Preventing worshippers from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan: On the brink of a third uprising

The Israeli Channel 13 revealed a few days ago that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a proposal by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir to restrict the entry of Palestinians from inside Israel and Jerusalem to Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan. A final official decision on this matter is expected to be made in the coming days, as it has not been accepted by the Israeli army and the Israeli internal security agency (Shin Bet), fearing an escalation in Jerusalem and the West Bank and the occurrence of a massive Palestinian uprising against the decision, as what happened in 2021.

With the continued Israeli incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, questions arise again about the issue of Jerusalem as one of the Palestinian constants and Israeli consensus about the future of the city. This resulted in a political stance manifested by a unified Israeli slogan and discourse: “Unified Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel”. This can be discerned in the ideas proposed by some Israeli leaders, academics, and strategists, not to mention the results and recommendations recorded at the end of conferences and seminars held at Israeli research centres, such as the Herzliya Strategic Conference, which has been held annually since 2000. David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, clearly expressed Israeli intentions regarding Jerusalem on June 24, 1948. In a discussion at the Knesset, Ben-Gurion said: “The issue was not the annexation of Jerusalem to Israel, but how to achieve this goal in light of the obstacles, military circumstances, and economic conditions facing its achievement”. Since then, the stance of successive Israeli governments towards the issue of Jerusalem has been characterized by rigidity, similar to the issue of refugees and their right of return according to Resolution 194 of 1948.

The most dangerous thing facing the future of Jerusalem is certainly the Judaization activities, which we still witness unfolding rapidly. Israeli settlers repeatedly storm the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli police, in addition to the programmed demolition operations of various neighbourhoods in Jerusalem and attempt to displace its residents.

With Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including the eastern part of Jerusalem, and Gaza on June 5, 1967, several Israeli projects and ideas about the future of the occupied Arab territories began to emerge. The visions focused on keeping unified Jerusalem under “Israeli sovereignty” as the “eternal capital of Israel”. One of the most important proposed projects that included maintaining full control over Jerusalem was Ben-Gurion’s project in 1967, where he was the first to propose the idea of granting Palestinians in the occupied territories self-rule to manage their affairs within it, after the War of June. Ben-Gurion distributed a project to the newspapers containing some ideas in which he distinguished between Palestinians in the occupied territories and Palestinians abroad, and at the same time also distinguished between the residents of the Gaza Strip and their brethren in the West Bank. In addition to the proposal included in the project to annex Jerusalem to the borders of “the State of Israel”, in July 1967, the then Foreign Minister, Egal Alon, presented to his government a project related to Sinai and the Golan Heights, based on ideas of Ben-Gurion, but Alon’s project was more detailed, specific, and clear.

Following the successive Israeli ideas and projects from Israeli parties and figures regarding the future of Jerusalem, Israel announced the annexation of the eastern part of Jerusalem on July 30, 1980. Despite forty-four years passing since the annexation of the eastern part of the city, settlement activities in its environs have not stopped to Judaize it geographically and demographically. However, the most dangerous of these Judaization activities, which we still witness unfolding rapidly, is the repeated incursions into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque by settlers under the protection of the Israeli police, in addition to the programmed demolition operations of various neighbourhoods in Jerusalem and attempts to displace its residents, along with Israel’s relentless attempts to impose temporal and spatial division to ultimately Judaize it.

Over the decades, Jerusalem, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, has witnessed a series of events that have had a significant impact in igniting feelings of anger and resistance among Palestinians, leading to the emergence of many uprisings and Palestinian intifadas.

One of the pivotal moments in this conflict was the first intifada between 1987 and 1993, which emerged as a massive popular movement against the Israeli occupation. Although it was not directly centred around Al-Aqsa Mosque, it laid the groundwork for a wave of protests and resistance against Israeli policies.

Then came Ariel Sharon’s visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque on September 28, 2000, which sparked the outbreak of the second intifada, as Sharon’s visit, then leader of the Israeli opposition, to Al-Aqsa Mosque sparked a wave of Palestinian anger, leading to the outbreak of what became known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

In 2014, Jerusalem faced a popular uprising in response to attempts to change the current situation in Al-Aqsa Mosque and increasing pressures on Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, reflecting the permanent Palestinian rejection of Judaization policies and demographic change.

As for the Bab al-Asbat uprising in 2017, it was a response to the installation of electronic gates at the entrances to Al-Aqsa Mosque, demonstrating the strength and determination of Palestinian popular protest against the Israeli occupation’s practices of control and restrictions on religious freedoms. Palestinians organized protests and collective prayers rejecting these measures.

Preceding the Al-Aqsa Intifada were the protests that erupted in May 2021, following threats to evict Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and violence in Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, serving as a catalyst for a major escalation against the Israeli occupation by the resistance in Gaza, marking the beginning of what was called the Sword of Jerusalem battle.

Each of these uprisings and intifadas reflects not only Palestinian rejection of Israeli policies but also their insistence on asserting their rights and identity, confirming the pivotal role of Jerusalem as a symbol of resilience and challenge in the heart of this struggle against occupation.

These events represent pivotal moments that contributed to shaping Palestinian collective consciousness and led to popular mobilization against Israeli policies and practices. Each uprising or intifada reflects Palestinian rejection of the current situation and insistence on demanding their rights and sovereignty.

It goes without saying that if the proposal by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir to ban the entry of Palestinians from inside Israel and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, into Al-Aqsa Mosque during the blessed month of Ramadan is finally approved, we may witness a massive Palestinian uprising by the Palestinian people inside the historical Palestinian territories and nearby migrants, and its echo will be resounding.