How disruption of Al-Aqsa’s status quo reignited the Israel-Palestine conflict

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Haram Al-Sharif holds significance for all three Abrahamic faiths, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, but only Muslims may pray here while other faiths may only visit. (AFP/File)
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Updated 18 October 2023
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How disruption of Al-Aqsa’s status quo reignited the Israel-Palestine conflict

  • Haram Al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, has been the scene of provocative visits by Jewish religious extremists
  • Israeli legal expert Daniel Seidemann says occupation is “undermining the moral foundations of Israeli society”

LONDON: On Friday, Sept. 29, Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer who specializes in Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem, made the finishing touches to a research paper he had been commissioned to write by the Research & Studies Unit of Arab News.

The subject was the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Haram Al-Sharif, known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, which holds such significance for all three Abrahamic faiths, but where only Muslims may pray and other faiths may only visit.

That, at least, is the status quo that has prevailed at the site since 1967.




A general view of East Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

But as the founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, a nongovernmental organization focused on finding a resolution to the question of the city consistent with the two-state solution, in recent months Seidemann had become increasingly aware, and concerned, that the delicate balance that has been maintained at the site for the past 56 years was in danger of being torn apart.

 

That, he understood, was a recipe for disaster and in the hope of averting it he was anxious “to familiarize both leadership and the public at large with the relevant facts.”

Just over a week later, Seidemann awoke on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 7, to the news that the Palestinian militant group Hamas had launched its devastating attack on Israel from Gaza.

As he listened to the news unfolding, it came as no surprise to him when he heard that Hamas commander Mohammed Deif had described the assault as “Operation Al-Aqsa Deluge,” which he claimed had been launched in retaliation for Israel’s “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Whether or not the attack had been motivated solely by recent events at the mosque — and Hamas had certainly issued previous warnings about the increasingly frequent breaches of the long-established status quo at the site — Seidemann knew one thing was certain.




Israeli minister and Jewish Power party chief Itamar Ben-Gvir (C) walking through the courtyard of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, early on January 3, 2023. (AFP)

“The Al-Aqsa was a contributing factor, no doubt,” he said. “It always comes back to Al-Aqsa, and Jerusalem always has the last word.

“We have to familiarize both the Israeli public and the Arab world with the idea of a Jerusalem which will allow for cohabitation of these conflicting narratives. It isn’t utopia, but Jerusalem knows how to do this.

“And whether this comes to fruition or not, we will always be dealing with the question of Al-Aqsa, and nobody in the Arab or Muslim world can afford to ignore it.”

The sensitivity of the site was highlighted on Sept. 27 when Nayef Al-Sudairi, the newly appointed Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians, was reported to have agreed to postpone a planned visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque out of deference to unspecified Palestinian concerns.

These are thought to relate to the unwelcome rise in the Israeli security presence at the site, which has aided a series of provocative visits by Jewish religious extremists who are dedicated ultimately to building a Jewish temple on the site.

The extremists have the support of many in Israel’s Cabinet. On Oct. 3, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s right-wing national security minister, called on the Knesset and the state security cabinet to urgently consider “opening the Temple Mount to Jews 24/7.”




A Palestinian man prays as Israeli security forces escort a group of Jewish settlers visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on June 2, 2019. (AFP)

That day, 500 members of the Israeli settler movement entered the site. The following day, the fifth day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, more than 1,000 forced their way into the compound, repeating a performance that in recent months has been seen more and more often.

This time the incursion, not only witnessed but assisted by members of Israel’s security forces, earned a rebuke for the Israeli government from Jordan, which since 1924 has been the universally recognized custodian of the site through the auspices of the Jordanian-appointed Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department.

In a letter of protest to the Israeli Embassy in Amman the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned “incursions by hardliners, settlers and Knesset members into the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection” and “the restriction of access for worshippers to the mosque, the desecration of Islamic graves and the increasing attacks on Christians in occupied Jerusalem.”

Seidemann said the ideological thinking behind the incursions into Al-Aqsa by “what began as a small, perhaps lunatic fringe, has become more mainstream.”

He added: “The National Religious Party, the ideological right, including cabinet ministers, see Israel as a continuation of ancient biblical history. For them, this is ‘the third Jewish Commonwealth,’ after the first and second temples.”

The “first temple” is the Temple of Solomon, believed by Jews to have existed on the site of the Temple Mount from the 10th to the 6th century BCE, when it was destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BCE. The “second temple,” its replacement, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

“From the perception of the religious right, the greatest blunder that Israel has made since 1967 was (Israel’s then defense minister) Moshe Dayan’s decision to take down the Israeli flags on the Temple Mount and hand the keys over to the Waqf,” said Seidemann.




Israeli Border police stand guard by newly-installed security metal detectors at the entrance to Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, on July 16, 2017. (AFP)

After victory in the Six Day War in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Haram Al-Sharif, and has held it ever since.

On June 7, 1967, shortly after Israeli paratroopers stormed the compound, their commander, Col. Motta Gur, radioed a message to headquarters that has struck a controversial chord with right-wing Israelis ever since: “The Temple Mount is in our hands.”

Controversial, because it would not be in their hands for long.

The story goes that Dayan was watching the scene unfold through binoculars when, to his horror, he saw that one of the paratroopers had climbed to the top of the Dome of the Rock and raised the Israeli flag.

Dayan, keenly aware of how the crass symbolism would play across the Islamic world, ordered the flag to be taken down immediately. Later, standing by the Western Wall, at Israel’s moment of victory, Dayan made a remarkably conciliatory statement.

“To our Arab neighbors we extend, especially at this hour, the hand of peace,” he said. “To members of the other religions, Christians and Muslims, I hereby promise faithfully that their full freedom and all their religious rights will be preserved.

“We did not come to Jerusalem to conquer the holy places of others.”




People stand over bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on the Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza after they were transported to Al-Shifa hospital, on October 17, 2023. (AFP)

The keys to the gates and responsibility for the policing and control of the Al-Aqsa compound were returned to the Waqf.

Over the following decades Jews were allowed into the compound on certain days, entering through the Mughrabi Gate. This was the only entrance through which non-Muslims could reach the esplanade.

All that started to change, said Seidemann, after 2003, when the Israeli government unilaterally imposed new arrangements that increasingly sidelined the Waqf.

Today, it is Israeli police who decide who can and cannot visit the compound, which is now seeing increasing numbers of settlers and other activists laying claim to the site.

“They believe it is the raison d’etre of this government to reverse the decision of Dayan because it thwarts the unfolding of the divine plan that is Israel,” said Seidemann. “This has now become mainstream.”

It has also become an article of faith for many in the Israeli Cabinet, despite (current Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement in 2015, at the urging of US Secretary of State John Kerry, that “Israel will continue to enforce its longstanding policy: Muslims pray on the Temple Mount; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount.”

At the time, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat rejected Netanyahu’s assurances.




Israeli soldiers are positioned outside kibbutz Beeri near the border with the Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023. (AFP)

“Before the year 2000, tourists used to enter the Haram Al-Sharif under the guard of the employees of the Waqf department and non-Muslims were not allowed to pray there,” Erekat was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post.

“But now the Israelis have changed the regulations and tourists visit the site after receiving permits from Israeli authorities and under protection of the Israel police.”

Since then, provocations have escalated. In January this year a visit to the Al-Aqsa compound by Israel’s extreme right-wing national security minister Ben-Gvir was described as “just one more irresponsible provocation” by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

It was, said Seidemann, a “triumphal visit, showing them who’s boss.”

Encouraged by politicians like Ben-Gvir, members of settler groups, the Temple Mount movement and the National Religious Party have increasingly thronged Al-Aqsa, even though under a long-established Rabbinic law related to concepts of ritual purity Jews are forbidden from entering the site.

“Last May, thousands of young ultra-right religious Israelis celebrating the victory in 1967 marched through the Muslim Quarter shouting ‘Death to the Arabs.’  It was just horrible. I think that was the worst day that I can remember in Jerusalem,” said Seidemann.

Prior to the march, hundreds of ultranationalists entered the Al-Aqsa compound.

“They could have gone by all sorts of other routes, but they went through the Muslim Quarter, to show them: ‘This is our place, we’re the landlord, you’re the tenant’.”




An Israeli border guard intervenes as participants of an Israeli annual far-right, flag-waving rally, beat Palestinian men during the event in the Old City of Jerusalem, on May 18, 2023. (AFP)

And it is not just Muslims who are on the receiving end of the new wave of religious intolerance, he said.

“In recent months there has also been a serious spike in hate crimes against Christians, inspired, I believe, by some of the people in the government, which only condemned it last week, for the first time after eight months. Meanwhile, the mayor of Jerusalem has not condemned it, and the city council has not condemned it.”

Extremists are also pressing for the building of a national park on the Mount of Olives, a site of central importance to the Christian faith.

“It’s a mirror image of what’s happening at Al-Aqsa,” said Seidemann. “A Christian holy site is being transformed by settlers into a shared Christian-Jewish holy site in a way that the Temple Mount movement wants to transform Al-Aqsa from a Muslim site into a shared Jewish-Muslim site.”

It is not that the politicians who are attempting to sabotage the status quo in Jerusalem “are necessarily inherently racist,” Seidemann believes.

“It’s that they understand that speaking with empathy and respect to the equities of others, Muslims, Arabs, or Christians, is an electoral liability and they’ll lose votes among their base.

“Personally, I would prefer them being racist, because otherwise this is a reflection on what has become of us.

“In 1967 Israel annexed Jerusalem. Every Israeli prime minister until Netanyahu has said ‘Let’s not force the issue, especially on the religious sites. We are also custodians of the most important sites in Christianity and Islam, we will deal with it with sensitivity and respect’.”




The family of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli air strike mourn outside a hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 17, 2023. (AFP)

Now, Seidemann says he fears that Israel, increasingly in the grip of extremist religious groups and politicians, is in danger of losing its way.

“Occupation is not what we do,” he said. “Occupation is who we became, and it is undermining the moral foundations of Israeli society.”

Al-Aqsa, he added, “is becoming the quintessential arena of conflict for Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims. It is not ennobling the souls of any of us and to a certain extent has defiled a very sacred spot.”

On Sept. 6, Tamir Pardo, a former head of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, told the Associated Press that Israel was enforcing an apartheid system in the West Bank. “He said that before the war started, but I think he would still say it now,” said Seidemann.

“He said there is only one existential threat to Israel in this generation. It’s not the Iranian nuclear threat — we can handle that. It’s not 100,000 Hezbollah rockets — horrible, but we can deal with it.

“But Israel cannot survive as a perpetually occupying power. Israel will end occupation, or occupation will be the end of us.”

 


Pope Francis’s popemobile set to become health clinic for Gaza children

Updated 9 sec ago
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Pope Francis’s popemobile set to become health clinic for Gaza children

VATICAN CITY: One of Pope Francis’s popemobiles is being transformed into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, fulfilling one of his final wishes, the Vatican’s official media outlet said on Sunday.
The vehicle, used by the late pontiff during his 2014 visit to the Holy Land, is being outfitted with diagnostic and emergency medical equipment to help young patients in the Palestinian enclave, where health services have been devastated by the Israeli invasion.
Pope Francis, who died last month, entrusted the initiative to the Catholic aid organization Caritas Jerusalem in the months before his death, Vatican News said.
“This is a concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed,” Peter Brune, Secretary General of Caritas Sweden, which is supporting the project, told Vatican News.
The mobile unit will be equipped with rapid infection tests, vaccines, diagnostic tools, and suture kits, and staffed by medical personnel. Caritas plans to deploy the clinic to communities without access to functioning health care facilities once humanitarian access to Gaza is feasible.
“It’s not just a vehicle,” Brune added. “It’s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.”
Gaza has a tiny Christian community and the Vatican has said Francis used to call the Holy Family Church in Gaza on an almost daily basis for much of the war, which started in October 2023 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel.
Francis had a number of popemobiles, with the one used in the 2014 visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories staying in the region following his return to the Vatican.
A conclave to elect a new pope starts on May 7.

Lebanon holds first local elections in almost 10 years

Updated 23 min 11 sec ago
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Lebanon holds first local elections in almost 10 years

  • President Aoun pins national hopes on municipal revival
  • PM Salam appeals for a big turnout, with security forces placed on full alert

BEIRUT: The first municipal elections in Lebanon began on Sunday after a more than nine-year hiatus.

Voting is taking place by region, with the first round in the Mount Lebanon districts, including Beirut’s southern suburbs.

According to the Interior Ministry, 9,321 candidates, including 1,179 women, are running in Mount Lebanon, vying for seats on 333 municipal councils.

Voter turnout exceeded 35 percent less than three hours before the polls closed at 7 p.m. local time.

President Joseph Aoun highlighted the vote’s significance in restoring confidence among the Lebanese people and international community, demonstrating that Lebanon is rebuilding its institutions and is on the right path.

The polls are the first of his presidential term and are seen as an indicator of voting trends ahead of parliamentary elections in May 2026.

Parts of northern Lebanon will vote next Sunday, May 11, while Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley are scheduled to go to the polls on May 18. Voters in the southern regions, severely damaged following clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, will cast their ballots on May 24. 

Lebanon’s presidential vacuum and security developments since October 2023 have affected the civic election process for almost a decade. Authorities last conducted a local ballot in 2016.

Polling stations opened in Mount Lebanon, the first governorate to begin the elections, under the personal supervision of Aoun.

After two visits to the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior in the morning, Aoun said he had “full confidence in the success of this constitutional entitlement.”

He said: “What we are witnessing today in Mount Lebanon will motivate the other governorates. 

“The goal is to revive municipalities as a prelude to reviving the entire nation.”

Aoun also urged voters not to let sectarian, “partisan or financial factors” impact their vote.

On the eve of the elections, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took to social media to send a message to voters urging them to vote in large numbers.

He described the election as a crucial step toward executing the expanded decentralization mandated by the Taif Agreement, which faced delays for over 35 years and was vital for the growth of municipalities.

Sunday’s elections varied in intensity by district, especially in areas with party and family rivalries. Hezbollah, the Free Patriotic Movement, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party aimed to retain control of municipalities against challenges from the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party, and civil society activists. 

Supporters from various parties and political factions hurried to include their candidates on most competing lists. This led voters, like one from the Harb family in Beirut’s southern suburb, to suggest “these elections are a crucial political battle, not a competition focused on development.”

Many dynamics have changed since 2016 regarding political and party balances and the map of alliances in Lebanon.

The elections took place in the districts of Metn, Keserwan, Jbeil, Chouf, Aley, and Baabda, which include the southern suburb of Beirut, with security provided by the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces. 

Commando regiments and marine commando reserves were placed on full alert.

In recent weeks, Hezbollah has reached out to families in towns within the southern suburbs of Beirut to create lists that would be appointed unanimously and include supporters from those families. It succeeded in some areas and failed in others. 

The southern suburbs of Beirut, along with the southern and Bekaa governorates, will hold elections later and reflect the level of public support for Hezbollah through the lists endorsed by the party.

The towns of Haret Hreik and Ghobeiry engaged in an electoral battle between closed lists of Hezbollah candidates and incomplete lists of families and young activists.

The electoral process in Mount Lebanon experienced some disorder at polling stations.

The central operations room for municipal elections at the Ministry of Interior reported receiving numerous complaints from various regions involving administrative violations, breaches of electoral law, security issues, conflicts among competitors, and instances of electoral bribery.

The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections reported several violations, including “the failure of voters to use privacy screens and the presence of roaming representatives accompanying voters into polling stations with the intent to influence their electoral decisions.”

There was a noticeable shift in this election toward campaigning through smartphones, which promoted candidates and facilitated communication with voters.

The presence of candidate posters and banners in streets and neighborhoods has decreased, replaced by social media reels, stories, and closed groups.

The municipalities of Burj Al-Barajneh, Tahwitat Al-Ghadir-Laylaki, and Chiyah were contested unopposed.


Syria to import electricity from Turkiye, rehabilitate Kilis-Aleppo natural gas pipeline

Updated 04 May 2025
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Syria to import electricity from Turkiye, rehabilitate Kilis-Aleppo natural gas pipeline

  • Energy Minister discussed with the Turkish side the possibility of mining Syria’s earth minerals
  • Government developing new 80-megawatt transmission line between Turkiye’s Reyhanli district and Syria’s Harem region

LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic will import electricity from Turkiye and rehabilitate a natural gas pipeline connecting two border regions, the country’s energy minister said on Sunday.

Mohammed Al-Bashir stated that Damascus is finalizing an agreement to import electricity from Turkiye via a 400-kilovolt high-voltage transmission line that links the two countries.

Al-Bashir stated that the government is developing another 80-megawatt transmission line between Turkiye’s Reyhanli district and Syria’s Harem region to supply electricity to towns in northern Syria.

“Additionally, we are working to rehabilitate the natural gas pipeline connecting Kilis and Aleppo,” two cities in southern Turkiye and northern Syria, the minister added.

“Once operational, (the pipeline) could supply 6 million cubic meters of gas per day to Syria’s power generation stations, significantly improving our energy situation,” he added in a statement to the SANA news agency.

The minister said he discussed with the Turkish side the possibility of mining Syria’s mineral deposits, such as phosphate and lithium, and the prospect of exploring natural gas in the country’s national waters. He urged Turkish companies to invest in exploring Syria’s oil and natural gas potential, upgrading power lines and plants, and rebuilding refineries and transportation systems.


Israel vows retaliation against Iran, Yemen’s Houthis over airport attack

Updated 04 May 2025
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Israel vows retaliation against Iran, Yemen’s Houthis over airport attack

  • It is the first time a missile has directly struck inside Israel's main airport, according to a military spokesperson
  • Netanyahu said Israel would also respond to Iran at 'a time and place of our choosing'

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed a response to Yemen’s Houthis and their Iranian backers after the militant group struck the area of Israel’s main airport, wounding six people and prompting several major airlines to suspend flights.
The strike came hours before Israel’s army confirmed the call-up of “tens of thousands” of reservists to expand the 19-month war in Gaza against Palestinian militants Hamas.
The military confirmed that the attack, which gouged a large crater in the perimeter of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, was launched from Yemen and had struck despite “several attempts... to intercept the missile.”
In a video published on Telegram, Netanyahu said Israel had “acted against” the Iran-backed group in the past and “will act in the future.”
“It will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs,” he added, without going into further detail.
Later on X, Netanyahu said Israel would also respond to Iran at “a time and place of our choosing.”
A police video showed officers standing on the edge of a deep hole in the ground with the control tower visible behind them. No damage was reported to airport infrastructure.
The police reported a “missile impact” at Israel’s main international gateway.
An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport’s largest. The crater was just hundreds of meters from the tarmac.
Missile inside the airport
“You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen meters wide and several dozen meters deep,” central Israel’s police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video.
“This is the first time” that a missile has directly struck inside the airport perimeter, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP.
Earlier, the Houthis, who say they act in support of Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group said their forces “carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport” with a “hypersonic ballistic missile.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: “Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger.”
Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad later hailed the attack on the airport.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.
An AFP journalist inside the airport at the time of the attack said he heard a “loud bang” at around 9:35 am local time, adding that the “reverberation was very strong.”
“Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers,” the AFP journalist said.
“Many passengers are now waiting for their flights to take off, and others are trying to find alternative flights.”
An incoming Air India flight was diverted to Abu Dhabi, an airport official told AFP.
It was one of the airlines to suspend Tel Aviv flights until Tuesday along with Italy’s ITA Airways and Germany’s Lufthansa Group, which includes Austrian, Eurowings and SWISS. Air France announced the cancelation of Sunday flights.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely stopped the war.


Jordan’s tourism sector surges in first quarter of year with 19% rise in visitors, 8.9% revenue boost

Updated 04 May 2025
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Jordan’s tourism sector surges in first quarter of year with 19% rise in visitors, 8.9% revenue boost

  • The surge was fueled by a 19 percent year-on-year rise in international arrivals
  • Enhanced air connectivity, targeted international marketing campaigns and Continued investment in infrastructure reasons given for rise

AMMAN: Jordan’s tourism sector has kicked off 2025 strongly, registering growth in both visitor numbers and revenue, a Jordan News Agency report said on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, tourism revenue reached 1.217 billion dinars ($1.72 billion) in the first quarter of the year, which equated to an 8.9 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

The surge was fueled by a 19 percent year-on-year rise in international arrivals, which reached 2.125 million between January and April.

Overnight visitors increased by 15.3 percent to 1.765 million, while the number of same-day visitors soared by 41.6 percent to 360,000 compared to early 2024.

April alone saw international arrivals jump by 36.7 percent to 617,000, suggesting that the strong momentum is likely to carry into the second quarter.

Ministry officials attributed the growth to several strategic initiatives.

Enhanced air connectivity, including new direct flights and expanded budget airline operations, has significantly improved access to Jordan, they said.

Meanwhile, targeted international marketing campaigns have successfully spotlighted the kingdom’s diverse tourism offerings, from heritage sites and desert landscapes to adventure and wellness experiences.

Continued investment in infrastructure has also played a role, they said, which has improved the visitor experience and enhanced the country’s overall competitiveness in the global travel market.

Beyond direct economic impact, tourism’s strong performance is boosting Jordan’s foreign currency reserves and generating employment across the hospitality and service sectors, JNA said.

Looking ahead, the ministry reaffirmed its commitment to a national tourism strategy grounded in sustainable development.

Its goals include increasing tourism’s contribution to GDP, creating long-term job opportunities, and solidifying Jordan’s position as a premier global destination by promoting its rich historical, cultural, and natural assets.