Israeli measures provoke Palestinians
Al Haram Al Sharif is a flashpoint for Palestinians, one that could easily signal the start of a new intifada
or more the past 10 days, tensions have been simmering in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank as a direct result of sectarian and divisive provocations imposed by Israeli officials and occupation security forces on the holy shrine of Al Haram Al Sharif. Between Friday and Saturday alone, the escalation in tensions resulted in the deaths of three Israelis and three Palestinians respectively. It seems inevitable that unless the latest provocative measures are withdrawn, there is a potential for the violence to spiral into a drawn-out and another bloody chapter in the dark saga of Israeli occupation and subjugation endured by Palestinians.
Al Haram Al Sharif contains Al Aqsa Mosque (the third-holiest site in Islam) and the Dome of the Rock. Since 1967 and Israeli’s illegal and immoral occupation and its annexation of East Jerusalem, the holy shrine remains a flashpoint, one that the occupation administration and its security apparatus needs to treat with delicate diplomatic gloves — not tread with heavy jack-booted brutality. For years, and largely with the support of an occupation administration acting on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, agreed Arab access to Al Haram Al Sharif has been eroded and undermined by the actions of Zionist radicals intent on imposing their exclusivity on the Islamic shrine.
The latest tensions arose on July 14 after an incident in the occupied city in which two occupation forces policemen were killed. Israeli authorities abruptly shut down access to Al Haram Al Sharif, determining the gunmen had allegedly initiated their attack from the site. That hasn’t been independently verified. Since then, Israeli occupation forces have imposed metal detectors and other security measures that infringe upon internationally agreed rights of Arab access and prevent Muslims from freely visiting the shrine to pray.
In 2000, then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Beirut and a man who ordered the slaughter of thousands of Palestinian refugee women and children, visited the compound — an event that ignited the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that lasted for four years. Israel’s forces of occupation need to understand that we are now at a critical juncture, one that sees all the elements in place for a new such uprising. Netanyahu and his right-wing rabbis have frustrated every attempt at talks to secure a lasting peace; have antagonised Arabs with punitive and petty measures; have radicalised a new generation of Palestinians now savvy at organising resistance through social media; and now shut access to Al Haram Al Sharif. It’s a powder keg bound to ignite.