ReportageFor the first time since the first Intifada, Palestinians on both sides of the “green line” observed a general strike on Tuesday (May 18th) in reaction to events in Gaza and Jerusalem.
Iron curtains remained lowered Tuesday, May 18, in the shopping streets of Jaffa. Pharmacists are absent subscribers, supermarkets in disarray, without vendors in West Jerusalem. Jewish bosses and Palestinian employees exchange heavy misunderstanding messages on WhatsApp messaging in Haifa, in the north. A large part of the Arab citizens of Israel did not show up for work. It is strike day. Day of Palestinian anger in Israel.
By midday, this anger spread throughout the occupied territories of the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority (PA) spontaneously decided to join community leaders and Palestinian MPs from Israel who called for a strike on Monday. Motivated by the ongoing war in Gaza, as well as by more than a month of Israeli police repression in Jerusalem, this mobilization in historic Palestine is a first since the 1990s.
In Ramallah, the political center of the occupied West Bank, schools and administrations remain closed. A considerable crowd gathered around the Place des Lions. A faction leader promises at the microphone “Millions of martyrs” and evokes the memory of the first Intifada (1987-1993). Then, a part of the youth follows a slope towards the north-eastern exit of the city, to challenge the Israeli soldiers near the crossing point and the Israeli base of Beit El.
Since the first riots on Friday, Moee (an assumed name) has only lived for these clashes. “I can’t work, can’t study. My life is these riots. Like that of my friends. Today we Palestinians are one body. We wake up “, said the 24-year-old student, an electronic music producer, with sooty hands from throwing tires into the flames.
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The anger of these young people has been rolling since Friday. She picked up a lot of speed in four days. They advance towards the tall grass which borders the road, behind small groups armed with slingshots better trained than them. They move away from the vertical of an army drone, which flies light and slow about fifteen meters above their heads. A young man tries to shoot him down with a slingshot. Others shoot fireworks in its wake, before the drone, imperturbable, releases a cluster of smoke grenades, which spread a maroon flow.
A few minutes later, shots slam nearby and the crowd shakes, uncertain. The Israeli army fires live ammunition. Four Palestinians died on Tuesday. The Red Crescent counts 35 gunshot wounds across the West Bank. Ramallah declared a day of mourning on Wednesday. In the afternoon, two Israeli soldiers were hit by gunfire from a Palestinian refugee camp perched on a hill, from which the Beit El base can be seen. The army responded for several minutes. .
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