Why Palestinians Need an International Protection Force

It will ensure that lives are placed above politics, and defend a besieged population nearing its 50th year under brutal occupation.

Palestinians have clashed with Israeli forces and settlers across the West Bank as violence continued to grip the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian demonstrators marched from a local university to an Israeli settlement, where they were confronted by the army on Sunday afternoon.

More protests were held across the West Bank, including in the city of Nablus, and in the Gaza Strip.

لم يزل برميل البارود في الأراضي الفلسطينية التي تحتلّها إسرائيل -الضفة الغربية بما فيها القدس الشرقية وقطاع غزة- يهتز لعدة سنوات. إذ إن الفلسطينيين من جميع مشارب الحياة بُحّ صوتهم وهم يحاولون أن يوضحوا بأن الحكومة الإسرائيلية اليمينية -بوزرائها الكثيرين الذين يقطنون في المستوطنات غير القانونية وبرئيس وزرائها المتطرّف- تنتهج سياسات من شأنها أن تفضي حتما وبالضبط إلى ما نشهده اليوم، ألا وهو العنف.

Protests have given way to clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in areas across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip as one Palestinian was killed and dozen others injured while marking a "Day of Rage", which was called for by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

At the end of the summer, the Italian energy giant Eni discovered one of the largest gas reserves in the Mediterranean. Just off Egyptian shores sits Zohr, a gas field with a staggering 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. As Egypt celebrated the good news, Israel panicked about the implications of the discovery on its much-touted Leviathan gas field, which was discovered in December 2010. It was a “painful wake-up call,” the Israeli energy minister, Yuval Steinitz, said.

The lid on the powder keg of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, has been rattling for years now. Palestinians from all walks of life have lost their voices making the case that Israel’s right-wing government – with its numerous cabinet ministers living in illegal settlements and its fundamentalist prime minister – is pursuing policies bound to lead to exactly what we are witnessing today, violence.

Too few listened.

A seminar with Nadia Hijab, Executive Director, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network.

The Palestinian leadership recently attempted to bring international law back into the picture. Palestinian civil society has made greater gains in this sphere, yet faces serious constraints in translating these gains into meaningful political outcomes.

World leaders converging on the UN General Assembly will soon be hearing from Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. They should focus on Jerusalem, which is again at a boiling point and has the potential to be a global flashpoint if international leaders and diplomats fail to address increasingly reckless rhetoric from Israeli government leaders and the provocative actions of Israeli settlers.

Israel launched a three-day assault on the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on 13 September, causing widespread destruction and injuries.

The World Bank on Monday transferred $25 million to the Palestinian Authority to assist with urgent budget needs, a statement from the global financial body said.