by Rachel Avraham
foreign governments are trying to buy their way into Jerusalem
After
a weekend of unrest at the Temple Mount and the arrest and subsequent
release of two waqf officials, an anonymous Palestinian source has
indicated that the recent escalation of violence in Jerusalem is
connected to the addition of seven new members to the waqf who are
affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and not the Jordanian
government. The new members were added after Jordan announced that it
no longer wants to have exclusive control over the waqf. While Jordan
attributes this to a desire for Muslim unity, the source claims that
foreign governments are trying to buy their way into Jerusalem and that
Jordan is violating the status quo by letting the PA come into the
picture.
Among the new members of the waqf are top
PA and Palestine Liberation Organization officials Hatem Abdul Qader (a
former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council) and Adnan
al-Husayni (a member of the PLO Executive Committee, PA minister for
Jerusalem affairs and former governor of Jerusalem). Jerusalem Grand
Mufti Muhammad Ahmad Hussein and Al Quds University President Dr. Imad
Abu Kishek, both of whom were appointed to their positions by PA
President Mahmoud Abbas, are also now members of the waqf. In addition,
Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, whose opinions are known to be extreme and who is
linked to the Turkish government, was made a member of the waqf by the
Jordanian government.
According to the source, these appointments
came at the same time that waqf land is being leased to Palestinian
nongovernmental organizations sponsored by the United Nations
Development Program and the Palestine Investment Fund in order to build
schools and playgrounds such as one in Sheikh Jarrah that was built on
the same plot of land where an IDF memorial is located. The source
warned that the monument was in danger of being desecrated and that any
works intended might be a trigger for instability and violence.
Of course, the PA is not alone in this
game. The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, known as TIKA,
is also increasingly buying properties in east Jerusalem. Former
Israeli Consul General Dr. Yitzhak Ben Gad noted: "Erdoğanis an Islamist
and he is also trying to change the situation on the Temple Mount."
In the wake of these developments,
following both Turkey's and the PA's increased control over east
Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Fatah is utilizing its power to "stir up
and escalate the situation."
Itamar Marcus, founder and director of
Palestinian Media Watch, warned that the Israeli people should expect
more violence in the immediate future following this development.
"Abbas, whenever he is in trouble politically, even internally, he tries
to incite conflict connected to the Temple Mount as a way of putting
himself center stage and presenting himself as a fighter for Al-Aqsa.
There has been intense incitement over Al-Aqsa for the past few weeks.
It could be that what happened just now was directed from Abbas, who is
in need of something to improve himself internally."
According to the anonymous source, the
status of the Gate of Mercy was not the real reason for the escalation:
"It is only an excuse for the new Fatah-influenced waqf." The source
added that the Israeli election was also not the real reason for the
recent escalation of violence.
According to Marcus, in the wake of
Israel's decision to deduct half a billion shekels from the money that
it transfers to the Palestinian Authority (the amount of money used to
reward terrorists and their families), Abbas is in such a bad financial
situation that "he does not know where to turn." Abbas is not only
desperate because of the reduction in tax revenues but also wants to
ensure that U.S. President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" will
never see the light of day. He wants the world community to focus more
on the Palestinian issue and less on building a coalition against Iran
as envisioned at the recent Warsaw Ministerial.
Marcus noted that previously, when Abbas
was desperate to put the Palestinian issue back on the map, he turned to
incitement and violence as his way out: "He would use the Jerusalem
issue to get the Palestinians to resort to violence. Abbas would tell
the Israelis and the U.N. that the violence was because Israel stole its
money and that if it wanted the violence to stop, Israel must cancel
its deductions from the taxpayers. The message to the people is that you
have to fight for the Temple Mount."
Reportedly, due to Abbas' reaction to
Israel's latest anti-terror measures, his popularity on the Palestinian
street has already risen. Many Palestinians are now volunteering to pay
the terrorists' salaries, inspired by Abbas's hard-line stance on this
issue. This development came after "Riad Malki, the PA foreign
minister, said that he notified Israel that he will not accept any money
transfer if Israel has deducted anything from it. That means that the
PA won't be able to pay salaries and that there will be major cuts."
According to Marcus, such a decision will eventually lead to violence:
"These kinds of euphemisms happen always before an explosion. This is
what Abbas wants."
Noted Middle East scholar Dr. Mordechai
Kedar noted that the Temple Mount has always been a battleground for all
kinds of organizations and states. He claimed that there was a major
struggle within the waqf "between the Muslim Brotherhood and those
supporting Arab statehood." Israel supported Jordan, according to Kedar,
because Israelis perceived them to be opposed to the "Muslim
Brotherhood, the Islamic Movement in Israel, Hamas, the radical group
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has a strong presence in Jerusalem, and other
Islamist groups that wanted to radicalize the people against Israel.
They viewed Jordan as a state that could bring some stability. All of
these groups are not a partner for Israel. It was much easier for Israel
to maintain law and order when the orders came from Amman rather than
Hamas or the Islamic Movement. However, now there is a regime in Jordan
that is delegating authority to the PA. Given this, Israel should not
compromise its sovereignty further."
As Ben Gad noted, "Jordan does not have the right to hand over authority."
Rachel
Avraham is the president of the Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi Center for
Human Rights and a political analyst at the Safadi Center for
International Diplomacy, Research and Public Relations.
Rachel Avraham
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/what-stands-behind-recent-temple-mount-unrest/
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