The IDF's COGAT released this graphic:
Sure enough, thousands of Palestinians flocked to the beaches in Tel Aviv:
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| A group of Jewish girls from Brazil, left, talk with Palestinians from the west bank town of Nablus during the Eid al Adha Muslim holiday at the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Tens of thousands of Palestinians visit Tel Aviv and other places in Israel after Israel granted travel permits to West Bank Palestinians. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) |
Far more Muslims were on the Temple Mount on the first day of Eid this year than the number of Jews who have visited the holy site in total since 1948.
Meanwhile, Israelis' Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is saying that as long as the (relative) calm from Gaza continues, Israel will consider allowing Gazans to work in Israel the way that vetted West Bank Arabs do.
How do Palestinian leaders respond to such humanitarian gestures?
Well, Hamas reacted this way:
Hundreds of resistance fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, paraded in Gaza streets on Saturday evening to mark the advent of Muslims’ Eid al-Adha (the Sacrifice Feast). “Palestinians’ joy will reach its zenith the day the liberation of Palestine and of the al-Aqsa comes true,” said al-Qassam Brigades. A Qassam leader said as he addressed the Palestinian masses: “Hamas resistance brigades will always sacrifice their lives and souls to defend the people, land, and holy sites.”
“The anti-occupation Palestinian youths will forever remain a thorn in the throat of the ‘new Nazis’ (in reference to the Israeli colonizers),” he added. “The Palestinian resistance has become able to settle scores with the Israelis. We will cut the very hands that dare assail our children and women,” he vowed.
“Self-abnegation has become a social phenomenon,” the fighter further stated. “Every single Palestinian citizen opts for armed resistance as the only effective response to the Israeli aggressions.”
“The Palestinian resistance will forever remain faithful to the souls of those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their motherland. We will always track their footsteps. We either win and recover our holy al-Aqsa Mosque or else die at its doorsteps,” he concluded.The West always assumes that confidence building measures results in both sides becoming more willing to cooperate. The fatal mistake is assuming that the Arab and Muslim worlds share the same mindset as the West.