The killing of two border policemen by three Israeli Arabs near the Al Aqsa compound/Temple Mount, the closure of the holy sites, and the subsequent decision to install a security fence by the Israeli government has caused mass demonstrations and more violence across the Occupied Territories. Despite the Israeli government’s later decision to remove the security barrier, the tensions are high, with many Palestinians and others across the Arab world demanding that Israel reverse its discriminatory policies in Jerusalem against the Palestinian population and Muslim worshipers in general.
Beyond the immediate human costs, Ma’an News reports that the heightened security measures put in place by the Israeli government are beginning to have a serious economic impact on Palestinian shopkeepers: “Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq released a statement on Tuesday expressing concern over the fact that the majority of the 54 shops inside a historic souq in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem have remained closed ever since Israeli forces began to impose strict closures and punitive measures on the city almost two weeks ago…. Warning of the ‘disastrous consequences’ that a continued closure would have on al-Qatanin, al-Haq also noted that a metal bar was installed at the souq’s entrance, and expressed fear that cameras would be installed there in the near future as part of the Israeli government’s proposed 100 million shekels ($28 million) security network to further surveil Palestinians.”
Additionally, the aggressive military posture of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is already causing havoc among the Palestinian population beyond Jerusalem, with the Palestinian news site Wafa reporting homes in the West Bank are being forcefully turned into IDF “military outposts“: “Israeli forces Wednesday raided a house belonging to one of the Palestinian residents in Hebron’s town of Dura and turned its rooftop into a military outpost, said WAFA correspondent. Israeli army forces raided the home of Yousif al-Shahateet near Kharsa junction to the south of Dura and proceeded to set up a tent on the roof, as well as erecting an Israeli flag, and turned the roof into a military post.”
The situation continues to remain tense, as Palestinian armed groups have called for violent protests in Jerusalem. The Times of Israel reports that the Jordanian King “Abdullah II [urged] Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to work to calm spiraling tensions Wednesday, hours after Palestinian factions called for violent demonstrations Friday over the Temple Mount…. Earlier Wednesday, Abbas approved plans by the leaders of the Fatah Tanzim militia to organize mass demonstrations on Friday and in the days after…. The Tanzim, an armed militia loosely affiliated with Fatah, was a key player in violent demonstrations at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000. Its leader then was Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in jail for orchestrating deadly terrorism during the Second Intifada.”
According to a report by Egypt Independent daily, Israel’s actions have been condemned by Arab leaders, including the head of the Arab League as well as officials from the Egyptian government: “’Israel is playing with fire when it tries to change the status quo of the Holy City, especially Al-Aqsah mosque,’ Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Abu El Gheit, said on Sunday, Abu El Gheit, Egypt’s previous foreign minister, who visited the Temple Mount during his tenure, added that ‘the Israeli authorities put the region in a very dangerous situation,’ saying that Israeli policies ‘are not directed at the Palestinians alone’ and that they ‘hurt the feelings of every Arab and Muslim in the world’…. On Friday, Egypt called on Israel to stop the violence against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque site and in Jerusalem. Egypt urged Israel to not only halt [the] violence [but also remove] the heightened security measures against Palestinians in Jerusalem, after three Palestinians were killed in clashes with occupation forces at the mosque.”
Jordan Times’s Hasan Abu Nimah suggests that the ongoing crisis reflects the current state of disarray among the Arab countries as well as a lack of willingness by the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continuing disregard for and abuse of Palestinian rights: “Israel badly miscalculated, and it is not the first time. There are a number of conditions which must have led Israel’s leadership to believe that it would get away with its latest move: the Arab world is sinking deeper in its own troubles and some Arab circles openly call for cooperation with Israel to confront an alleged Iranian threat; Washington is assumed to be on Israel’s side no matter what; the Palestinian Authority is weak and in disarray…. Now that the situation is getting quickly out of hand, expect international operators to rush in with some band-aid solution to deal with the immediate crisis. They may come up with something to restore the status quo. But the status quo, let us remember, is one of brutal injustice and occupation. As long as that remains the case, and they do not dare challenge Israel’s reckless and criminal actions, they are only buying time until the next explosion.”
Similarly, the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, in a recent editorial pointed to the Qatar crisis as an enabling factor for Israel’s brazen actions: “Restrictions imposed by Israel on Muslims’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque have been harshly criticized by a number of governments in recent weeks. No one can see these measures as innocent steps to impose order and security. They are similar to past Israeli acts that eventually led to Tel Aviv declaring sovereignty over land that it does not own and the current response to the most recent Israeli encroachment on land belonging to the entire Muslim world is entirely justified…. it is noteworthy that Israel’s controversial steps took place against the backdrop of the Qatar crisis. As Muslim countries are busy fighting each other, Israel has seized this opportunity to impose unjustified restrictions on the religious freedom of Palestinians…. At a time when the entire region suffers from chaos, Tel Aviv has been eager to pick new fights. But it’s important to recognize that the deepening of regional chaos will hurt the interests of Israel above everyone else’s. The smart thing for the Israelis to do would be to make more friends and repair their relations with their enemies.”
On the other hand, the Israeli media has been saying Israel is the victim of Palestinian extremism, forced to take security measures to prevent further violence. For example, Jerusalem Post’s Barry Shaw accuses the Israeli government of not being aggressive enough in the face of Palestinian violence: “We are caught, like an animal, unable to shake off the obsessive hunger of those who have their claws into us and want to destroy us. Like a wounded animal, we didn’t assess the threat, or appreciate the real danger… They thought their strong and non-offensive posture would appease the hungry killers into not attacking…. We may pretend that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of the Jewish state but there are parts of Jerusalem where the municipality fears to tread, places where obsessive Jew hatred and a desire to see the end of Israel is growing…. The Israeli government must open up to a serious dose of strategic reality therapy. We are on the path to our own destruction. It is time to go on the offensive with courage and commitment. No other remedy can result in permanent peace.”
Also writing for the Jerusalem Post, Moshe Dann urges the Israeli government to use the current impasse to change the status quo on the sovereignty of the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa compound: “Strange as it may seem, the current rioting by Arabs in Jerusalem may be a blessing in disguise. First, it will force the government to assert its sovereign authority over the Temple Mount. Second, it exposes the absurdity of allowing the Jordanian government and the Wakf to exercise sole authority on the Mount, rather than over specific sites, such as the Aksa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. Third, it refutes delusional suggestions that Israel ‘share sovereignty’ and relinquish valuable tangibles (Jewish holy sites, land and communities) for worthless intangibles (diplomatic relations and economic agreements) …. The question is not if Israel will win this confrontation – it will – but if the Temple Mount will continue to be disgraced as a political football. Nor is the goal to ‘return to the status quo’. The Temple Mount should be respected as a sacred place where anyone can worship God. This is an opportunity to establish a new, equitable and reasonable status quo.”
Avi Issacharoff, in an op-ed for the Times of Israel, provides a more nuanced analysis, while perpetuating the Israeli sense of victimhood: “The indications that the crisis is far from over are evident on several levels. First, Tuesday’s demonstrations by Muslim worshipers, which spiraled into violence outside the entrances to the Temple Mount, involved thousands of demonstrators refusing to enter the Al-Aqsa compound despite all of their demands being met…. The second indication relates to Abbas…. If in the past Abbas was considered weak, now many in the Palestinian public consider him to be simply irrelevant. He was not part of the erupting crisis on the Temple Mount, nor was he involved in efforts to solve it…. Of course, Netanyahu is central to this story as well. It is hard to understand his decision Tuesday. Just the night before, the cabinet decided to remove the metal detectors in order to calm tensions. But less than a day later, Netanyahu announced that he had ordered manual inspections of all worshipers. If before there was no fuel or spark, Netanyahu has now provided it.”
Arab News’s Ray Hanania, however, pushes back against such arguments by accusing the Israeli government of hypocrisy and fabricated outrage: “The biggest obstacle to peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors is Israeli hypocrisy driven by a double standard of justice. Israel has been highlighting Arab speculation that it orchestrated the most recent clashes at the Haram Al-Sharif mosque compound in order to further obfuscate its archaeological digging…. Israel ignores international law when it oppresses Palestinians, destroys the homes of relatives of suspects accused of violence, confiscates lands and homes on occupied territory, prevents Muslims from praying at holy sites, and rejects UN resolutions. For instance, UNESCO has repeatedly been denied access to inspect Israel’s archaeological digs under the Haram Al-Sharif. Israel cannot continue to claim it is a victim when it is the cause of most of the violence, death and destruction in that part of the world. Its refusal to recognize Palestinian rights is a violation of the very international law it embraces when convenient. Israel’s actions are fueling a conflict that it knows could easily spiral out of its control.”