A new spark threatening to set the Middle East ablaze? On Tuesday, August 13, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, accompanied by nearly 2,250 Jews, prayed and raised the Israeli flag on the highly sensitive site of the Esplanade of the Mosques in East Jerusalem, on the occasion of an annual commemoration, a site official told AFP.
Located in the area of the Holy City occupied and annexed by Israel, the Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam, is built on the ruins of the second Jewish temple, destroyed in the year 70 by the Romans. But for the Jews, this place is above all the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.
This Tuesday morning, “about 2,250 Jews prayed, danced and raised the Israeli flag” on the esplanade, an official of the Waqf, the Jordanian administration of Muslim religious properties in Jerusalem, told AFP on condition of anonymity. Itamar Ben Gvir, Israeli Minister of National Security and a far-right settler accustomed to provocations, filmed himself on the site on the occasion of the Jewish commemoration of Tisha B’Av, in homage to the destruction of the two Temples, by the Babylonians in 587 BC and then by the Romans in the year 70.
In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office sought to distance itself from the trip, which is expected to create new tensions, saying that “there is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount – neither the Minister of National Security nor any other minister.” “This morning’s event on the Temple Mount is an exception to the status quo,” it also said.
A rule set in 1967
Indeed, under a status quo decreed after Israel’s conquest of East Jerusalem in 1967, non-Muslims can go to the Esplanade of the Mosques at specific times, without praying there. But this rule is increasingly less followed by some nationalist Jews, while the place is administered by Jordan, but its access is controlled by Israeli security forces.
On Tuesday, “Israeli police allowed only a few Muslim worshipers to enter, imposing restrictions on entry to al-Aqsa,” the head of the Waqf told AFP. Itamar Ben Gvir “supervises the Judaization” of the highly sensitive holy site “and is helping to change the situation at al-Aqsa […] instead of respecting international treaties on the status quo with Jordan,” he added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced an “escalation” and “provocations”, referring to “illegal incursions” […] to prepare the imposition of total Israeli control and “Judaization” of the places “in violation of international law.”
“We must win this war, not go to discussions in Doha or Cairo”
Already three weeks ago, Itamar Ben Gvir had indicated on Wednesday that he had prayed in the compound of the Esplanade of the Mosques, defying once again the rule of the status quo. “I follow the political leadership, and the political leadership authorizes prayers on the Temple Mount […]”I prayed on the Temple Mount last week,” the national security minister said at a conference in the Israeli parliament entitled “Israel’s return to the Temple Mount,” the holiest site in Judaism.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had already expressed its disagreement on this issue, stating that “Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”
During his trip, Itamar Ben Gvir also discussed the war that has been going on for more than ten months in the Gaza Strip against Israel and Hamas, declaring that it was necessary to “win this war, not go to talks in Doha or Cairo,” the regional negotiators who, with the United States, are pushing for a truce in Gaza. “We must beat them, bring them to their knees, we can beat Hamas,” Itamar Ben Gvir insisted.