Al-Aqsa and the difficult words to say

The words don’t come out of our mouths and the ink of the pens we write with fades away when Jerusalem is at the heart of events. When it is under threat and is being violated, only the issue of Al-Aqsa could render us speechless or make the words difficult to say, or make them worthless. It is this issue alone that makes you feel reserved once you think about writing to describe what is going on, analyse the circumstances surrounding Al-Aqsa, or even answer the question: Why? Why are the attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque being escalated? Why are settlers daring to storm the mosque on a daily basis? Why is everyone silent?

For starters, perhaps the continued violations of Al-Aqsa and its storming on a daily basis by the occupation, its settlers, and its army is due to the fact that they know that the time during which the sanctities were the fuse that would light the determination of the people and the fastest way to mobilise people to defend their honour is long gone. Maybe we, on the other hand, would be fooling ourselves if we say that the Palestinian national spirit in general is still intact and is still the same as it was during the early days of the first Intifada (for example); when our hopes were high and political pollution was limited and contained.

Nowadays, the sit-ins inside Al-Aqsa have become the main scenes of protection and defence of the mosque. It seems that the occupation is bent on dismantling these sit-ins and putting an end to them as a phenomenon. This is due to the fact that this is taking place in the heart of Jerusalem, because it is an advanced state of sacrifice, and because it is a daily reminder for the nation of their sanctities and prevents the entire nation from being isolated, neutralised, and losing interest.

When the speeches about Al-Aqsa intensify, the first question that comes to mind is: What is required of us? This question is constantly posed in the media when it broadcasts live scenes of the raids on Al-Aqsa and hosts many guests, all of whom are bombarded with the same question. Some rush to give the same answer we have heard for decades regarding the need for the Arab nations to defend their sanctities. However, only a few of these guests bring up what has happened a few years ago in the Arab squares, which led to the fall of some regimes, while others continue to exercise tyranny and criminality, and how some regimes were replaced with even more oppressive and tyrannical governments than the ones before. They are also only a few of us who can see that the entire Arab nation is in labour, riddled with wounds and our necks are under the guillotine; how can those who are facing brutal injustice in their own lands prevail in another arena, even if the other arena is Jerusalem? How can some of us walk away from in front of our mirrors and be blind to our own responsibilities, and instead resort to making absurd calls to others?

Now, more than at any other stage in the past, it seems that the issue of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque is not in need of an answer to the question what is required of us, because we know what is required of us, which is, at the very least, staging a sit-in in the squares of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa to protect it, and the most we can do is to strongly resist in the close by and neighbouring areas in order for the occupation not to believe it can violate it.

But the more difficult question, and the one that only a few highly ambitious people know the answer to, is: How? How can we pave the way to reach what is required and desired? How do we help ourselves and our depleted nation rise again and restore our role? How can we dig a tunnel through the solid wall in order for us to march towards Al-Aqsa?

This is a difficult question that cannot be addressed with words, tonnes of analysis, or readings of the situation because the symbols and code behind this is only unlocked and decoded with actions. Such actions must be preceded or accompanied by a comprehensive psychological renaissance that will put the actors on the right path and will not distract them with other fruitless paths or to stand on the ruins of this path.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.