On Friday morning, peace in the holy city of Jerusalem was disrupted due to clashes between Israeli police forces and Palestinians who had gathered in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, where Palestinians had gathered in thousands to start off the holy month of Ramadan by morning prayer. For the last two to three weeks Israel has been enduring a series of vicious attacks fueled by religious resentment and stigma from the Palestinian citizens living in Israel.
Just last week an armed Palestinian gunman entered a bar in Tel Aviv and started firing at the crowd, following which two people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured. Israeli officials had countered by unleashing a series of crackdowns on suspected Palestinians followed by a city-wide manhunt for the Tel Aviv shooter. The perpetrator was located and killed by security forces last Friday.
Today morning tensions were already soaring when police entered the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place in Islam. There were reports of a violent crowd that had gathered In the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, for the morning prayers, and even after the end of the prayers, there was still a large number of Palestinians who had stayed behind.
The situation escalated further when multiple masked men entered the compound of the mosque carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags.
Hamas is a Palestinian-origin terrorist organization, known most notably for the missile attacks that they have been conducting on Israeli cities since 2001. The last time such missile attacks happened was in November of 2018.
The Palestinians who had formed that aggressive crowd in the compound of Al-Aqsa mosque incited violence by pelting rocks at a Jewish holy site nearby, following which Israeli police forces entered the compound and countered by firing tear gas shells and rubber bullets on the pugnacious crowd. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Services, at least 90 Palestinians have received injuries of varying degrees.
“Hamas” spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum elucidated that it is a religious assault by Israeli soldiers on the worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque. He also added that the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, and a large number of police deployments near the Holy site are considered a major provocation of the Islamic faith.
Also, the hilltop on which Al-Aqsa Mosque stands is also the most sacred site for the Jewish citizenry, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. For decades, Jerusalem has been a site of major significance for the three largest monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
This year for the first time in a span of nearly 30 years, the occasions of Passover, Ramadan, and Easter coincide, as millions of Jews, Muslims and Christians are expected to gather within the city walls over the course of the next few days. But the constant communal clashes between Israelis and Palestinians over the years have tainted the Holy city of Jerusalem.
Both Israel and Palestinians have claimed the city as their capital and this has been a very significant issue often leading to religious and civil unrest. Israel is the only Jewish nation in the world, the arduously obtained religious freedom and sovereignty achieved by Israel, it holds dearly. Following the deadly Arab attacks occurring in Israel for the past three weeks now, Israeli security forces had been on the lookout for further such events that might escalate the already worsening situation in the country.
Considering the religious importance of the Al-Aqsa mosque for Palestinians and the Temple Mount for the Jewish population it was highly likely that if the violence and stone-pelting were allowed to carry on, it could have gotten much worse turning into a full-blown religious riot.
Thus police forces had to enter the site to disperse the jingoistic flag-waving crowd that had gathered On the Mosque premises with the clear intent to incite violence. At least three Israeli Police officers were injured in the attack by the rock pelting crowd, the Israeli forces fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets at the crowd following which the hostile procession was dispersed but the Israeli forces did not enter the mosque premises.
Published By: Aman Gupta
Edited By: Khushi Thakur
