Uri Ariel fully intended to ignite a firestorm by visiting Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, writes Shannon Ebrahim.
Uri Ariel is the man who lit a powder keg this week at the crossroads of the world’s three great monotheistic religions. Ariel, the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, intended to provoke a firestorm when he led 30 extremist Israeli settlers into the Haram al-Sharif, the third holiest site in Islam.
We simply can’t underestimate the emotional and religious importance this place holds to all three religions and how dangerous such a provocation is. It has the potential to inflame emotions across the globe, which underscores the imperative to maintain the status quo at the compound that has been agreed to.
The Dome of the Rock is built on top of the Foundation Stone, which is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. According to Jewish tradition, the stone is the “navel of the earth” – the place where creation began and God gathered the dust to create Adam, and where Abraham was poised to sacrifice his son Isaac to prove his faith. For Muslims, the stone marks the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the Divine Presence on the back of a winged horse on the Miraculous Night Journey.
Despite the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a commitment last year that no government ministers would visit the Temple Mount, Ariel was escorted into the compound by Israeli forces.
When Ariel resolutely defied the status quo by entering the compound, he knew all hell would break loose, and that was his intention.
This is a man who two years ago called for the building of a third Jewish temple there, and who advocates for the temple to be built on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Ariel recently declared: “We’ve built many little temples, but we need to build a real temple on the Temple Mount.”
The last time an Israeli leader made such a provocative visit to Al-Aqsa, it ignited the Second Intifada, which inflamed passions across the Middle East.
That time, it was Ariel Sharon in 2000, as leader of the opposition.
The reaction from the international community this week has, however, been muted. The EU produced a weak statement, and the US merely said it was “deeply concerned”. South Africa has also failed to raise its voice on this matter.
Jordan, which is jointly responsible for the administration of the Haram al-Sharif with the Islamic Waqf, was seemingly alone in its condemnation. King Abdullah warned: “Any more provocation in Jerusalem, and it will affect the relations between Jordan and Israel. Jordan will not have a choice but to take action.”
This time, the violence that enveloped the mosque compound has been unprecedented, with a further 145 extremist Israeli settlers breaking into the Haram al-Sharif a day after Ariel’s visit, provoking Muslim worshippers and vandalising the mosque.
Windows were broken and prayer rugs in the mosque partially burnt due to the ensuing gun fire.
The Palestinians have reported to the UN Security Council how the Israeli occupying forces prevented the entry of Palestinian worshippers, injured and detained many of them, and instigated violent confrontations using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets at the compound. Well over 100 Palestinians were injured, but ambulances were prevented from reaching them. The Palestinians erected barricades to prevent the Israeli forces from closing the mosque entrance and attempted to protect the mosque by throwing stones and fireworks at Israeli forces.
But Ariel knew exactly what he was doing – it was orchestrated to trigger a conflagration not only over the status quo at the compound, but over the very essence of Israeli sovereignty over what is to Israelis the Temple Mount. This very issue was debated in the Knesset last year, leading Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy to warn that any Israeli declaration of sovereignty over the site could lead to an explosion in the region.
According to a 2013 report by the Israeli research organisation Ir Amin, the Jerusalem municipality and other government ministries directly fund and support various activist organisations driven by the mission to rebuild the temple. The extremist Temple Institute has already formulated detailed blueprints for the new temple.
The Palestinian Authority believes that there is an orchestrated Israeli plan to assert its control over the Al-Aqsa compound and create a physical partition of it between Muslims and Jews. The concern is also there that Israel has not hesitated to destroy mosques in the past, last year destroying the Omari Mosque in Gaza – one of the most ancient in Palestine.
As Palestine Liberation Organization senior official Hanan Ashrawi warned this week: “Israel is playing with fire.”
It may just be testing the limits of what it can get away with, which makes it all the more imperative that the international community makes its voice heard.
* Shannon Ebrahim is Independent Media’s Foreign Editor.