UN-Truth

Though I have not seen any official announcement of this, there is word going around that Israel’s general closure of all crossings into and out of Palestinian territory may last throughout the entire week-long Sukkot holiday — even though the only full official public holiday during the period is today.

This is a blanket closure, during which there will be (NOT previously announced) travel bans within the Palestinian areas.

During this lengthy period of Jewish holidays that began on 13 September with the celebrations of the Jewish New Year and continued after a short break with the solemn commemoration of Yom Kippur, there have already been two periods of general or blanket closures of the Palestinian territory.

However, neither the holiday nor the closure are preventing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from operating in both the West Bank and Gaza. On Wednesday evening and night, at least 8 Palestinians were killed [LATEST UPDATE: Ynet is now reporting 11 Palestinian deaths. UPDATE: Haaretz reports 10 Palestinian deaths] in Gaza in Israeli retaliatory strikes after Qassam rockets were again fired into Israel’s “Western Negev” region, including the hard-hit town of Sderot.

Nor are they preventing “right wing activists”, as Haaretz called them, from announcing at a press conference that they will establish five new settlements (”outposts”, actually, or mini-settlements) in the West Bank during Sukkot: “Right-wing activists are planning to set up five new settlement nuclei throughout the West Bank this Sunday, during the interim days of Sukkot. The operation, details of which were announced Tuesday, will include taking possession of the land at the following locations: Givat Ha’eitam near Efrat, Hill 1013 near Halhoul in the Hebron region, Nofei Hashmonaim near Hashmonaim, ‘Harhivi’ outpost near Elon Moreh, and ‘Shvut Ami’ outpost in Samaria. The extra-parliamentary right-wing movements participating in the operation are also planning a major march to Homesh, a northern West Bank settlement vacated in 2005 as part of the disengagement from Gaza…”
Here is the Haaretz report on the announcement that five new Jewish settlements in the West Bank will be inaugurated on Sunday.

However, according to an information note distributed by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO): “Sukkot is a joyful, family oriented holiday, which follows – and provides a contrast to – the somber, introspective and private character of Yom Kippur. Many businesses and institutions will operate, most on a reduced basis … Sukkot is characterized by two main practices. Jews are enjoined to build, take all of their meals in, and (if possible) sleep in, temporary huts topped with thatch or palm fronds during the festival. These huts (sukkot in Hebrew) commemorate the temporary, portable dwellings in which the Jewish people lived during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness that followed their liberation from slavery in Egypt. The second main Sukkot observance is the special bouquet – consisting of a closed palm frond, a citron, a myrtle branch and a willow branch – that is held during morning prayers on each of the seven days (except the Sabbath) … “

Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians