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24 August 2012 By Khalid Amayreh
The movement to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque is growing
locally, but the lack of international Muslim reaction
to Israeli impingements is lamentable, writes Khaled
Amayreh in Jerusalem
Hundreds of thousands of
Palestinian Muslims have been converging on Al-Aqsa
Mosque in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem in what is
seen by many as a psychological challenge to Israeli
claims that the town is an integral part of Israel's
"eternal and undivided capital".
On Friday, 10 August, an
estimated half a million worshipers were able to make
it to the Haram Al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) esplanade.
The sea of humanity came from all over the West Bank
as well as Arab towns and villages across Israel.
Strongly discriminated-against Palestinian Arabs make
nearly one fourth of Israel's total population. No
Gazans were allowed to reach the Muslim sanctuary.
The previous Friday, as
many as 350,000 worshipers performed the weekly
congregational prayer amid tight Israeli restrictions.
Nevertheless, some young people were seen being turned
back by Israeli soldiers and paramilitary policemen
manning "border crossing facilities" created by the
Israeli army to control Palestinian entry into the
holy town.
According to a prophetic
tradition, the heavenly reward of a single ritual
prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque is multiplied 500 times. But
while worshipers covet the heavenly prize, they also
want to reassert a Muslim presence and rights in one
of the world's most hotly contested pieces of real
state.
The influx of hundreds of
thousands of mainly Palestinian Muslims into
Jerusalem's old town generates visible consternation
among Talmudic-minded Jewish circles, which would like
to make the city -- and all of Palestine-Israel --
Gentile free.
Jewish millenarians
believe the building of a Jewish Second Temple would
herald the appearance of a Jewish Messiah, or
redeemer, who would bring about redemption for Jews
and salvation for mankind.
He would also create a
worldwide Jewish empire, which would be ruled from
Jerusalem.
Jews also believe that
the appearance of the redeemer would be preceded by
violence and bloodshed on a genocidal scale. Hence,
fanatical Jews waste no opportunity to spark off
violence in the hope of igniting a worldwide
conflagration.
The influx of a huge
number of Muslims into Jerusalem, especially during
the month of Ramadan, also shows that the battle for
Jerusalem is far from over and that many will not come
to terms with unilateral Israeli measures in and
around the city.
Unlike previous Ramadan
seasons, the Israeli occupation authorities, while
maintaining tight security, allowed greater numbers of
worshipers access to the Islamic holy site, the
world's third in importance. There were no
restrictions on the entry of female worshipers while
all male worshipers over the age of 25 were also
allowed entry.
At the mosque itself, one
speaker after another elaborated on the virtues and
spiritual rewards of fasting during the holy month.
Speakers also urged the huge multitude to pay alms and
charity to the poor. Zakat or obligatory charity is
the third pillar of Islam, coming directly after the
declaration of faith and ritual prayer.
Speakers also urged
worshipers to cling and hold fast to the Islamic
shrine in the face of unrelenting Israeli efforts to
arrogate a foothold for fanatical Jewish groups eyeing
the building of a Jewish temple in the area.
In recent weeks, Israeli
authorities hinted that Al-Aqsa esplanade might
eventually be converted to a public park. Statements
to that effect infuriated Muslim leaders who
emphasised that the 144,000 square metres constituting
Haram Al-Sharif were all an integral part of Al-Aqsa
Mosque.
"Every square centimetre
of this area is holy," said Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, the
former head of Jerusalem's Supreme Muslim Council,
which supervises and caters for Islamic holy sites.
Al-Ahram Weekly met with
Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and one
of the main Friday preachers -- or khatibs -- at Al-Aqsa.
He said that Jewish authorities were trying to
desensitise Muslims to recurrent encroachments at the
revered shrine.
"After opening a network
of tunnels beneath Haram Al-Sharif, they are now
trying to turn the bulk of the walled area into a
public park. This is of course a ruse or a trick to
take over the area," said Sheikh Hussein, lamenting
the weak reaction of the Muslim world.
He added: "If and when
the Israeli government and fanatical Jewish groups
sense a weak Muslim reaction, they interpret this as a
green light to move a further step onward."
Asked what the Muslims of
Palestine could do to thwart rapacious Jewish designs
against Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Hussein said: "We are
the Muslim world's first line of defence against
Israeli ambitions in Jerusalem. We will not allow the
Jewish occupiers of Palestine to arrogate even one
centimetre of this exclusively Islamic place."
He added: "But we need
the backing of Muslims around the world."
Last week, an Israeli
lawmaker named Aryeh Eldad proposed "new arrangements"
at the Haram whereby Jews would be allowed exclusive
worship at the site on certain designated days.
Effectively, Eldad's call
amounts to partitioning the Muslim sanctuary and
transforming it into a synagogue. This, Muslim
officials say, underscores the extent to which Jewish
designs and ambitions have become daring and
audacious, especially in the absence of any meaningful
reactions from important Muslim powers, such as
Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Sabri is
embittered and indignant at the "totally inadequate
manner in which Muslim states react to Jewish efforts
to take over Haram Al-Sharif." He says he is nearly
desperate, watching Muslim states doing virtually
nothing to make Israel know that any aggression
against Al-Aqsa Mosque would lead to an unprecedented
conflagration.
"Al-Aqsa is our faith,
our life, our dignity and honour. And if Muslims were
to allow fanatical Jews to usurp it, in full or in
part, then the belly of the earth would be better for
us than its surface."
"1948 MUSLIMS": When the
Israeli occupation authorities barred Palestinians
from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering
Jerusalem following the creation of the Palestinian
Authority in 1994, the burden of catering for Haram
Al-Sharif was transferred to the Islamic Movement in
1948 Palestine.
Several Muslim leaders
from across the Green Line have loomed large in
defending Islamic holy places in Jerusalem, including
Sheikh Raed Salah, whose name became synonymous with
Muslim resistance against Jewish conspiracies against
Haram Al-Sharif.
The Islamic Movement in
1948 Palestine, which is organising free semi-daily
trips to Al-Aqsa Mosque, is closely monitoring Israeli
misdeeds and designs at site.
This week, Sheikh Kamal
Al-Khatib, Salah's deputy, warned Israeli authorities
that any "misadventure at Al-Aqsa Mosque would lead to
earth-shaking consequences for Israel and the region."
"The stars of heaven are
closer to them than partitioning the Haram," Khatib
was quoted as saying.
The battle for Al-Aqsa is
far from over. Some say it has just begun. Khalid Amayreh is an American-educated
journalist living in the southern West Bank town of
Dura near Hebron. He graduated from the University of
Oklahoma in Norman in 1981. He also, received a Master
degree in Journalism from the University of Southern
Illinois at Carbondale in 1983. |
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