The first fruits of the intifada

The Jerusalem Intifada is in its fifth week. It began in early October and used “primitive” resistance methods which were prominent during the first uprising, which began on 8 December 1987. It is being joined by Palestinians from all walks of life, including men, women and school students from all national factions and groups.

It is important for us to accept that this intifada is a result of the Palestinian Authority’s complete and miserable failure in its efforts during the lengthy “peace process”, which has gone on for over twenty years. It is also a result of the failure of the international community and international Quartet’s promises to achieve peace, development and prosperity for the Palestinians, as well as their inability to force Israel to stop its settlement expansion in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

The latest example of Israeli arrogance was the manipulation and tampering with what the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims all regard as a very holy place: Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Over the five past years, Jerusalem has witnessed harsh and intensified Israeli measures against the city and its Palestinian residents, intended to Judaise the city by all means possible. These have included changing the Arabic place-names; falsifying the Palestinian curriculum; restricting Jerusalemites and prohibiting Muslims from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque; demolishing the homes of Jerusalemites and forcing them to pay the demolition costs; constructing settlement blocs in occupied East Jerusalem to tip the demographic scale in the occupation’s favour; targeting Jerusalemites by confiscating their ID cards, arresting them, and expelling them from their home city; prohibiting Jerusalemites from building new homes and imposing extortionate fees on them when they want to renovate their homes instead; limiting their livelihood; and imposing high taxes on them. As for Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is located in the heart of Jerusalem, it is stormed by Jewish settlers on an almost daily basis. Over the past few years, Al-Aqsa has been the target of hostile violations which are unprecedented in modern history; the average number of incursions increased from 800 per month in 2013 to over 1,250 per month so far this year.

This occurs in the context of the Israeli occupation authority’s attempts to impose its control over the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa, which has been under occupation since 1967. Incursions by settlers are regarded as the epitome of such attempts to exert control, especially since 2000. Such ideas call for the transformation of the armed incursions into the temporal and spatial division of the area between Muslims and Jews. This concept was developed into a draft bill introduced to the Israeli Knesset in 2012, which stipulated specific times for Muslims to pray in Al-Aqsa and an allotted time for Jews to perform their prayers and rituals. It is a repeat of what the occupation has imposed on the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, where Jews now control over 60 per cent of the area, while the Muslims have the remainder. The ultimate aim, of course, is to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Mosque and build a temple.

This has been the worst year for settler incursions, as Israel’s stated intentions for the temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa were translated into actions. The temporal division has already started by means of the morning storming of the mosque every day by extreme right-wingers. Reports of Talmudic rituals being performed in the mosque are now common in the Arab media and are known to Arab and Muslim politicians as well as the international community.

In addition, we have seen repeated attacks on religious students in the mosque, who have been expelled from the sanctuary and arrested; they also face higher taxes. The Israelis even closed the mosque completely for a day and banned all prayer therein, for the first time in its long history. The mosque carpets have been burned and its windows broken, something that many observers interpret as an indicator of the schemes being plotted against Al-Aqsa Mosque.

As such, we can say that one of the most important driving forces behind this intifada is the continued Israeli disregard for the holy sites and the systematic and organised daily efforts to commit violations against them pending the fulfilment of the right-wing dreams of dividing Al-Aqsa between Muslims and Jews.

However, by the grace of God, first and foremost, then by the grace of this blessed intifada, which is mainly “a revolution of hit-and-runs and stabbings”, as well as the pure and honourable blood being shed, an end, albeit a temporary end, has been put to the myth of the Israeli division of Al-Aqsa. This is after the official efforts to stop the madness of tampering with one of the holiest Arab and Muslim sites. The evidence to confirm this belief includes the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a sudden resolution on 8 October 2015, a week after the outbreak of the intifada, “preventing Israeli ministers and Knesset members from visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque.” It is worth noting that these politicians provided support and an official cover for the continued daily intrusions into Al-Aqsa.

Furthermore, 120 senior Israeli rabbis issued religious rulings and edicts prohibiting Jews from “visiting” Al-Aqsa Mosque and performing Talmudic rituals therein. Previous rabbinical rulings had called on the Jews to continue their daily incursions, providing them religious cover and promising “forgiveness” for all those who storm the Al-Aqsa courtyards and perform prayers there.

Opinion polls conducted by local research centres also indicate that 70 per cent of Israelis support the state’s withdrawal from East Jerusalem. This is a first, as past polls showed that the percentage of those supporting Israeli withdrawal from Jerusalem was no more than 20 per cent.

Finally, for the first time in many years, all Palestinians, regardless of their age, have been allowed to pray in Al-Aqsa on Fridays, while many groups were previously prohibited from entering the mosque compound on Fridays, especially the youth.

The PA failed with its fruitless negotiations over the past 20 years to achieve what this intifada has done in a few weeks. The same is true of the official Arab positions of condemnation and denunciation of Israeli actions.

However, we must still protect and provide an incubator for this intifada in order for it to continue. We must also put more pressure on the Israeli occupation until it completely drops the option of dividing Al-Aqsa, and any option provided by John Kerry or anyone else. This will pave the way for the realisation of many political achievements that the politicians have failed to accomplish.

Translated from Felesteen, 31 October, 2015.

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