Israel’s new far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir briefly visited Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a site also revered by Jews, prompting condemnation from Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and United Arab of Emirates . “The Temple Mount is open to all,” Ben-Gvir said on Twitter, using the Jewish name for the site. Video footage showed him strolling at the periphery of the compound, surrounded by a heavy security detail and flanked by a fellow Orthodox Jew. The Associated Press has the story:
Israel’s Ben-Gvir visits Al Aqsa Mosque, Arabs decry
Newslooks- JERUSALEM (AP)
An ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister visited Tuesday a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site for the first time since taking office in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government last week. The visit is seen by Palestinians as a provocation.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian officials said a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli army fire near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Israeli military said its forces had shot a person involved in violent confrontations with soldiers.
In Jerusalem, Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary flanked by a large contingent of police officers. The act drew condemnation from Israel’s Arab neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, and a rebuke from the U.S. ambassador.
Ben-Gvir has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site, which is viewed by Palestinians as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel taking complete control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying on the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there.
The site has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, most recently in April last year.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said that Ambassador Thomas Nides “has been very clear in conversations with the Israeli government on the issue of preserving the status quo in Jerusalem’s holy sites. Actions that prevent that are unacceptable.”
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which acts as custodian of the contested shrine, condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit “in the strongest terms.” Egypt warned against “negative repercussions of such measures on security and stability in the occupied territories and the region, and on the future of the peace process.”
Ben-Gvir’s stated intention of visiting the site earlier this week drew threats from the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter after his visit that the site “is open to all and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me it will deter me, they should understand that times have changed.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that Ben-Gvir entering the site on Tuesday was “a continuation of the Zionist’s occupation aggression on our sacred places and war on our Arab identity.”
“Our Palestinian people will continue defending their holy places and Al-Aqsa mosque,” he said.
Ofir Gendelman, who has long served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic-language spokesman, released a video showing that the “situation is completely calm” at the holy site following Ben-Gvir’s departure.
The hilltop shrine is the third-holiest site in Islam and an emotional symbol for the Palestinians. It sits on a sprawling esplanade that also is the holiest site for Jews, who call it to the Temple Mount because it was the location of two Jewish temples in antiquity.
Israel captured the historic Old City of Jerusalem, with its holy sites to three monotheistic faiths, along with the rest of east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, eternal capital.
The competing claims to the site lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have sparked numerous rounds of violence in the past.
Ben-Gvir is head of the ultranationalist religious Jewish Power faction and has a history of inflammatory remarks and actions against Palestinians.
A day earlier, opposition leader Yair Lapid, who until last week was Israel’s prime minister, spoke out against Ben-Gvir’s intended visit, saying it would “lead to violence that will endanger human lives and cost human lives.”
His visit came following months of mounting tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. On Monday, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem said 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2004, a period of intense violence that came during a Palestinian uprising. It said nearly 150 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
The Israeli military has been conducting near-daily raids into Palestinian cities and towns since a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 last spring. A fresh wave of attacks killed at least another nine Israelis in the fall.
In Tuesday’s shooting incident, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Adam Ayyad, 15, died of a bullet wound to the chest. The Israeli military said Border Police officers came under attack in the Dheisha refugee camp next to Bethlehem. It said troops shot at people throwing firebombs and confirmed that a person was shot.
The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict”.
Ben-Gvir did not approach the mosque, which is a symbol for Palestinian nationalism and their bid for statehood, a goal that looks ever bleaker with Ben-Gvir and other far-right allies in office in Netanyahu’s new government.
Jordan, the custodian of Al Aqsa and whose peace own deal with Israel is unpopular at home, also criticised the visit.
“Jordan condemns in the severest of terms the storming of the Aqsa mosque and violation of its sanctity,” the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said, adding it violated international law and “the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem”.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement Tuesday denouncing the act of “an Israeli official” of “breaking into Al Aqsa Mosque accompanied by extremists under the protection of the Israeli forces.”
The ministry stressed Egypt’s rejection of unilateral measures that contravene the existing legal and historic status of Jerusalem. The statement warned of the repercussions of the measures of the sort on security and stability in “the occupied lands,” the region, and the future of the peace process.
In a statement, the United Arab of Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) reiterated its firm position on the need to provide full protection for Al-Aqsa Mosque and halt serious and provocative violations taking place there.
Furthermore, the Ministry underscored the need to respect the custodial role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan over the holy sites and endowments in accordance with international law and the historical situation at hand, and not to compromise the authority of the Jerusalem Endowment Administration and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Ministry called upon Israeli authorities to assume responsibility for reducing escalation and instability in the region.
Moreover, the Ministry stressed the need to support all regional and international efforts to advance the Middle East Peace Process, end illegal practices that threaten the two-state solution, and establish an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
