Back to Basics of "Resisting The Occupation"
 |
| Photo credits: Flash 90, Jonathan Sindel and Hadas Partosh. |
"The decision of Jerusalem Police District Commander Yoram Halevy to place these metal detectors near the Temple Mount is a brave decision because this time last week we had two policemen killed. He is taking responsibility that things like this will not happen again.""[Israel should not be intimidated by threats and should not reward terrorism by backing down]: I welcome the police on their courageous decisions and cabinet for backing them up."
"This is not a political issue, but a security related. No one is trying the change the status quo on Temple Mount, and I call on all Muslim residents to calm the spirits, avoid violence and listen to the police."Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat
Once again the Arab and Muslim world is united against
Israel. Turkey and Jordan, along with the Palestinian Authority have accused
Israel of closing access to faithful Muslims to the al-Aqsa Mosque. Outrage is
visceral and spontaneous, denouncing the State of Israel for denying Muslims
entry to the Noble Sanctuary for Friday prayers. The Jordanian-sponsored Waqf
authority has accused Israel of planning to alter the status quo on the Noble
Sanctuary, the third most sacred site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, which
just incidentally happens to also be Israel’s most sacred site, the
Temple Mount, where archaeological remnants of the Temple of Solomon are
located.
A site sacred to Judaism’s heritage for thousands of years
before Islam was ever introduced to the world, in the 7th Century. Where,
typical of Islam, Islamic structures were built over the ruins of the Jewish
Temple, twice destroyed in antiquity, by the Babylonians and by the Romans. But a
site that remained a primary destination for the faithful, for Jews living in
Jerusalem, throughout the greater Middle East, and in the far broader diaspora
of dispersed Jewry. Muslim authorities insist that what they call the Noble
Sanctuary cannot be shared by another religion, irrespective of how vital that
site is to a religion and historical antecedents much predating Islam.
Islamic authorities speak of "Jewish feet defiling" the site
sacred to Islam. Irrespective of the fact that Jerusalem represents Judaism’s
ancient heritage, Muslims claim it as solely their own, and adamantly refuse to allow
Jews to enter the sacred environs and to pray there. In the interests of
maintaining peace between the two religions, Israel, after its successful
defence in the 1967 conflict that liberated East Jerusalem's Old City from Jordan, agreed to
allow Jordan to continue its stewardship of the site on behalf of Islam,
through the authority of the Waqf which it administers.
Muslims may pray unhindered at their third most holy site in
Islam, Jews are forbidden to pray at their most sacred site in Judaism, even though
Israel administers the territory as its own. The presence of Jews at the site,
permitted to enter but not to pray remains a source of adversity, however, with
Muslims resenting Jewish presence and acting on the incitement by their
political and religious leaders, hurl insults as Jews as well as rocks in a
demonstration of contempt and rage. That demonstration of rage went somewhat further last
week when three Arab Palestinians from a small village inside Israel attacked
and killed two Israeli police stationed for security purposes at the site.
Those murders led to an immediate but brief shutdown of the
site, where no one but police investigators were permitted entry, for obvious
reasons, reflecting standard police procedure anywhere in the world where a
violent crime of this magnitude is committed. This brief shutdown led to an
immediate protest by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but not a
word of condemnation of the atrocity that had led to the shutdown. Saudi Arabia’s
king responded by demanding the site immediately be reopened to allow Muslims to
enter the al-Aqsa mosque for prayer.
| Palestinians pray on a street near a road block outside Jerusalem's Old City July 21, 2017.. (photo credit:REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD) |
From those very same sacred precincts came the three
assassins carrying their weapons meant to kill Israelis. Connivance with some
authorities within the edifices on the Temple Mount was not entirely ruled out,
enabling the three to carry out their mission. Entry for Muslims through their
special gate into the compound has always been carried out without security
checks. Even though weapons, including rocks to be thrown at Israeli security
police and tourists have been stored there in the past, to be used to
satisfyingly brutal effect.
When within a day the entry gates to the complex were
re-opened, it was revealed that security devices had been installed. The
Palestinian Authority immediately bristled at the news that metal detectors
were put in place and henceforth all who enter the shrine must first undergo a
security check. Jerusalem’s elite Muslim cleric Mohammed Hussein, forbade
Muslims to enter the gates in protest of the placement of the metal detectors.
They must, he insisted, pray instead in their numbers outside the gates. And
so, thousands of Muslims appeared on the streets, positioning themselves to
pray in protest on the streets outside the gates.
All the while, Palestinians and the world at large were
being informed that Israel had betrayed its assurance to the world of Islam of
free access to Muslims to their third most holy site. Worse, that plans to
alter the site itself were to take place. And in the worst of all possible
worlds for Islam and its faithful ummah, filthy Jewish feet would not only be
ascending what to Jews is their holy of holies, but they would, henceforth,
pray there as well. The Arab and Muslim world has risen as one to condemn and
to threaten.
Contacts with Israel, declared Mahmoud Abbas would be
suspended on "all levels". Presumably that includes security. And that would
certainly spell problems for President Abbas, for without the aid of the
Israeli military his own life would be forfeit, reflecting the lethal animosities
between the PA’s Fatah and Gaza’s Hamas. Void of Israel’s protection, the
violence-inspiring Abbas would be mortally dispatched by the violently-responding
Hamas, taking advantage of the opportunity to act.
In the meanwhile, riots have broken out in Israel, with
Palestinians mounting protests where clashes with Israeli troops are satisfying
Palestinians’ penchant for ‘resistance’ of the ‘occupation’. In Turkey and in
Jordan violent protests are taking place, charging Israel with crimes against
Islam. In the streets of Jerusalem and at some West Bank locations,
Palestinians throw stones and firecrackers and use burning tires to attack the
Israeli security personnel. In response, Israeli troops have fired live rounds
of rubber bullets and tear gas.
Any excuse for violence and incitement for more that the
Palestinians can grasp in their ongoing war with Israel will do to build
popular resentment at a victimhood the Palestinians and the wider circle of
Islamist militants graspingly hold dear to describe the brutality levelled at
them by genocidal Israelis. Muslim worshippers are informed by their religious
authorities to prepare for a “long test of wills” for, according to Mohammed
Hussein: “We will not back off.” No, of course they will not.
Turkey’s tyrannical president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is
undoubtedly pleased with these events, purporting to talk “reason” to the
Israelis to persuade the removal of the metal detectors and the opening of the
undefended gates to further mayhem and murder. Israel’s security measures,
according to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, are “radical”. Not so,
Turkey’s response to a failed coup attempt last summer that resulted in the
arrest and imprisonment of tens of thousands of Turks and Kurds, much less the
dismissal of over a hundred-thousand politicians, teachers, judges, military
personnel, journalists, police and lawyers on trumped-up charges that they
colluded with Turkey’s Gulenist movement to overturn the 'democratic' government.
The viciously violent attacks against Jews continues
unabated, and celebrated by Islamists such as Hamas and Turkey, lauded as well
by Palestinians supporting the PA’s contention that Israel sits on Palestinian
land. A Palestinian man entered a West Bank settlement on Friday, climbing a
security fence and entering a home where a family was preparing to celebrate
the birth of a child. There he attacked four people having dinner, killing three
of them, a grandfather, one of his sons and one of his daughters.
As is so often done, the killer had posted a boast on
Facebook of his intention, claiming to be motivated by Israel’s wrong-doing
toward Muslim worshippers at the shrine. An off-duty soldier responded to
screaming at the invaded home, rushed to the scene and shot and wounded the 19-year-old attacker who
just murdered three innocent people. He has now achieved for himself hero status in the Palestinian world order.
Labels: Conflict, Heritage, Israel, Palestinians, Temple Mount
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, July 23, 2017
<< Home