gaza.”
A cover to undermine the Palestinian economy
During his speech, Abu Mudallala believed that “the holiday period is exploited by Israel to undermine the Palestinian economy and limit economic growth. In the event of closures, many factories are forced to reduce their workforce, and these factories work three days a week due to the lack of exports, which increases the rate of Unemployment in the Palestinian street. Indeed, official statistics show that every day the crossings are closed costs the agricultural sector alone losses worth one million shekels per day, especially since we are in the period of transition of the seasons between winter and summer, so we notice an increase in the prices of vegetables and fruits for citizens in the sector.”
At the conclusion of his conversation with Al-Hadaf, Abu Mudallala touched on the impact of the closures on the clothing market. He said: “In recent years, the clothing trade has once again resurfaced and some factories have revived and are filling the market’s need in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank market’s need, but this Factories will be greatly affected by the closures of the crossings because they have specific dates for delivering the goods required of them, meaning that we are talking about clear losses in this sector as well as in other sectors.”
Starting at noon on Friday, September 15, the occupation army will impose a comprehensive cordon on the West Bank and Gaza Strip crossings until next Saturday-Sunday night, coinciding with the so-called “Jewish New Year.”
The occupation also imposes a comprehensive closure on the West Bank and Gaza on what is called “Yom Kippur,” starting at midnight on Saturday – Sunday, the 24th of September, until the night of the 25th of the same month, while the occupation closes all crossings leading to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the occasion of what is called “Throne Day.” “For a full eight days, starting on the night of Thursday – Friday, September 29, until the night of Saturday – Sunday, October 7.
