OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) continues its brutal violations against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing worshippers from reaching it, especially during Friday prayers. In addition, settlers persist in desecrating the Mosque’s courtyards through continuous incursions and carrying out Torah rituals. Observers see this as a systematic policy indicating the IOA intimate endeavor to redefine the “religious centrality” of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a prelude to the establishment of their alleged temple.
Ziyad Ibhais, the researcher on Jerusalem affairs, warned that the IOA seeks, through its daily violations against Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque and its prevention of prayers there, to strip the Battle of Al-Aqsa of its significance and prove that the battle has not changed anything in this context. This comes within the framework of a clear targeting to redefine Al-Aqsa Mosque, making it an ordinary mosque and stripping its religious centrality.
Remodeling the identity of Al-Aqsa
Ibhais stated in his remarks to the Palestinian information Center (PIC), “The religious centrality of Al-Aqsa Mosque does not need redefinition, just as its centrality and political symbolism were subjected to an attempt at liquidation, which began with Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Israel in 2017, and an attempt to erase the refugee issue and any political aspect of the Palestinian cause, reducing it to an economic solution and improving living conditions under occupation, an economic-security contract, achieving Israeli security in exchange for economic gains, and ending the issue.”
He pointed out that “the religious substitution was a manifestation, abbreviation, and intensification of all attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, through redefining its identity from being a purely Islamic mosque to being a shared sacred site, as a prelude to transforming it into a temple. This was manifested in imposing Torah rituals in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as a moral foundation for the temple, as we used to discuss before October 7th.”
Ibhais continued, saying: “Today, during this battle, the status of Al-Aqsa Mosque is evolving in two directions. The first is that the IOA has a clear perception through its practices that it wants to turn the issue of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the aggression against it into one of the means to empty the significance of the Battle of Al-Aqsa, claiming that this battle has not changed anything.”
He added, “Therefore, the IOA tries to prove this through its attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Thus, the issue of attacking the Al-Aqsa Mosque may gradually transform from being an issue between Zionist factions, religious Zionists, and nationalist currents into a consensus issue, as a means to empty the significance of the Battle of Al-Aqsa.”
He noted that “it is possible that it remains a subject of internal dispute, and we will await the upcoming developments.”
As for the other direction, according to the researcher on Jerusalem affairs, the IOA is currently working during the battle to redefine the status of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Over the course of more than a hundred days, the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been defined as if it were an ordinary mosque (neighborhood mosque) in which residents of the Old City can enter, while those residing outside the Old City are prevented from accessing it.
Ibhais explained, “This means the end of the idea of mass pilgrimage and the end of the central status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has a distinction from other mosques. Those living in the Old City pray in it considering it a neighborhood mosque, while those who do not reside there are not allowed to enter.”
A new challenge in Al-Aqsa Mosque
Ibhais said that this signifies that the IOA is creating a new opportunity for a new challenge in Al-Aqsa Mosque. If this policy continues, as expected, it will lead to a confrontation whose title is not isolation as it was in the past year, but merely the act of praying in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He emphasized that “mass pilgrimage to Al-Aqsa Mosque will become a title for confrontation with the occupation, allowing for the reproduction of a popular confrontation in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the 1948 occupied territories, with titles such as ‘breaking the monopoly over Al-Aqsa Mosque,’ ‘restoring prayer in the mosque,’ ‘mass pilgrimage to the mosque,’ in addition to ‘seclusion in it.'”
He concluded his remarks by saying, “It is expected that this will happen if the battle continues and transforms into a new and advanced popular form in Jerusalem and the West Bank. If the war ends, it will become a title to build upon, leading to a popular battle with the slogan ‘breaking the siege on Al-Aqsa Mosque and restoring prayer in it’ and preventing its redefinition.”
Preventing worshippers from Friday prayer in Al-Aqsa
Last Friday, dozens of Jerusalemites performed Friday prayer in the streets of Occupied Jerusalem and in the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, amidst cold and rainy weather, after they were prevented by the Israeli police forces from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Israeli police forces imposed their arbitrary measures in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Occupied Jerusalem for the 14th consecutive Friday. The police forces continued to besiege Jerusalem, tighten their grip on its residents, and prevent worshippers from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayer, except for some elderly individuals.
