Cautious calm returns to the Temple Mount
AS THE week drew to a close, a conflict on the Temple Mount that boiled over on Tuesday appeared to be ending in the Palestinians’ favour. Israeli police had not acted to evict the Muslims from a building they had occupied in the compound.
According to Israeli and Palestinian sources, an unofficial deal was reached between Israel and Jordan to allow the waqf Muslim custodians to assume control of the property.
The Bab al-Rahma building, adjacent to the Shaar Harchamim gate to the Temple Mount, had been shut down for years due to the activities of a Hamaslinked organisation there.
But a fortnight ago it was occupied by young Palestinian activists, leading to repeated clashes with police around Jerusalem’s Old City, while the head of the waqf arrested.
On Tuesday afternoon, a firebomb was thrown at the small Israeli police station at Temple Mount, setting it on fire and lightly injuring one police officer. In response, officers entered the compound, arresting ten people and closing down the mosques.
But on Wednesday morning, the Temple Mount opened again as usual after an agreement was apparently reached over the contested building.
The unconfirmed details of the deal between the Israeli government and the Jordanian Royal household will see the waqf take control of the building, which will then be closed for renovations. Once it reopens, it will serve as the waqf’s offices, not as a new mosque.
It comes amid a long-term struggle for control and sovereignty of Temple Mount between Israel, Jordan and the various Palestinian factions.
The waqf is currently controlled jointly by Jordan and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, but it is under pressure from Hamas and other Islamist groups wanting to take a tougher line against Israel.
The Bab al-Rahma building was originally occupied by activists opposed to the waqf, which was nonetheless forced to endorse their actions. It is as much a challenge to the Palestinian Authority and Jordan as it is to Israel, which observers said exaplined the attempts to reach a quiet agreement with Israel behind the scenes.
As a tense calm returned to the mount on Wednesday, right-wing Israeli politicians criticised the Netanyahu government for accepting the “erosion of Israeli sovereignty on Temple Mount”.
But even the most right-wing Israeli governments have tried to maintain the status quo at the place which is the ground-zero of the conflict and has previously sparked widespread violence across the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel’s election is less than a month away and no Israeli prime minister would want to go to the polls with the Palestinian Territories in conflict and the violence spelling over into Israel.
But analysts said maintaining calm will be a challenge in a campaign in which coalition parties are vying with each other to show which is the more nationalist, and that the opportunity for extremists to try and seize influence will become more attractive.