What caused the attack in Jerusalem?

A PALESTINIAN man drove a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on January 8, killing four and injuring over a dozen more. The attacker was identified as Fadi Qunbar--he was shot dead on the scene by soldiers.

Media outlets and pro-Israel politicians followed a familiar narrative. The casualties in the attack were described as "tourists" rather than soldiers, and reports lionized those who responded by firing a hail of bullets at Qunbar's truck.

Qunbar, meanwhile, was labeled a "terrorist" and a criminal who had "previously served time in an Israeli prison." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even claimed that Qunbar was a sympathizer of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and was inspired by recent truck attacks in Germany and France, though Israeli police have stated that there are no potential or active ISIS cells in Israel.

What the mainstream media missed was the context of the attack. There was no mention that Jerusalem is under military occupation by Israel. Some of the reports almost give the impression that the soldiers were in Jerusalem for vacation. Other reports suggest at least some of them were cadets training to become military commanders, and that their trip to Jerusalem was organized by and for the Israeli military.

In other words, these soldiers are not bystanders to the ongoing illegal occupation--they are its armed agents. Unlike Israel, which routinely targets civilians as part of military operations in Gaza and elsewhere, the attack by Qunbar was aimed at a military target.

FADI QUNBAR was a civilian living under occupation, facing the indignity of apartheid conditions that seep into every aspect of life for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. In the aftermath of the attack, Qunbar's father and brother were arrested, while his East Jerusalem neighborhood was shut down by Israeli police.

Two days later, Israel's Interior Minister Aryeh Deri revoked residency status from Qunbar's mother and 11 more of his relatives, stating, "From now on, terrorists considering an attack will know that their families will pay a price for their actions." This kind of collective punishment is undemocratic and criminal under international law, but commonplace as part of Israel's ongoing occupation.

The attack came just days after Jerusalem's municipal government vowed to approve 618 housing units in East Jerusalem, the first part of a 5,600-unit settlement. The number of settlers in East Jerusalem rose from 193,737 in 2009 to 208,000 at the end of 2014. Nearly 100,000 new settlers colonized the West Bank in the same period, bringing the total to 386,000.

Israel approved this recent settlement plan in defiance of a resolution from the United Nations Security Council on December 23 that called the settlements a "flagrant violation of international law." In response, Netanyahu also recalled Israel's envoys and cut off aid to countries on the Security Council, stating that Israel does not "turn the other cheek."

Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians are well documented. Al Nakba, the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians in the war of Zionist militias to establish Israel in 1948, continues to have repercussions for millions of Palestinian refugees unable to return to their homes because of Israel's refusal to comply with the right of return as enshrined by international law. Palestinians continue to be displaced by Israeli fighter jets bombing their homes in one-sided massacres against Gaza, revocation of residency status in Jerusalem, and settlement expansions in the West Bank.

In the first week of 2017 alone, Israel demolished 74 homes and rainwater cisterns, almost four times the rate of demolitions in 2016. Over 150 Palestinians, including 90 children, were displaced in that week alone.

Israel maintains full civil and military control of Area C of the West Bank--which constitutes 61 percent of West Bank land--while the rest of the West Bank is carved up into Bantustans for nearly 3 million Palestinians whose freedoms are constantly restricted by the occupation.

THE CONDITIONS of the occupation are crimes of apartheid, defined by the International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid as "inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them."

A legal study by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa found that Israel has established an apartheid regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territories based on racial discrimination, segregation and domination, and the creation of a massive security apparatus that brutalizes Palestinians.

The study's conclusion regarding Israel's responsibilities under international law are worth quoting in full:

Israel bears the primary responsibility for remedying the illegal situation it has created. In the first place, it has the duty to cease its unlawful activity and dismantle the structures and institutions of colonialism and apartheid that it has created. Israel is additionally required by international law to implement duties of reparation, compensation and satisfaction in order to wipe out the consequences of its unlawful acts.

But above all, in common with all states, whether acting singly or through the agency of inter-governmental organizations, Israel has the duty to promote the Palestinian people's exercise of its right of self-determination in order that it might freely determine its political status [and] freely pursue its own economic policy and social and cultural development.

It's ironic for Netanyahu to talk about turning the other cheek when he heads an apartheid, colonial regime that systematically oppresses and brutalizes Palestinians. Qunbar's attack was a predictably desperate response to the intolerable situation that Israel is more committed to than ever.

While the media portray any violence committed by Palestinians as attacks against unarmed civilians, that is not what happened in the Jerusalem attack. The only civilians harmed were the Palestinian relatives and neighbors of Fadi Qunbar, who were harassed and arrested by colonial police in retribution for his actions.

Using this tragic situation to push a racist agenda is opportunistic and disgusting. We should unequivocally stand with the Palestinian people against Israeli apartheid and have empathy for those who fight back in these dire times.