November 3, 2014 -- Updated 1032 GMT (1832 HKT)
Tension in Jerusalem is at its greatest since the end of the second
intifada, or Palestinian uprising, 10 years ago -- stoked by a rash of
what some call hate crimes and others acts of terror. FULL STORY
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TEMPLE MOUNT TENSIONS
Temple Mount crisis fuels unrest in volatile Jerusalem
November 3, 2014 -- Updated 1141 GMT (1941 HKT)
An Israeli soldier aims tear gas
during clashes with Palestinian protestors following a rally on November
2, at a checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem City, against the
rare closure of the al Aqsa mosque.
HIDE CAPTION
Tensions at Temple Mount
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Tension in Jerusalem is perhaps at its greatest since the end of the last Palestinian uprising
- Regular outbreaks of stone-throwing by Palestinian teenagers answered by tear gas, rubber bullets
- Israel closed the Temple Mount, which includes al-Aqsa Mosque, after two shootings
- Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot and hospitalized in serious condition
Dire predictions that a
third intifada was about to erupt after the brief closure of the Temple
Mount -- known to Arabs as the Noble Sanctuary -- came to nothing. But
the weather could not sweep away the toxic atmosphere in the city.
Tension in Jerusalem is
perhaps at its greatest since the end of the second intifada, or
Palestinian uprising, ten years ago -- stoked by a rash of what some
call hate crimes and others acts of terror. Regular -- almost daily --
outbreaks of stone-throwing by Palestinian teenagers are answered by
tear gas and rubber bullets; hundreds of minors have already had their
first taste of jail.
The city's mayor,
describing the violence as intolerable, has announced that surveillance
balloons equipped with HD cameras will be deployed above troublesome
neighborhoods to prevent disturbances. The Israeli cabinet is
considering legislation that would introduce prison terms of up to 20
years for throwing stones.
One of the most restive
neighborhoods in Jerusalem is Silwan, a densely-packed area in the
shadow of the Temple Mount, where there is little work, a heavy police
presence and a growing colony of Jewish settlers, moving into properties
bought from Palestinians.
Touchstone issue
Temple Mount crisis fuels unrest
Tensions mounting in Jerusalem
Palestinians furious over Al-Aqsa closing
Israel closes Al Aqsa after shooting
Holy site closed for first time in years
Last month, a Palestinian
from Silwan drove his car into passengers getting off a tram in
Jerusalem, killing a baby and injuring several others, including a woman
who died later. And last week, a 32-year-old Palestinian shot and
gravely wounded a right-wing rabbi, Yehuda Glick, as he left a Jerusalem
conference called "The Jewish people return to the Temple Mount."
Glick, now in a serious
but stable condition in hospital, has long argued that the Jews must
have a place of worship on the Temple Mount, a touchstone issue for
Muslims who suspect a plan to expel them from the site, where the al
Aqsa mosque is also situated.
Glick's view is
supported by some elected officials, including Housing Minister Uri
Ariel and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset (and a member of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party) Moshe Feiglin.
Glick's assailant, Mutaz
Hijazi, who had spent more than a decade in prison, in part for crimes
of violence, was shot dead by an Israeli counter-terror unit hours
later. Hundreds of Palestinians attended Hijazi's funeral; his father
said that if Hijazi had shot Glick it was because "occupation equals
resistance."
Israeli authorities
reacted to the attempted assassination of Glick by closing the al Aqsa
mosque altogether for one day, then restricting access to men over 50
years of age and women, and putting thousands more police on the
streets. The Palestinian Authority described the closure -- the first in
14 years -- as a "declaration of war."
There were also harsh words from Jordan, which remains the custodian of
the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem according to its peace treaty with
Israel.
In such an environment
acts of political violence can spark outsize responses and set off an
uncontrollable chain of events. The killing of three Jewish teenagers in
the West Bank back in May, which Israel said was the work of Hamas,
sparked a crisis that ultimately led to the Gaza conflict. In July, the
abduction and murder of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem provoked
serious rioting. Three Israelis are on trial for the killing.
Feiglin said "the
government's weakness and incompetence in handling terrorism" were
responsible for the attempt of Glick's life. Early on Sunday morning,
with a police guard, Feiglin returned to the Temple Mount in defiance of
an appeal from Netanyahu for Knesset members to show responsibility and
restraint.
'Most sensitive kilometer on Earth'
Netanyahu is walking a
fine line between supporting the existing right of Jews to visit (but
not pray at) the Temple Mount and preventing that right from sparking a
broader crisis and renewed violence. In a statement Sunday aimed as much
at the likes of Feiglin as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, he said
the Temple Mount complex is "the most sensitive kilometer on Earth," and
insisted the government would not change the status quo.
"It is easy to start a
religious fire but much more difficult to extinguish it," Netanyahu
said. On that note he and Abbas were in rare accord, the Palestinian
President saying "assaults and provocations by fanatics will lead to
grave consequences."
Some commentators say
Netanyahu is politically vulnerable on this issue. The Israeli right,
and especially the Jewish Home Party led by Economy Minister Naftali
Bennett, is growing in strength, according to opinion polls. Bennett -- a
member of the Israeli cabinet -- argued for a tougher Gaza campaign
aimed at destroying Hamas and is widely seen as Netanyahu's principal
challenger. He told the Financial Times last month that "the logic that
the world will love us if we give up more land doesn't work" and has
pressed for more settlement construction. He also told CNN he supported
the right of Jews to pray at the Temple Mount.
The United States wants a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a meaningful détente with Iran, the
Netanyahu government opposes both.
Stephen M. Walt
Stephen M. Walt
By contrast, support for
the centrist and leftist parties is dropping, while opposition to a
two-state negotiated settlement is widespread. A poll this month for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
found that 75% of the Israeli Jews oppose Israel's withdrawal from the
Jordan Valley and the division of Jerusalem, which would give the
eastern half to the Palestinians.
The volatility in
Jerusalem has become the latest flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian
relations. The peace process is moribund amid an absence of trust
between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority; much of
Gaza is in ruins following seven weeks of conflict there this summer in
which more than 2,000 people were killed.
The European Union has
questioned Israel's "commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement with
the Palestinians" in the wake of renewed momentum in expanding Jewish
settlements in Arab East Jerusalem. The U.S. State Department made a
similar criticism.
In such an atmosphere,
it is hardly surprising that U.S. efforts to promote dialogue have
stumbled. Writing in Foreign Policy, Stephen M. Walt says that if you
invest real effort in the peace process -- as have President Obama and
Secretary of State John Kerry "and you get precisely zero help from
Netanyahu and his lieutenants, a degree of irritation is to be
expected."
"The United States wants
a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a
meaningful détente with Iran, the Netanyahu government opposes both," he
added.
The left-leaning Israeli
newspaper Haaretz published a cartoon showing a grinning Netanyahu
piloting an Israeli plane whizzing toward a U.S. skyscraper. Responding
to a furious reaction in social media, cartoonist Amos Biderman said:
"The message is that Bibi is arrogantly and wantonly destroying Israel's
ties with the U.S."
From the other end of
the political spectrum, journalist Caroline Glick wrote: "While
[Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas himself is responsible
for the hit on [Yehuda] Glick, he has had one major enabler -- the Obama
administration."
A Jerusalem Post poll at
the weekend found that 53% of Israeli Jews now regarded the US
administration as pro-Palestinian, with just 16% seeing it as
pro-Israel. Responding to disparaging remarks made about him by
unidentified U.S. officials last week, Netanyahu sought to turn the
criticism to his advantage, saying "the assault on me comes only because
I defend the state of Israel."
But that doesn't include
changing the delicate status quo on the Temple Mount and inviting yet
more violence at the end of a year already full of bloodshed
copy http://edition.cnn.com
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