How Do the Countries of Normalization Help in Changing Al-Aqsa?

In a decision that is the first of its kind since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, an Israeli judge issued a ruling on October 6, 2021, allowing Jews to "pray" inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, ending an agreement that has held for 54 years, without any comment from the Arab rulers.

One day after the court's decision to allow Zionist extremists to perform a "quiet prayer" in Al-Aqsa, extremist Temple groups began racing to implement it, starting on October 7, 2021.

The Israeli police stopped preventing them from “praying” and only “visiting,” as they have been doing for 54 years, according to an agreement between former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Jerusalem scholars in 1967.

Extremist Temple groups that call for storming Al-Aqsa and praying in it, such as Bedino (with our hands we impose a new reality), the Union of Temple Organizations, and Students and Women for the sake of the Temple, celebrated the court's decision and published large advertisements for prayers in Al-Aqsa.

The Temple Mount School began implementing the court’s decision immediately, and published advertisements calling on settlers to storm Al-Aqsa, starting on October 10, 2021 daily, and to perform collective prayers and Jewish rituals publicly, after they were prohibited.

In the face of this dangerous event, observers wondered about the reaction of Arab and Muslim rulers.

 

New Reality

According to Palestinian scholars and experts, the decision is an official and actual establishment of the Jewish Temple inside the Noble Sanctuary (called Temple Mount), and an official division of prayer inside Al-Aqsa between Muslims and Jews, similar to what happened at the Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994.

They see that what is happening is that the occupation is burying the "status quo" in Al-Aqsa, which Dayan agreed to after his soldiers occupied Al-Aqsa in 1967 followed by the anger of the Islamic world.

Professor of Beit Al-Maqdis Studies and former media official at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Abdullah Maarouf said: "The judicial ruling establishes a new reality in Al-Aqsa that has two worships: Islamic under the management of endowments, and Jewish under the administration of the occupation government."

He added that "If these prayers are performed in the way the occupation wants, it is proceeding with confident steps to impose the complete biblical worship in Al-Aqsa, to deal with the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque as if the alleged temple has become on the ground."

Israeli law does not prohibit Jews from praying on the Noble Sanctuary, just as the Islamic Waqf does not recognize the application of Israeli law to Al-Aqsa, but there are political understandings.

Under the understandings reached after "​Israel" captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, Jews are only allowed to visit the Noble Sanctuary and not pray there, the occupation maintains public security and the Islamic Waqf manages the mosque.

Although the main rabbis of the Jews forbid “prayer” and “visit” Jews also to the Noble Sanctuary for religious reasons, which is the presence of the so-called “Holy of Holies in the Temple, and for fear of its desecration, and because the Jews have not been purified with a red cow until now”, the extremists pray inside it.

Aryeh Lebo, is one of the extremist rabbis who deliberately prays inside the Noble Sanctuary, and is not satisfied with visiting, and provokes the anger of Muslims, which leads to clashes, so the Israeli police were forced to prevent him from entering the place for 15 days.

Lebo submitted a request to the Jerusalem Court to lift the ban on preventing him from praying inside the Noble Sanctuary, and the judge agreed to the "quiet prayer" of the Jew on the Noble Sanctuary.

“The court did not issue a ruling on the legality of the unofficial ban on Jewish prayer, but it lifted the ban imposed by the police on worshipers,” according to the Times of Israel newspaper on October 7, 2021.

 

Dire Results

Judge Yahalom justified the abolition of the police ban on Jewish prayer in the Noble Sanctuary Square, commenting on the draft ruling by claiming that "he (the settler) stood in one of the corners of Al-Aqsa with a friend or two praying quietly and whispering, and there was no crowd."

She said, "I did not find that his religious actions were apparent or public," claiming that this prayer "does not violate the police's instructions," and annulled his ban on entering the Noble Sanctuary.

The judge also relied on a previous ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court allowing Jews to pray in the Noble Sanctuary "as part of the freedom of worship and expression," but stated that "these rights are not absolute, and can be restricted in consideration of the public interest."

On October 7, 2021, the newspaper Israel Hayom quoted Rabbi Lebo after winning the case as saying: "The police wished me success, because we all realize that the time has come to fulfill the dream of generations, and serve God on Mount Zion [Al-Aqsa] without fear." after winning the case as saying: "The police wished me success, because we all realize that the time has come to fulfill the dream of generations, and serve God on Mount Zion [Al-Aqsa] without fear."

The newspaper stated that "the Jews practice silent prayer, devoid of any overt signs of religious celebration, almost daily with the approval of the police, but in an informal manner."

The decision of the occupation court sparked widespread political and popular anger, calls for general mobilization, and hundreds demonstrated after Friday prayers on October 8, 2021 inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, denouncing the decision, and the resistance movements in Gaza warned that they were “ready to respond.”

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) described the ruling as a "clear declaration of war" and "blatant aggression against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," warning that "the battle of the sword of Jerusalem (in May 2021) was not and will not be the final chapter of the confrontation under the title of Jerusalem."

It considered that the goal of the Israeli occupation and settlers is to "impose spatial or temporal division in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," stressing that "its consequences will be dire for them, and we affirm the readiness of our people to defend it."

It said in a statement issued on October 8, 2021: "This is what we have always warned of, that normalization will encourage the occupation to escalate its crimes against our people and their sanctities."

 

Partial Retreat

Because the Magistrate's Courts, including the Jerusalem Court, represent the lowest levels of the Israeli judiciary and consider cases of relatively minor crimes, the police appealed the ruling to the Central Court after the Palestinians demonstrated American pressure.

On October 8, 2021, the Jerusalem District Court annulled the Magistrate's Court's decision to allow "silent prayers" to Rabbi Lebo in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and then all Jews, after the police accused him of provoking Muslims by his public prayers near the Dome of the Rock.

The political correspondent of the Hebrew Walla website quoted an Israeli official as saying that "the US administration feared that the Magistrate's Court's decision would lead to tension in Al-Aqsa Mosque, which might cause an escalation."

He added: "The US administration asked the government of "Israel" to publish a statement confirming its commitment to the status quo, which led to the Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Omer Bar-Lev, issuing a statement in this regard."

In the statement, Bar-Lev warned that Jewish prayer on the "Temple Mount​ will endanger public peace, and could cause an escalation of events," according to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, October 8, 2021.

He stressed that "unilateral steps in a sensitive religious site can renew violence," stressing that "in light of the security repercussions, the status quo must be adhered to that Jewish prayers will be held at the Western Wall [Al-Buraq] outside the walls of Al-Aqsa and Muslims pray inside the Temple Mount [the Noble Sanctuary]."

 

Feeling the Pulse

Following the wave of “normalization” in late 2020, the Israeli government and settler groups increased their “feeling the pulse” operations in Al-Aqsa to test the transition to the “temporal and spatial division” phase of Al-Aqsa, establishing the structure and changing the status quo since 1967.

Several settlers sought to file lawsuits against the police, because they prevented them from “praying” inside Al-Aqsa, despite the fact that it protects them during their visit to it, and attacks Palestinian objectors.

Far-right Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett supported the settlers on July 18, 2021, by issuing a statement supporting their connections inside the compound, but retracted after Palestinian and Arab popular anger.

On this day, the police—for the first time—allowed settlers to pray inside the Temple Mount, not just visit, and Bennett thanked them for "preserving the freedom of worship for Jews on the Temple Mount," according to a statement from his office.

Since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, there has been a "status quo" that allows Jews to enter Al-Aqsa Square for visits only, so Bennett's assertion—for the first time—on the right of Jews to "worship" there as well, constitutes a major change in the equation.

The main elements of the “status quo” included not allowing non-Muslims to pray in the area of ​​Al-Aqsa Mosque (144 dunums that includes the mosque, the Qibli prayer hall, the Dome of the Rock, and all chapels, buildings, walls, and courtyards), and Jews praying outside it (the Wailing Wall).

“Temporal division” is meant to limit the occupation to certain times in the Al-Aqsa Mosque that are designated for the entry of Jews only, and other times for Muslims.

The occupation forces Muslims to leave Al-Aqsa between 07:30 until 11:00 in the morning and after the afternoon prayer until before the sunset prayer, to allocate this time to visit the Jews, after which Muslims are allowed to enter.

As for “spatial division,” it means “the gradual seizure of parts of the Temple Mount and a number of the mosque’s chapels, to convert them into Jewish synagogues to perform their prayers there in preparation for the establishment of the Temple.”

To achieve temporal and spatial sharing, the settlers, supported by the various Israeli governments, organize almost daily trips to Al-Aqsa Mosque, to impose a new reality.

One aspect of the Jerusalem court ruling that was partially overturned, as well as Bennett's blessing last July for the Jews' "prayer" at Al-Aqsa, is the move to a spatial division, ie, dividing Al-Aqsa between Muslim prayer and Jewish prayer.

 

The Silence of the 'Normalizers'

None of the last four normalization countries, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, issued any official statements about the Israeli court’s decision to officially impose Jewish prayers at Al-Aqsa, which means the official establishment of the Temple.

The governments of the four countries remained silent, reflecting the popular reactions condemning the communication sites.

The Emirati and Bahraini position is the "most suspicious", because concurrently with that, a Bahraini and another Emirati delegation visited the occupied territories. The first visited the Temple, and when it arrived at Al-Aqsa Mosque, it was guarded by "Israel," and the second was to conclude economic agreements.

After the UAE signed the normalization agreement with "Israel," on September 13, 2020, the Jerusalem Post newspaper proposed, "a joint prayer between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and [then Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu at Al-Aqsa."

It said that "many things that were not natural have become normal today, and many taboos are no longer so, and the time has come to break the biggest taboo, which is the Jewish prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque."

This was preceded by the assertion of the Earthly Jerusalem Center, one of the Hebrew studies centers specializing in the affairs of occupied Jerusalem, that the Emirati-Israeli agreement “allows the Israelis to pray in Al-Aqsa.”

And he said August 28, 2020: "The normalization agreement will limit the rights of Muslims to practice their rituals inside the mosque, and weaken Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," and "will bring about an unprecedented change in religious sanctities, and the rights of Muslims in the Temple Mount."

He pointed out that "the only item that was announced about the Emirati-Israeli agreement is the most dangerous in the agreement, because it involves an important change in the status of the city of Jerusalem in favor of the Israelis, which undermines any hope that Jerusalem will become the capital of the Palestinians in the future."

The Center clarified that this clause "apparently is for the benefit of Muslims and states in its first part that Muslims who come to Israel in peace have the right to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque."

But "this is the first time that the term Al-Aqsa Mosque is used in an international document or statement, in contrast to the term that was previously used in such international documents, which is (Al-Haram Al-Sharif—The Noble Sanctuary/ The Temple Mount)."

The center considered that "the Emirati-Israeli agreement is a victory for Israel because it restricts prayer inside Al-Aqsa Mosque only, not the entire Al-Haram Al-Sharif square."

While the reactions were limited to Egypt, Turkey and Jordan, who criticized, in separate statements, the first Israeli court ruling allowing Jews to pray silently in the Noble Sanctuary.