Israel’s long history of occupation of Palestine does not only target Palestinians but also includes desecrating and destroying their holy sites.
Total control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem has always been a declared Israeli goal.
More specifically, Israeli government efforts to seize total control over the holy Muslim shrines began in earnest following Israel’s occupation of the remainder of historic Palestine in 1967.
Despite being under the custodianship of Jordan and the management of the Islamic Endowments Department in occupied Jerusalem, Israel is the entity that controls all important matters pertaining to the holy place.
Throughout the years Israel has taken escalatory measures to affirm its control over the Mosque. However, since the start of the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza in October of last year, the Israeli occupation authorities accelerated these measures in an attempt to change the ‘status quo’ of the holy shrine and to grant even more freedom for its illegal Jewish settlers.
Is Israel’s religious right ready to implement its designs in Al-Aqsa Mosque? And what it means.#islam #palestine #religion #gaza #war #racism #Gaza_in_Genocide #Israel pic.twitter.com/fpMRJanUOZ
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) August 31, 2024
Since last October, Israel has launched an undeclared campaign against the worshippers and visitors of Al-Aqsa Mosque. A large number of Palestinians have been prevented from praying at or visiting the holy mosque.
Palestinian journalist Bayan al-Jubeh, from occupied Jerusalem, told the Palestine Chronicle that the current situation at the mosque is unbearable and that access to prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque has become increasingly difficult.
One of the measures aimed at lowering the number of worshippers is through deportation campaigns.
Restricting Worship
Between October and April, over a thousand Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem and Palestine 1948 were deported and thus were prevented from even reaching the doors of the Mosque. If they attempt to do so they are instantly arrested.
“Access to dawn prayer has become very difficult and is only available to a small group of elderly people. While the restrictions ease slightly during the daytime hours, they (Israeli authorities – PC) reinforce them in the evening,” al-Jubeh said.
Even those allowed access to Al-Aqsa, whether the elderly or women, are subject to invasive searches, hours of detention at the Mosque’s doors, and confiscation of their ID cards.
It does not stop there, as some, at times, are arrested from inside the Al-Aqsa mosque for the most trivial reasons.
“Among the oppressive (Israeli – PC) measures to hinder the entry of worshippers are things like beatings, dragging and insults at the gates of Al-Aqsa. If any journalist happens to be there and films the attack, he would also be arrested, beaten, and his equipment confiscated,” al-Jubeh continued.
Arrest campaigns in occupied Jerusalem have spiked in an unprecedented manner since last October, as hundreds of activists, journalists and former prisoners, including women, were arrested.
This came in parallel with raids by the Israeli occupation police on villages in occupied Jerusalem to force residents to sign ‘personal pledges’ not to enter the Mosque.
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Ben-Gvir’s Racism
These measures aimed on the one hand at limiting the presence of Muslim worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and on the other at facilitating the illegal Jewish settlers’ incursions to the holy place to perform their prayers.
This systematic and growing policy of the Israeli occupation authorities has paved the way for the illegal settlers to comfortably storm the Mosque on a daily basis, always under heavy protection from the Israeli occupation forces.
This pattern of violent behavior was also encouraged by the racist statements made by the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
On June 5, Ben-Gvir called on the illegal Jewish settlers to perform prayers publicly at the Mosque, which was received by Palestinians as a stark provocation.
This didn’t stop there as the far-right minister announced, a few days ago, his wish to build a Jewish synagogue inside Al-Aqsa.
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Abdullah Marouf, a researcher in the studies of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told the Palestine Chronicle that Ben-Gvir’s statements aim to establish a new status quo in the Mosque, in order to pave the way for all Jewish religious rituals to take place at the holy mosque.
Ben-Gvir’s racist statements come only one day after Knesset member Moshe Feiglin performed, along with others, the ‘ritual of prostration’, the first in his life, at the so-called ‘Temple Mount School.’
According to the researcher, even more serious than Ben-Gvir’s comments was the announcement made by the office of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which indicated that it would maintain the status quo in the Mosque based on Israel’s vision.
This ‘vision’ includes performing all Jewish rituals openly in the Mosque without any obstacles.
Hours after Ben Gvir’s provocative statements, the Israeli government approved funding the raids of the Mosque by illegal Jewish settlers.
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The Israeli newspaper ‘Israel Hayom’ revealed on Tuesday that the government, in an unprecedented move, will start financing these incursions through the so-called Ministry of Heritage, for which it will allocate two million shekels (about 545 thousand dollars).
The plan includes conducting guided ‘tours’ for illegal Jewish settlers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in the coming weeks.
“The second future goal – that neither Ben Gvir nor anyone else hides – is the need to designate a special place for Jewish worshippers, either by building a synagogue or allocating part of the buildings to them. This is the goal they have been striving to achieve for decades,” Marouf concluded.
Indeed, Israel’s long history of occupation of Palestine does not only target Palestinians but also includes desecrating and destroying their holy sites.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Fayha’ Shalash is a Ramallah-based Palestinian journalist. She graduated from Birzeit University in 2008 and she has been working as a reporter and broadcaster ever since. Her articles appeared in several online publications. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
If Ben-Gvir and his monsters destroy Al-Aqsa, every synagogue in the world is a target.
I am certain Ben-Gvir doesn’t even care.
Assuming he and his insane friends live through the polio plague.