Temporal division of Al-Aqsa

PIC reported:

The Israeli government has been exerting rigorous efforts to divide the al-Aqsa Mosque temporally through preventing Muslim worshippers from entering the Mosque at specific times. These efforts have urged some public figures in the occupied al-Quds ('Jerusalem') to sound the alarm bell of an imminent danger, and to demand all possible measures to oppose the Israeli endeavors.

The former Palestinian Minister for 'Jerusalem' Affairs, Khaled Abu Arafeh, said in this regard, "The occupation has been trying since the Intifada of 2000 to divide the al-Aqsa Mosque temporally, as it used to prevent the Muslim worshippers from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from entering the Mosque on Fridays. It also used to turn the occupied city and the environs of the Old City into military barriers and checkpoints."

Abu Arafeh said that the Israeli occupation exploits the absence of the PA's role of protecting freedom of worship to impose a status quo where Palestinians pray in the al-Aqsa Mosque at some particular times. According to him, accepting this has led Israel to escalate the plans to divide the al-Aqsa temporally.

He mentioned that the Israeli plans started with the closure of the Mosque and then escalated to control the time in which Palestinian elderly, women, and schoolboys are allowed to enter the Mosque.

Abu Arafeh warned of the perils of ignoring the Israeli endeavors saying, "We are approaching a quite dangerous point, as the Israeli occupation has started the temporal division of the al-Aqsa Mosque by imposing timetables for entering and leaving the Mosque to give space for the settlers… we may encounter a time when Palestinians are not allowed to enter al-Aqsa from dawn to evening, just like what happened in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron."

Abu Arafeh warned the Palestinians and Muslims against accepting the status quo, which would lead to more Israeli schemes.

A Hebrew Term

Abu Arafeh explained that the term 'temporal division' is originally Hebrew that was disseminated through the media to be used and accepted. It means specifying times for Jews to deprive Muslims of their rights to pray and to control the al-Aqsa Mosque entirely.

Azmi Draini, a media spokesperson stated, "I think temporal division is a dangerous term that puts al-Aqsa between two sides with supposedly equal rights."

He added that the Israeli government violates the Palestinians' right of freedom of worship, and it attacks women at the al-Aqsa Mosque.

"Applying the temporal division can't come into effect as long as there are Muslim worshippers at the gates of the al-Aqsa demanding their right of worship," Draini went on. "People who gather at the gates of the al-Aqsa every day in the early morning are the sole practical deterrent for imposing the status quo."

Demanded measures

Draini stressed the importance of "opposing the efforts of changing the current situation in the al-Aqsa, which requires a number of steps. On the ground, the most important step is increasing the number of Muslim worshippers in al-Aqsa Mosque every day, and if they can't reach it, they should be present at the nearest point to it. Politically, some measures have to be taken by the Arab League. And media should highlight the issue as an event not as a piece of news."

Zina Amr, a Palestinian worshipper in al-Aqsa, said, "The Israeli occupation has been imposing a temporal division between Jews and Muslims. Israel now prevents Muslim women from entering the Mosque from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., and allows it for Jews only. This means that Israel is trying to normalize the total separation between Muslims and Jews."

She clarified that the Israeli government has been escalating efforts to exclude the Palestinians from the Mosque, beginning with arresting and trying them, then it turned to imprisonment and expelling from the occupied city. And now it has reached a level of mass expulsion.

Amr demanded the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to be alert to the risks threatening al-Aqsa Mosque, since all the Israeli violations challenge the Ministry's control of al-Aqsa Mosque.

Bayan Al-Ja'ba, a Palestinian activist in the city, said, "Currently, it is the stage of temporal division. It is where some days and hours are mutual for both Muslims and Jews, and other hours are particularized for separation. The next stage would be the spatial division of the al-Aqsa Mosque."