Hamas called for a Third Intifada back in December after Trump recognized the entirety of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but apart from a symbolic meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the highly publicized arrest of Ahed Tamimi, there wasn't much to show for this latest rebellion until now.
That changed just the other day when thousands of Palestinians were mobilized to march on the border during what they regard as Land Day in order to demand that they be allowed to return to their homes after the forced 1948 expulsion that they call the Nakba, to which Israel responded by deploying troops, snipers, and drones in killing over a dozen of them who ventured too close to the frontier and injuring hundreds more in the process. Israel has since rejected all calls for an international investigation and refuses to take responsibility for what happened, justifying its actions on the basis of securing the border.
The Palestinians are outraged by Israel's nonchalant attitude towards these killings but found some consolation in the widespread support for their cause, with Turkish President Erdogan being the most vocal in this respect after reigniting his war of words with Netanyahu by once again calling him a terrorist. The gung-ho backing of the Palestinians by Turkey and many other Muslim countries aside from most notably Saudi Arabia contrasts with the more measured response of Russia, which "call[ed] on both Palestine and Israel to exercise restraint and prevent actions that can cause innocent people to suffer."
Despite Moscow offering to host talks between the Palestinian and Israeli authorities in hopefully advancing a political solution to their long-running conflict, it might be unable to stop the Third Intifada that already looks to have begun and which might climax during the upcoming inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem sometime next month. If the conflict continues to escalate, then the March of Return might bring Palestine and Israel to the point of no return beyond which any prospects for peace might once again become impossible for the foreseeable future.
Feroze Mithiborwala, Founder and National General Secretary of the India Palestine Solidarity Forum, and Cory Dupont, an American independent researcher and historian, with degrees in Theology and History, commented on the issue.
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