Gentle Waves: Jerusalem…the continual sound of hesitant statements has vanished!?
By: Dr. Yasir Mahgoub Elhussein
Will Muslims and Arabs allow the spectacle to continue, where the Minister of National Security in the Israeli occupation government, Itamar Ben Gvir, and his followers succeed in slaughtering their offerings in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, or further demolishing its walls, halls, and domes? Will they wait for Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who has gone from a state of “deep concern” to a state of “astonishment,” while the Arab League has entered a state of clinical death and their stuttering statements are ignored?
Last week, during Ramadan, Israeli occupation soldiers violently pushed elderly men who were performing Taraweeh prayers in Al-Quds Al-Sharif Square, while the soldiers’ shoes desecrated the carpets on which worshippers prostrated themselves. The entire area inside and outside the mosque turned into an unequal battlefield between armed soldiers, electric batons, tear gas, and worshippers, both men and women.
Every year, extremist Jewish groups push for permission to slaughter goats at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which they mistakenly claim to be the Temple Mount, during the Passover. This year, Passover began on Wednesday evening and ended on Thursday evening, April 13th. These groups identify themselves as the “Return to the Mountain” group. The Al-Aqsa complex includes the tribal mosque and the Dome of the Rock, within its walls on the Temple Mount.
Throughout its history, the management and care of the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been supervised by several parties, according to the succession of Islamic disputes and the countries that ruled historic Palestine. During the past hundred years, Al-Aqsa was administratively subordinate to the Ottoman Ministry of Awqaf during the Ottoman empire rule. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 and during the British Mandate period, the Islamic Waqf managed and maintained the site. Since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli government has attempted to establish control over Al-Aqsa, but they have faced resistance from the Islamic Waqf, as well as Palestinian and Arab governments.
The critical question is whether the central issue is limited to Jerusalem, or if it encompasses the broader context of the Israeli occupation of all of Palestine. Al-Quds Al-Sharif is a derivative issue stemming from this central problem, and its resolution must be tied to the end of the Israeli occupation of the entire territory of Palestine. This differs from the political realism ideology promoted by some individuals and states, which advocates for the establishment of Israel and Palestine as two neighboring states. Unfortunately, the occupation and the United States of America, its successor, continue to seek normalization even with regimes and politicians who support this political realism philosophy.
Regrettably, the Arab League is no longer as unified as it was before the Arab summit in Khartoum in 1967. At that time, Khartoum was known as the capital of the three “noes”: “no peace, no negotiation, and no recognition of Israel.” However, the resistance to occupation continues to gain strength and fervor worldwide.
Since its inception in 1948, the Arab League has strived for political balance, but unfortunately, it has failed to provide a viable strategic solution to the Palestinian question. While the institution remains visionary, it has demonstrated weakness, confusion, and ultimately, disintegration when dealing with the Palestinian cause. The University’s structural limitations and reliance on traditional decision-making processes that lack effectiveness and strength have contributed to its inability to take effective steps towards resolving the issue.
It is puzzling as to why Arab and Muslim leaders have failed to besiege the Jewish state despite having similar justifications that led to the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa and its replacement with the modern Republic of South Africa. The apartheid system in South Africa established a concept of state or sovereignty over a settlement activity within a colonial project that had split from the colonial mother state, Britain, and formed a national group that confirmed its “superior race” distinction from the indigenous population. The system of apartheid rights kept the “inferior race” within the state but denied them all their rights, such as movement and suffrage. Their aspirations were used as tools of domination by the “superior race”.
The Israeli conflict with Palestinians highlights the heroism of Palestinian resistance against occupiers’ assaults. In this battle of two opposing forces of similar strengths, achieving a balance of power is the key, without which one side emerges as the victor, and the other one as the vanquished.
Despite the Palestinian resistance’s unbalanced predicament against the world’s greatest power – an angry State – it has achieved a balance of terror with the occupying Power. The world was astonished at the audacity of the Palestinian resistance and determination to reverse aggression, causing as much harm to the occupiers as they themselves suffered.
Despite many heroic examples of Palestinian resistance, many states and governments did not provide their support to this cause. As a result, the picture that occupies time and space depicts many voivores and eruptions in the Arab and Islamic minds.