Occupied Jerusalem

- Hours after the Hebrew media circulated conflicting news about its postponement, the extremist Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, carried out his first storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, after assuming the national security portfolio in the new Israeli government.

Despite the condemning and denouncing statements, the storming of Ben Gvir passed quietly, which necessitated a comparison with what happened after former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in September 2000, which was the spark for the outbreak of a second Palestinian uprising that lasted 5 years.

Ben Gvir stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque at seven in the morning today, Tuesday, amidst tight security, and in coordination between the police and the General Security Service (Shin Bet), and with the prior knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time since he assumed his new position after his government was sworn in last Thursday. .

But Ben Gvir, who is known as one of the most prominent extremists among Israeli politicians, used to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque while he was a member of the Knesset in recent years, the last of which was during the Jewish Sukkot holiday on October 12.

Before his storming, Ben Gvir met - yesterday, Monday - with the head of the Israeli Shin Bet, Ronan Bar, who made it clear that there was no security obstacle to the storming.

On the evening of the same day, Ben Gvir agreed to the operational plan presented by the police to secure his raid.

Indeed, the occupation police turned the Old City in Jerusalem since dawn today, Tuesday, into a military barracks, and imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers for Fajr prayer, and prevented men under the age of 50 from entering.

Challenging Hamas and dedicating the "Temple"

Ben Gvir focused during his raid today, and also in the past, on two main ideas, which are challenging Hamas and not being afraid of its threats in the event that he carried out his incursions, and the other is that Al-Aqsa Mosque (which he calls the Temple Mount) is the most important place for the "people of Israel."

For its part, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as the custodian of the Islamic endowments in occupied Jerusalem, as well as the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa, along with many statements of denunciation and denunciation from the national and Islamic forces and factions, without an actual field response. At the popular or political level so far.

Ben Ghafir's brazen storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the protection of the occupation forces and by a decision of his prime minister, is a prelude to a larger measure if there is no Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and international response to it.

We appeal and demand all Arab brothers to take a deterrent stance against the occupation government and its escalatory policies.

- Hussein Al-Sheikh Hussein AlSheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) January 3, 2023

Why the difference in reaction between today and yesterday?

On the morning of September 27, 2000, Ariel Sharon announced his intention to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Palestinians prepared to repel him. His storming coincided with the end of Friday prayers, which witness the gathering of thousands of worshipers in normal circumstances, and their weakness in cases of mobilization and crowding.

As for Ben Gvir's storming, it was preceded by clear conflict and misleading, as he announced - through his Twitter account - the beginning of this year his intention to storm, but he hid the date, then the Israeli media circulated on Monday evening news stating that the storming had been postponed.

The head of the Jerusalemite Commission for Resist Judaization, Nasser Hadmi, explains to Al-Jazeera Net that the raid took place early and in the middle of the week (on Tuesday), at a time when Palestinians were preoccupied with their work and jobs, in addition to that it took place quickly and did not exceed 13 minutes, which prevented the matter from being rectified. By the worshipers, or heading to the mosque after hearing the news.

Some analysts expected Ben Gvir to carry out his raid today, especially because it coincided with the Jewish "Tenth of Tevet" anniversary, which chronicles the "siege of Jerusalem at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar," according to the biblical claim.

However, these expectations coincided with warnings and calls for Rabat and to confront the intrusion, which spread on a small scale.


wall and narrowings

When Sharon stormed Al-Aqsa 22 years ago, worshipers fled from all over occupied Palestine.

However, the construction of the apartheid wall since 2002 has prevented hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from entering Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which reduced the numbers of those able to reach it, until Al-Aqsa was empty of them most of the year.

In addition to the separation wall, the occupation's unprecedented restrictions on the visitors of Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially the people of Jerusalem and the occupied interior (Palestinians of 48), contributed to reducing the number of worshipers, especially during times of storming.

Where the occupation police have been implementing for about 10 years - in an escalating manner - a set of restrictions, most notably deportation from Al-Aqsa for long periods, arrest from inside or at its gates, withholding identity cards upon entry, specifying certain ages for praying there, issuing summons for investigation at its security centers, and preventing presence In the path of settlers during their incursions or even near them.

Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib: The ban on the Islamic movement at home paralyzed the work of institutions advocating Al-Aqsa (Al-Jazeera)

ban the Islamic movement

For his part, Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib - who was the deputy head of the Islamic Movement in the occupied territories before it was banned - says that the movement actively contributed to the mobilization of Al-Aqsa, as it established 5 institutions specialized in its service since the seventies of the last century, including: March of Al-Bayariq, and Muslimat for Al-Aqsa. Al-Aqsa Building Media Foundation.

And she was calling for a mobilization that thousands would respond to at each storming, and she also established the flag terraces project that filled the mosque with worshipers in the early morning periods, coinciding with the stormings.

On November 17, 2015, the occupation banned the Islamic Movement and prosecuted its leaders, headed by Sheikh Raed Salah, which paralyzed the work of the institutions advocating Al-Aqsa.

Al-Khatib told Al-Jazeera Net, "These institutions were a safety valve for the mosque, and the Israeli institution knew where to strike, and therefore the popular effort today has become unorganized. In addition to the presence of an Islamic current that participated in Lapid's government and was silent on the violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa, which was evident in the month of Ramadan." .

The Arab and Palestinian situation

Sheikh Al-Khatib confirms that the public spirit in the Arab, Islamic and Palestinian street, in recent years, has been affected by negative elements, including the abortion of the Arab Spring revolutions, and the signing of normalization agreements between Arab countries and the occupation.

As for the researcher in Al-Aqsa Mosque affairs, Abdullah Maarouf, he sees a big difference between the situation of the Palestinians today and during Sharon's invasion two decades ago.

Maarouf says - to Al-Jazeera Net - that the Palestinian division, the exhaustion of the Gaza Strip with successive wars, and the escalation of security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation government contributed to that difference, in addition to the clear discrepancy between the era and approach of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the current President Mahmoud Abbas.

The incursions of extremist settlers into Al-Aqsa Mosque have become a constant policy in recent years (Al-Jazeera)

Duplicate trick

Ziyad Abhis, a researcher in Jerusalem affairs, criticizes the repeated threat and intimidation regarding the settlers' storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and what he called "reducing an equation of 4 elements of force to one element, which is the armed resistance in Gaza."

Abhis says that there is a clear misinformation process that was repeated with the storming of the day, while the media and the statements of the Palestinian factions "contributed to anesthetizing the popular situation, as part of an extensive analysis of the deterrence equations and their return to work."

Ibhais warned of an extensive raid that the occupation plans to implement next April, which will coincide with the third week of Ramadan.

He advised adherence to - what he called - the "five elements" to deter settlers, which he detailed by saying:

  • The first and most important of these is Rabat and the popular action.

  • The second is the individual initiative operations of every Palestinian.

  • Then the external public interaction.

  • And the act of organized resistance from the Gaza Strip.

  • Finally, the element of organized resistance in limited incubators in the West Bank "escaped from the grip of security coordination."