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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 August 2000 Issue No. 495 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 August 2000 Issue No. 495
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Crux of the matter
By Khaled AmayrehIsraeli authorities reopened Jerusalem's Haram Al-Sharif to visitors on Sunday following a four-day closure in the aftermath of clashes between Jewish extremists and Palestinian Muslims. The site, at which the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques are located, is considered the third holiest shrine in Islam.
Clashes erupted when thousands of Jews gathered on the Haram Al-Sharif to commemorate the "annual day of sorrow," marking the destruction of the second Jewish temple believed to have stood at the same site.
The extremists, representing a myriad of religious groups, did not even try to hide their goal. Converging at one of the gates of the Haram Al-Sharif, they shouted, "Let us rebuild the temple." Eventually, the throngs were forced out by Palestinians, but not before making their point.
Only a few days earlier, discussions by Israel's High Rabbinate regarding a proposal to build a large synagogue in the heart of the Haram Al-Sharif were postponed until "a more appropriate time." Debate over the proposal was believed to have been shelved due to behind-the-scenes pressure from the Israeli government, mindful of the likelihood of angry reactions by Palestinian Muslims.
The new synagogue was suggested by the Rabbi of Haifa, Yoshaf Hacohen. According to Hacohen, this project would "enable Jews to gain a foothold at the Temple Mount." In the view of Muslims worldwide, a "foothold" would only be a prelude to demolishing Al-Aqsa mosque and building a synagogue in its place.
Officially, successive Israeli governments have refrained from taking concrete steps to alter the status quo at Haram Al-Sharif, prevailing since Israel occupied the area in 1967, mainly due to the overwhelming religious sensitivity surrounding the issue.
However, with Jerusalem currently the focus of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, and with the Palestinians and the Muslim world insisting that the city become the capital of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it seems the Israeli government is beginning to reconsider its erstwhile policy on that matter.
A manifestation of that change of policy on the Haram Al-Sharif occurred at Camp David when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reportedly proposed to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat that in the context of a final settlement for the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel should control the area "underneath" the two mosques on the Haram Al-Sharif.
Barak never explained exactly what he meant by controlling the area underneath the mosques, a task which he apparently left to Jewish extremists and the High Rabbinate to clarify "at the appropriate time."
The proposal reportedly shocked the Palestinian leadership as it was the first time an Israeli prime minister came so close to articulating Jewish extremists' interest in demolishing the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Jews pray at the Western wall, behind which the Dome of the Rock in the al-Aqsa mosque compound can be seen. The mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, was reopened on Saturday after visitors were barred from entry last week because of minor clashes between Jewish extremists and Muslims
(photo:AFP)
Arafat was said to have firmly told Barak and US President Bill Clinton that no Arab or Muslim leader could sign away the Al-Aqsa mosque, a stance reiterated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak several times in the last few days. Predictably, Palestinian leaders from across the political spectrum understood the message inherent in the ominous proposal.
"This is a criminal proposal -- a direct invitation to war," said Jerusalem's mufti, Ikrema Sabri, in reaction to the proposal, adding that "these criminal intentions could set the entire region on fire because Muslims are not going to sit idle while their holy places are taken away from them."
Sabri told reporters in Jerusalem that Al-Aqsa mosque "was, is and always will be an exclusively Islamic holy place that belongs to the entire Muslim nation. It is an integral part of the Muslim faith."
An even stronger reaction came from Hamas, whose founder and leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, warned that "the destruction of Al-Aqsa mosque would be followed by the destruction of Israel. We'll set Israel on fire if they dare to attack Al-Aqsa mosque."
In addition, the League of Palestine's Islamic Religious Scholars, issued a strongly-worded statement on 10 August, warning Jews against playing with fire.
Calling the proposal a blatant challenge to a billion-and-a-half Muslims which flies in the face of all religious, moral and legal norms, the league's statement warned Muslims that the Al-Aqsa mosque was in grave danger.
Attempts by extremist Jewish groups to enter the area are not new to the Palestinians. The most notorious of these occurred in 1990 when an organisation called Solomon's Group entered the Haram Al-Sharif, an action that led to skirmishes and intervention by Israeli police in violation of unofficial arrangements for protecting the area. As clashes escalated, 17 Muslims were killed.
The current showdown over the Haram Al-Sharif, serves to highlight the religious dimension of the conflict in Palestine. This situation was further complicated by the recent manifestly racist slurs by the mentor of the Israeli ultra-orthodox Shas Party in which he called Arabs "snakes" and said that God regretted having created them.
