Jerusalem between knot and faith

With the acceleration of events in Palestine and in the depth of Israeli towns, and the impact of what is happening in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa and in the entire Palestinian territories, the question arises: How can we understand the role of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa in the movement and development of events?

Here, I will refer to a number of factors that contribute to understanding this.

first order

It is related to the refocusing of the Palestinian struggle to be linked to the issue of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa in particular. It seems that the Palestinian struggle, after it repositioned itself in Gaza and the West Bank, and after the Israeli authorities imposed a reality there that has become a routine of life, the weight of the Palestinian struggle shifted to Jerusalem, and its Al-Aqsa Mosque, along with what belongs to Jerusalem. The Al-Aqsa Mosque has a place in the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic popular consciousness.

All this is accompanied by hasty, perhaps crazy, Israeli steps to Judaize the city, control its space and impose a fait accompli.

If the fait accompli is imposed through settlement in the West Bank and the siege and isolation of Gaza, then the new reality is the occupation’s incursion in Jerusalem, especially in Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings, through its incursions and an attempt to move forward with the temporal and spatial division there.

This reality in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa is reflected on all Palestinians in all their places of existence and motivates their struggle for the symbolism and status of Jerusalem.

second command

These events reflect the centrality of the religious dimension with its national dimension in the conflict between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinians, not necessarily in the sense that the conflict is between religious groups, but rather the meaning that issues with a religious dimension are strongly present in the conflict, and it seems that Al-Aqsa is at the center of this conflict, because the Palestinians feel that there is an attack on It is part of their sacred and creed, which is at the same time a national symbol of national sovereignty and liberation for the Palestinians.And of course the main danger in this context is what the occupation is trying to market that it allows freedom of worship in an attempt to circumvent the basic issue, which is sovereignty over the mosque and the entire Palestinian lands, and then the issue of Al-Aqsa Mosque ignites the religious aspect that is not isolated from the national and liberation aspect, while the occupation is trying to limit it In freedom and worship, he also fails to provide it, by repeatedly preventing Palestinians from entering the mosque in exchange for allowing settlers to storm it.

The third command

With the rise of the extreme right in the Israeli political and popular arena, especially the right linked to the Al-Aqsa cause, and ignoring, employing or supporting the central parties of this current, this current will escalate its work in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa to impose a fait accompli as it did by increasing its incursions and performing Talmudic prayers there, and calling To slaughter "offerings" inside the mosque.

Here the question arises: Is there an official Israeli interest in turning a blind eye to these steps?

To make it clear that the Israeli authorities are captive to a national religious trend that they do not want to lose, just as its ideology has come to represent a large number of Israelis. It has become part of the political decision by some of its supporters.

All of this leads us to

matter, which is the domination of the religious-national dimension over the Israeli political and popular discourse. The issue of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa has become one of the national religious issues that a significant section of the Israelis believe should work to be established through control and presence in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, to see them At the far end is the Temple Mount, which emulates the faith and ideas of all Jews, with this dominating the Israeli popular consciousness, which has become more conservative and religious and has become more right-wing.

Of course, this matter, and let us be fair, is accompanied by the situation of standing aside by some poles of the religious right because of their belief in the prohibition of entering the mosque until the descent of Christ according to their faith. Its pioneers and supporters are rabbis, official and unofficial actors.

Finally, the state of official Arab letdown with the current waves of normalization has led to an increase in the Palestinians' feeling that they should be at the forefront of defending their land and their sanctities, and that the hollow letters of solidarity that were from Arab officials were nothing but dust in the eyes, and all of this escalates the state of dependence The Palestinian self in the face of Israeli steps, so that the issue of Al-Aqsa is the uniting issue for all Palestinians, especially with the state of official and factional slackness of the Palestinians and the reality of the dead-end political track, so that the Palestinian people are all in one track and moved by one cause, which is Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa.

All this does not prevent it from pointing out that the observer of the scene sees a policy of the Israeli authorities to allow the quiet and gradual occupation of Al-Aqsa Mosque by increasing the presence of the Jewish intruders and allowing them to step up their steps, with a vision not different from those religious right-wingers that sovereignty and presence and the alleged “religious right” be activated in Al-Aqsa Mosque is part of a vision linked to the Jewish collective awareness, but the vision of these politicians believes in the necessity of gradualism, for fear of an explosion in the situation, and for these officials to always be in front of the complex of establishing the Jewish vision and the issue of their sovereignty over the mosque and satisfying the religious faith and religious demands of the public of the right-wing national religious settlement, and their fear of the The situation explodes if the steps cross the Palestinian red lines.

Finally, and in return for all this, it is not possible to deny a second picture that is emerging, and the occupation is trying to work on it, through the reality of linking the Palestinians to their economic situation and trying to keep them aside, to be preoccupied with their daily life, food and drink, through the consolidation of a complex economic reality that makes the Palestinians linked to the Israeli steps, and at the time It is the same to create a sense of the futility of struggle for some, and their preoccupation with daily and living life and managing their affairs as if they were living in the context of a state and a natural reality.

These voices are escalating, but it seems that the depth of the conflict and the centrality of its issues, especially Jerusalem, and the Israeli measures are all factors that make these voices retreat when this great harm to the Palestinian cause and its symbol and center, i.e. Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, make popular solidarity the master of the situation.