Palestinian forces call for civil disobedience starting Sunday

18 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Palestinian forces have called for civil disobedience by the population starting this Sunday and for a general strike to protest Israeli restrictions against residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and the nearby town of Anata.

The measures, denounced by the Palestinians as “collective punishment”, were imposed in October 2022, when Udai Tamimi, a resident of Anata, shot and killed 18-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Lazar at a checkpoint at the entrance to the camp. of refugees which, along with parts of Anata, lies within the limits of Jerusalem.

The call was made by the Palestinian Islamic and National Forces (PNF) coalition, a group formed after the Second Intifada that usually includes organizations from across the Palestinian ideological spectrum, including the Palestinian Authority’s Al Fatah movement and the Hamas Islamist movement.

Among the disobedience measures, the group calls on Palestinians not to go to their workplaces in Israel, to refuse to pay taxes to the Israeli authorities and the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem, and to close the access to the road leading to the post. of control of the field of Shuafat and Anata.

“Civil disobedience arises in response to the daily crimes of the Israeli occupation government against our people in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories, including extrajudicial killings, arrests and house demolitions,” according to the statement, collected by the Palestinian agency Wafa. .

“It also comes against the backdrop of almost daily Israeli military and police raids on the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem and the adjoining town of Anata,” the coalition added.

Last week, a 14-year-old boy from the camp was arrested after stabbing and wounding an Israeli man in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli authorities said at the time.

Since then, the Israeli Police have imposed tight security at the checkpoint, carried out large-scale raids in the camp and Anata and arrested dozens of residents suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.