Are We Witnessing The Birth Of An Uprising Of Palestinians Inside Israel?

After 73 years of being subjected to Israeli mistreatment, Palestinians living inside Israel may be showing the early signs of a revolt against what they see as systemic racism, resulting in the deprivation of rights.

This Monday, another Palestinian man named Muni Anabtawi, was killed by Israeli police officers in the city of Haifa, raising already heated tensions between Israeli police and ‘Arab-Israelis’ (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship). According to the victims sister, the killing occurred after the now deceased 33 year olds mother had called the police, requesting they secure her mentally ill son. The mentally ill man proceeded to eventually attack an Israeli officer, which led to police firing three bullets at him, later ending his life.

The victim’s mother, Itaf Anabtawi, later told Arab48 News that the “Police killed my son in cold blood instead of helping him. They interrogated me without informing me of the death of my son”. The incident later sparked protests in Haifa, which were met with Israeli police violence, on Tuesday night.

Although this case may seem to be an isolated one, it fits in with a larger trend of police killings of Palestinians in Israel and also alleged inaction and even collusion with armed gangs in Palestinian neighbourhoods. So far this year, nearly 20 Palestinians have been shot dead as a result of gang related crime, which many accuse the Israeli police of being directly involved in or of allowing it to happen.

Last month, this led to wide-spread protests throughout Israel by Palestinians, ranging from Jaffa to Nazareth. A particular trigger for the protests came from an Israeli police shooting, in the Palestinian town of Tamra, in which officers killed 2 Palestinians, injuring 2 others. This was compounded by two other police shootings that had taken place the same day.

The protests in the Palestinian town (Inside Israel) of Umm al-Fahm, have been ongoing for 11 weeks now and just a few weeks ago broke the record for the largest protest of its kind in 20 years. The issue of Israeli police violence and lack of action/collusion with gangs in Palestinian neighbourhoods seems to be unifying demonstrators with their co-patriots in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.

What is perhaps most interesting, is that as a result of mainstream Israeli Jewish society having grown further to the extreme Right-Wing fringes of the political spectrum, as a reaction those they are excluding as “not belonging in Israel” are starting to become more Palestinian.

‘Israeli-Arabs’ – or Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship – makeup over 20% of Israel’s population and are the descendants of Palestinians who avoided becoming refugees during the 1948 ethnic cleansing. Many of these Palestinians were to become present absentees, which is to mean they were expelled from their original villages, cities or towns, but still managed to stay within the boundaries of the newly established Israeli regime. These Palestinians were, until 1967, under Israeli military rule and endured similar conditions to those later experienced in the West Bank and Gaza Strip under occupation. They also worked as a labour force, used to build Israel.

Historically it has been the people of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and more often the Gaza Strip, that have taken part in great rebellions and uprisings against Israel, whilst the Palestinians inside Israel have been less active. But, as was the case in the lead up to the first Intifada, which started in Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza Strip, in 1987, uprisings sometimes come in response to relatively normal acts – by the times standard acts of oppression – and are not connected to political leadership.

What is also interesting to note, is that the Bedouin Palestinians living in the al-Naqab (Negev) are also beginning to take a turn against Israel in a way not seen before. Bedouin’s living in what became Israel in 1948, largely accepted Israeli rule over them and have for long even served in Israel’s military, helping to ethnically cleanse and kill Palestinians. But now that their livelihoods are being threatened, there is a growing trend of anti-Israel sentiment trending amongst them.

In past years, an average of 2,000 bedouin homes-buildings in the al-Naqab have been demolished by Israel, making way for Israeli projects or buildings. The most recent Israeli demolition to have taken place, was in Al-Araqib and was the 185th time the small village has been destroyed by Israel. After enduring the destruction of their properties and a lack of access to goods and services, the bedouins of the area have began to show sympathy for Palestinian political parties, some even having been found to have worked with Hamas and other groups.

This Tuesday represented Palestinian Land Day, which started in 1976 and is recognised annually on March 30. Although it has become popularly associated lately with Gaza’s ‘Great Return March’, due to the protest movement having started on this date, the day itself is in remembrance of the resistance of Palestinians inside Israel. Land Day is set in remembrance of the first time Palestinians in Israel worked as a unified Palestinian national force, to organise a general strike and protests from the Al-Naqab to the Galilee.

Right now, there is little dispute that the Palestinian cause is in a very tough stage. However, if history has shown us anything, it is the people that can ultimately change their predicament and if they realise their own power at the right time, we could see the next Palestinian uprising inside Israeli regime territory itself.