RAMALLAH, West Bank — Planned evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, as well as the Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Muslim worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan, have been a detonator that triggered a confrontation in the Palestinian territories in the past weeks. The confrontation was quickly transported inside the Green Line (to cities within Israel), and escalated into a war on the Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Jarrah has now become a key to reaching a truce. The Palestinian armed factions have set as a condition that any cease-fire negotiations between them and Israel includes the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Al-Aqsa Mosque dossiers.
On May 10, the conflict broke out in Gaza after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, launched a rocket attack against the city of Jerusalem. The attack came in response to the repeated attacks by the Israeli Police against Jerusalemites at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and in Sheikh Jarrah, which wounded hundreds of Palestinians.
A Hamas source who declined to be named told Al-Monitor that since the early hours of the battle, Hamas received calls from Arab, international and United Nations parties to push for a cease-fire in Gaza, and that it continues to receive such calls. He said that Hamas refused any cease-fire deal in exchange for a cessation of the Israeli aggression, and requires that Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah be included in any negotiations.
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