The law criminalizing raising the Palestinian flag will not stop the struggle of our people

Within the framework of the most right-wing, extremist and racist occupation government policy, and an embodiment of its aggressive policy against the Palestinian people, the occupation continues to legislate laws that express extreme hatred for the rights of the Palestinian people and their national symbols. The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) approved a preliminary reading last Wednesday 5/17/2023 draft A law banning the raising of the Palestinian flag in Jerusalem and the lands of 1948. And 54 Knesset members voted in favor of the bill against 16 opponents, according to the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz", which added that the bill was submitted by Representative Almog Cohen of the "Jewish Power" party led by the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Benn plentiful.

The Israeli newspaper indicated that if the bill is approved in 3 readings, "it will be possible to impose a sentence of up to one year in prison on those who wave the Palestinian flag."

The draft law, which was initiated by the far-right government coalition headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, stipulates the ban on protests and demonstrations during which the Palestinian flag is raised in the 48 territories and occupied Jerusalem. The interpretation of the law stated that "there is a red line between legitimate democratic protest and protests and demonstrations during which the flags of those who do not recognize the State of Israel or do not allow the flag of Israel to be raised in their lands and domains are raised."

Until now, the powers of "prohibiting the raising of the Palestinian flag" were granted to the Inspector General of the Israeli Police, as it empowers him to give instructions to police officers to prevent the raising of the Palestinian flag in public places, in the event that the flag constitutes "a symbol of disturbing public order." According to instructions from the Attorney General of the Israeli government, since 2006, the police do not apply this part of the powers and instructions to lower the Palestinian flag and prohibit its display in public places, except when there is a "high level of probability of a serious breach of the public peace." Commenting on the draft law, the Adalah human rights center issued a statement stating that "the police who prevent flags from being raised in demonstrations and carry out arrests for raising flags, exceed their powers and do not act in accordance with the law."

The Center for Human Rights stated that the law presented by the government coalition headed by Netanyahu is considered more extreme than the procedures and powers granted to the Inspector General of Police regarding raising the Palestinian flag in public places. The "Adalah" center attributed this extremism and danger in the law to the fact that it aims to criminalize raising the Palestinian flag and imposing imprisonment and fines on individuals, as well as imposing criminal penalties for raising the flag in public places, not only in institutions supported by the Israeli government.

The human rights center circulated a "position paper" that reviews "hostility and incitement against what the Palestinian flag and its hoists have represented over the past years and how the Israeli governments and various judicial authorities have dealt with it." The center said that the draft law comes within the context of attempts to suppress freedom of political expression and the freedom to express collective identity and rob it of the Palestinians, which is also evident in the illegal dealings of the Israeli police with the Palestinians in this context. The dangerous escalation in recent months by the occupation forces and their commission of illegal acts against Palestinians for raising the flag in public places, which amounted to the arrest of demonstrators and the arrest of lawyers who give them legal advice, as well as in light of attempts to consolidate the prohibition of raising the Palestinian flag in law.

The current period, especially after the march of flags carried out by extremist settlers in occupied Jerusalem, on the occasion of the occupation of Jerusalem and its annexation to the occupying entity, is witnessing a dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people throughout the occupied Palestinian territories in the lands of 1948 and in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories in 1967, with the aim of bringing the people to their knees. The Palestinian people, and ending their resistance to the occupation, and the extreme right-wing occupation government believes that the enactment of extreme racist laws, such as the law criminalizing raising the Palestinian flag, will lead to stopping the resistance of the Palestinian people, and discouraging them from raising the Palestinian flag during their demonstrations and protest stops against the practices of the occupation and its aggressive policies, forgetting that the people The Palestinian was and will remain proud of his Palestinian flag, and will continue to raise it high, as he used to raise it in the previous years and decades, even if the price for that is not imprisonment for a year, but rather if the price is paying his life as a ransom to protect his flag and keep it flying high, and this is what has been happening since The existence of the occupation until now, and the policy of right-wing extremism of the occupation government, and the policy of apartheid and racist hatred practiced against the Palestinian people, will turn into a greater incentive to resist the occupation until the Palestinian people achieve their legitimate national rights to return, independence and self-determination, and establish their independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state.