Israel’s security Cabinet has approved a series of new measures designed to combat spiraling Israeli-Palestinian violence after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to take “aggressive steps” to prevent further clashes.
“The security Cabinet decided several measures to combat terrorism, notably authorizing police to seal off or impose a curfew on parts of Beit-ul-Moqaddas in case of friction or incitement to violence,” the Cabinet said in a statement released early on Wednesday morning, Al Jazeera reported.
Other measures include deploying Israeli security forces throughout Beit-ul-Moqaddas’s public transport network, using military units to reinforce Israeli police force and “demolishing terrorists’ homes” and revoking their permanent residency.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday night that “anyone who raises his hand to harm us will pay dearly. And we will not hesitate to use all means at our disposal to restore peace to the cities of Israel”.
Mustafa Barghouti, president of the Palestinian National Initiative, a democratic political movement, said that these measures will only lead to the exact opposite results Israel is expecting in Beit-ul-Moqaddas.
“Insanity is nothing but repeating the same thing but expecting different results. When they decide to separate East and West Beit-ul-Moqaddas, it only proves that they have failed. The whole idea of walls and checkpoints is only deepening the military occupation,” he said.
“The only way [to end the violence] is to end this military occupation, but the world is refusing to look at the cause. This is a new uprising and it will continue. We have always wanted popular non-violent resistance but Israel is the one using violence; they are allowing settlers to attack Palestinians.”
United States Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that he will travel to the Middle East “soon” to try and move the situation “away from this precipice”.
Kerry said the US’ goal for the region, the two-state solution “could conceivably be stolen from everybody” if violence in the region were to spiral out of control.
