Al-Aqsa is at the heart of the confrontation.. What does 2023 hold for Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem?

The year 2022 gathers its last pages in preparation for departure, but those related to the Judaization of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the attack on education, attempts to displace, and settlement infiltration in Jerusalem refuse to be folded, because they were transferred by the occupation force to the year 2023.

Occupied Jerusalem -

The year 2022 gathers its last pages in preparation for departure, but those related to the Judaization of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the attack on education, attempts to displace and settlement infiltration into occupied Jerusalem refuse to be folded, because it was transferred by the occupation force to 2023.

The tendency of more members of Israeli society to adopt the religious interpretation of Zionism and the most aggressive and extremist positions made the Al-Aqsa Mosque, during 2022, at the heart of the confrontation, as it is the center of the "identity-resolving" battle in Jerusalem.

The aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque in the last year - which Ziyad Abhais, a researcher on Jerusalem affairs, described as the most violent since 1967 - can be summarized in 3 central directions:

The first: the major incursions and the development of the aggression of the occupation police to empty Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The second: the imposition of biblical rituals, in an unprecedented public approach to the moral establishment of the Temple, and the consecration of Al-Aqsa as a Jewish religious center.
Third: The continuous decline in the role of the Jordanian endowments, as they constitute the Islamic administration of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In light of the continuous escalation of the extremist Temple groups and the emergence of aggression against Al-Aqsa in the recent Israeli election programs, and the attempt to deter the resistance in the Gaza Strip from devoting its presence in the battle for Jerusalem in exchange for the launch and development of the resistance in the West Bank, the expected in the mosque in 2023 can be summarized in the following general tracks, according to the researcher Abhis:

The storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli extremists was repeated frequently during 2022 (Al-Jazeera Net)

major incursions

The escalation of major incursions and the expansion of biblical rituals in Al-Aqsa, with the recurrence of the Hebrew and Hijri calendars coinciding on the Easter holiday, which will fall in the third week of the next month of Ramadan (next March).

Flag battle

In addition, the battle of the Palestinian flag will be renewed against the march of the Israeli flags during next May, especially since this confrontation will occur on a Friday, and the attempt to set a record for the largest incursion on the anniversary of the "destruction of the Temple" will be renewed in July 2023.

Bin Gvir password

The escalation of the aggression of the occupation police and the attempt to change the status quo, especially since Itamar Ben Gvir tends to be the minister responsible for the rules of entry to Al-Aqsa, and he is an active member of the extremist Temple groups and a contributor to the establishment of one of the most extreme of them, which is the Lahava group, which means "flame" in Arabic. .

Perhaps Ben Gvir will go to storm each of the major Jewish holidays to reassure himself of the facilities provided to the invaders, which will put the Jordanian role in Al-Aqsa in front of an existential challenge.

Al-Aqsa is the heart of the battle

The escalation of internal Zionist contradictions against the backdrop of the price paid to Judaize Al-Aqsa, an agenda unanimously agreed upon by the right, but a matter of deep contention in Israeli society, as it is rejected by the center movement and a large segment of the “Haredi” traditional religious, a debate that emerged after the Palestinian qualitative rehabilitation process near Tel Aviv. last May.

Follow-up of the Temple groups also shows that they have begun to show an increasing tendency to discord and fragmentation, which could surface with the escalation of their influence and sense of relief during 2023.

A view of Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Wadi Al-Rababa neighborhood, which is threatened by several Judaization projects (Al-Jazeera Net)

settlement penetration

In turn, the Director General of the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ), Dr. Jad Ishaq, said that the most important thing that must be noted is that Israel began in 2022 to lay clear building blocks for the establishment of "Greater Jerusalem", which aims to settle demography in favor of the Jews.

Israel seeks to achieve this by adding 4 large settlement blocs: Givat Ze'ev, Ma'ale Adumim, Gush Etzion and Psagot, and this will lead to reducing the percentage of Palestinians in the city from 37 to 21%.

In addition, the year 2022 witnessed the approval of several settlement projects, including the addition of 4,900 settlement units in Jerusalem, and the approval of building another 9,000 units in the Atarot area, north of the city.

The "Silicon Valley" settlement project was also approved on an area of 710 dunums in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood in Jerusalem, in addition to converting Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan into mixed neighborhoods by planting more settlers and issuing orders to evict Palestinians or demolish their homes.

According to ARIJ data, during the year 2022, 138 cases of demolitions were recorded in Jerusalem, and 273 cases of settler attacks on the lands and properties of citizens.

Israel also began to impose its sovereignty on more properties by announcing the "Land Settlement and Registration" project, which will put 80% of the lands at risk of being registered as absentee property.

Although many of the settlement projects hinder the objections submitted against them from starting them, Ishaq confirmed that the next government will work to implement them.

Regarding what will be the case in 2023 in light of the deportation of many Judaization projects, Isaac commented, "If matters are left to Israel, the Palestinians will become strangers in Jerusalem in light of the targeting of the city and the areas of influence near it."

One of the settlement outposts in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in the town of Silwan, Jerusalem (Al-Jazeera Net)

Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah

The western part of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, known to Palestinians as “Land of the Naqaa,” flared up in early 2022, and the confrontations intensified with the extremist MP Itamar Ben Gvir moving his office to the land of the Salem family, which is threatened with eviction of its house in favor of the settlers.

In light of the introduction of the lands of the western part within the registration and settlement project, the battle of this part and the eastern part known as "Karm al-Jaouni" - whose lands the settlement associations claim ownership of - is likely to flare up again in 2023.

The danger of forced displacement surrounds about 7,500 individuals who live in 6 neighborhoods in the town of Silwan, and they are threatened with either demolition of their homes under the pretext of building without a permit, or eviction and expulsion in favor of settlement associations.

During the year 2022, trial sessions were held for some families of the threatened neighborhoods, and for the residents of the lands of the Wadi Al-Rababa neighborhood in the same town, which the occupation authorities seek to tighten their grip on in preparation for the implementation of huge settlement projects in a strategic spot located opposite Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Damascus Gate, one of the most prominent gates in the Old City of Jerusalem (Al-Jazeera Net)

The identity of the Damascus Gate

It is expected that the Damascus Gate (one of the gates of the Old City) will dominate the scene again with the beginning of the next month of Ramadan, as has happened in the past two years, in light of the occupation forces deliberately emptying it and trying to change its features and restrict the seating space in its yard and on its stands.

Inside a Palestinian school in Jerusalem (Al-Jazeera Net)

Palestinian schools and curriculum

After restricting the work of two schools in Jerusalem in 2022 by revoking their permanent licenses and converting them to temporary ones, claiming that the Palestinian curricula that they teach to students contain “incitement against the Israeli state and army in school textbooks,” it is expected that in 2023 the circle of schools that the occupation municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education staff will restrict their work because they implement Palestinian curriculum.

According to data from the Faisal Al-Husseini Foundation, approximately 45,500 male and female students in Jerusalem go to 146 schools affiliated with the Palestinian education umbrella.