ALARM AS AL AQSA STORMING RAISES TENSION TO NEW HIGH
▶ UN, US and UAE join in calls for calm as more violence feared after raid on Jerusalem mosque
There were growing concerns last night of further trouble in East Jerusalem, at Al Aqsa Mosque and in the West Bank.
Calls for calm were made after members of Israel’s right-wing government said they would meet violence with violence.
Condemnation of the Israeli police, who yesterday stormed Al Aqsa Mosque compound, attacked those inside and detained hundreds of Palestinians, came from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation “reiterated its firm position on the need to provide full protection for Al Aqsa Mosque and halt serious and provocative violations”.
It “emphasised that worshippers should not barricade themselves inside the mosque and places of worship with weapons and explosives”. The Arab League denounced “the attack on the faithful”. Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the actions of the Israeli security forces could risk region-wide escalation.
“We call on the international community, with an emphasis on the countries that are members of the UN Security Council, to act quickly to make Israel stop this dangerous escalation,” he said.
UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process Tor Wennesland called on all parties to “reject incitement, inflammatory rhetoric and provocative actions”.
“The historic status quo of the holy sites must be upheld,” he added.
Security Minister Itamar BenGvir said Israel was prepared to use lethal force in Gaza, from where the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine fired a rocket into Israel.
The US State Department said it was “alarmed by the shocking scenes in Al Aqsa Mosque and rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel”.
The UAE statement “stressed the need to support … efforts to advance the peace process in the Middle East, end illegal practices that threaten the twostate solution, and establish an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Israel’s Supreme Court has blocked the eviction of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem, ending a 30-year legal battle.
The 18-member household was locked in a dispute with right-wing settler organisations supported by Elad, a privately funded group in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan.
The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the state’s handling of the case.
“The property was once declared as absentee without any basis in law, since the owner was without a doubt a resident of Jerusalem at the time of the initial declaration,” it said.
The family’s lawyer, Waseem Dakwar, praised the “precedent-setting” decision. He said the ruling criticises “how the authorities behaved on this matter and in their declaration of the Sumarin home as absentee property”.
The 1950 absentees’ property law automatically relates to anyone who fled or left due to the 1948 war, after which the state of Israel was founded.
The law, which allows for the transfer of vacated properties to Israel, has come under intense criticism for infringing on the rights of Palestinians.
Mr Dakwar said the ruling “demonstrates the importance of the Supreme Court as the last bastion for every resident and citizen of the country”.
The powers of the Supreme Court and Israel’s wider judiciary are set to be significantly reduced by radical legal reforms proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The plans have sparked a protest movement in Israel over the past three months, with opponents of the measures saying they are a direct threat to democracy.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said social rifts caused by the legal overhaul risk causing “civil war”.
Mr Herzog is holding negotiations between the government and opposition to find a compromise on the measures after Mr Netanyahu paused their passage through parliament following mass protests and a general strike last week.