A clear collision course By Danny Rubinstein
Nearly 200,000 worshipers came for prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque last Friday, the third Friday of Ramadan. This was the largest number of worshipers there in many years. Most of them were women, as the Israeli administration is not currently imposing any restrictions on women entering East Jerusalem from the West Bank. Age restrictions have been imposed on men: Only men of 40 and older can enter the city and the mosque.
Hundreds of young men demonstrated and rioted at the crossing points between Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces, the police and the Border Police dispersed them by force. Hundreds of young men (and perhaps more) had to pray in the streets adjacent to the Old City. Photographs of them kneeling in prayer on Sultan Suleiman Street and near Lions Gate have been a regular feature in the Arab and Palestinian press.
During the coming days, there will be additional religious events connected to the month of Ramadan. The night between Wednesday and Thursday is the Night of Al Qadr, "the Night of Heroism," when the Koran was revealed, and it is a night of extensive prayer. This coming Friday is called "the Orphan," because it is the last during the month of fasting - after which, on Monday a week from today, Id al-Fitr, the holiday that ends Ramadan, will begin.
Can violent incidents be expected during the coming days? It is hard to know. What is clear is that the Palestinian public has been becoming more and more religious for some time now. The fact that Israel does not allow Muslims (or Christians) from the territories to enter freely in order to pray at their holy sites in Jerusalem distresses and annoys them. It is hard to deny that this is a crude violation of freedom of religious observance. "The religious siege of Jerusalem," as it is defined by Chief Qadi Taysir Tamimi, has been going on for years now, a fact that makes no impression on anyone in the Israeli administration.
Anyone who takes a look at old newspapers from August 1969, when a young Australian set fire to Al-Aqsa Mosque and caused it great damage, will discover that the demonstrations and protests over the arson were not particularly impressive, either in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or beyond them. Now, however, the Palestinian territories have become one of the very few places in the world where Muslims damaged Christian churches (there were arson attempts at five churches) because of a remark made about Islam by the pope.
What is important to us, of course, are the diplomatic and security implications of this development. The Hamas movement, which has been bolstered by the strengthening of Islam, is now being pushed into a corner, and its leaders are sending out hints, and even threats, of a widespread renewal of terror activity. The head of the Hamas government, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said on Friday at a mosque in Khan Yunis that the Palestinian people has the full right to fight the occupation and defend its land and holy places. In his words, "a struggle of this sort is not terror at all: The real terror is the daily slaughter of the occupation and the siege and hunger that the occupiers are causing."
Other Hamas spokesmen are speaking in clearer language about "surprises" that Hamas is preparing for Israel. Saeed Seyam, the Hamas interior minister and the person in charge of the Palestinian security services, will complete a round of visits in Iran and Syria this week, together with his senior commanders, and Palestinian media reports say that in both Tehran and Damascus, Seyam and his people discussed security matters with senior officials of these countries. The Hamas leadership, which is being boycotted internationally, including in Arab countries, is being pushed toward Tehran and Damascus, and one can guess that its conversations there are not about the possibility of diplomatic recognition of Israel, but rather solely about the option of armed struggle.
It is enough to observe the security escalation in Gaza and the firing of Qassam rockets. According to media reports in both Israel and Gaza, the unofficial truce (or the "calm") between Israel and Hamas is evaporating, and the violent hostility between them has become open and clear. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has almost despaired of establishing a unity government, is helplessly watching events. Perhaps the forthcoming degeneration will be called the third intifada, and perhaps not. The collision course is clear. It is not going to come as a surprise.
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Colin Brace
Amsterdam