On Friday morning, three Palestinians opened fire at two Israeli soldiers near Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The two soldiers were killed before the three Palestinians were shot dead soon after. The attack wasn't claimed by any Palestinian faction signalling a continuation of individual attacks carried out by Palestinians — mainly those who have the Israeli nationality — against Israeli targets and which have risen in recent years. For the Israeli authorities, their work didn't end with killing the three attackers or arresting the father of one of them. The entire Al-Aqsa compound, which stretches over 35 acres of land and where Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock sit, was immediately closed. Not one Palestinian official charged with administering the compound was allowed entry, placing the entire sanctuary under full Israeli control. On Sunday, when Israel partially opened the compound, metal detectors were installed at two entrances, sparking fury among Palestinians already provoked by Al-Aqsa's closure since Friday, 14 July, halting noon prayers in the process. According to Sheikh Omar Al-Keswani, the manager of Al-Aqsa, it was the first time since Israel's creation in 1948 that Friday noon prayers were prohibited there. Outrage followed. Clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces continued to break out on a daily basis around the compound and in various East Jerusalem neighbourhoods as Al-Ahram Weekly went to press Tuesday. At least 50 Palestinians were injured according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Israeli police said they arrested six Palestinians. Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem remains the most sensitive issue in the 69-year-old history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a continuous point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians. More than two decades of negotiations have failed to resolve its fate, which remains subject to political wrangling on the ground and in the United Nations. Only a week earlier, dozens of Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque with an Israeli police commander provoking tension. Al-Aqsa Mosque compound was administered by the Ottoman Waqf Ministry until the British Mandate when it became the responsibility of the Supreme Muslim Council chaired by the mufti of Jerusalem until 1948. Since then, the compound has been administered and controlled by the Islamic Waqf, an affiliate of the Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments) in Jordan, with Israel's approval. This arrangement is referred to as the “status quo”. To Jews, the site is the location of two ancient temples destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans in 587 BCE and 70 CE respectively. Jews revere the compound as The Temple Mount while Palestinians call it Al-Haram Al-Sharif, or the holy sanctuary. Israel is accused of threatening the status quo by pursuing excavations for the two temples, works Palestinians say damage the foundations of the compound. It has also demolished Umayyad, Ottoman and Mameluke remains in the area while seizing opportunities to impose restrictions on Muslim worshippers attempting to enter the sanctuary. Israeli's lockdown of the compound from Friday to Sunday and the metal detectors have stoked new fears of further attempts at changing the status quo which, as recent events have demonstrated, proved to be too weak to withstand any Israeli decision to seize control of Al-Aqsa. More alarming is the meek reaction from Arab states to the unprecedented measures, with only Saudi Arabia and Jordan — as the compound's custodian — condemning the closure and demanding a return to the status quo. The Organisation of Islamic Conference and Turkey condemned the shutdown. The new measures were rejected by Palestinian religious authorities that issued a fatwa Monday prohibiting prayers in the mosque. The ruling Fatah Party called for a “day of rage” on Wednesday. The Islamic resistance movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad joined the call for protests, warning Israel in a joint statement of escalation if it does not retract its measures of “aggression”. “Al-Aqsa is a red line, [which] if crossed, cannot be met with silence,” the statement said.
