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Palestinian Factions Applaud Wave of Attacks

[Gaza City] – A number of Palestinian factions on Wednesday applauded a series of attacks that began the day before, killing one American tourist and wounding more than a dozen Israelis, with some factions calling for more to follow.

Gaza’s de facto leader Hamas said in a statement that the attacks were “evidence that the al-Quds Intifada will continue until its goals are achieved, and that all conspiracies to thwart the intifada have failed.”

The al-Quds Intifada, or Jerusalem uprising, is a popular term given to a wave of unrest that swept the occupied Palestinian territory at the beginning of October last year. It refers to Israeli actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem that served as a major trigger.

The military wing of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) described the attacks as a “natural reaction to the ongoing crimes Israeli forces commit against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territory Israel occupied in 1948.”

The group said it was time “the military wings of Palestinian factions create a joint operation room for the al-Quds Intifada, leading to a united front to respond to the Israeli occupation’s aggression against the Palestinian people.”

The left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also applauded the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, saying: “These operations prove that the intifada is ongoing, and they are a turning point in its course.”

Both DFLP and PFLP are members of the PLO, internationally recognized as the representative of the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Popular Resistance Committees said the attacks were evidence that the Palestinian people supported the “blessed intifada,” and urged Palestinians to carry out more attacks “in all cities of the occupied homeland.”

The Popular Struggle Front also celebrated the attacks, saying: “This proves the intifada wasn’t just an incidental rising but rather an ongoing activity until the liberation of Palestine.”

In a 24-hour period beginning on Tuesday morning, Israeli forces shot dead seven Palestinians allegedly responsible for six attacks across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory that left one American tourist dead and at least 12 Israelis injured.

It was not clear that all the Palestinians were attempting to carry out nationalistic attacks when they were killed, with one of the attacks initially reported as a brawl, while another of the dead was a 50-year-old mother of three in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israeli forces for opening fire on Palestinians who did not pose sufficient threat at the time of their death for the use of lethal violence.

Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the wave of attacks, but said that Israeli security measures were failing to “address the profound sense of alienation and despair driving some Palestinians — especially young people.”

He added: “As oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.”