Athis provocative? Figure of the Israeli far right and new Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir made a trip on Tuesday to the esplanade of the Mosques in East Jerusalem, a holy place at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions, arousing a wave of international condemnation .
Contacted by TelQuelan authorized source of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed of “the condemnation of the Kingdom of Morocco of the attack on the esplanade of the Al Aqsa mosque by an Israeli minister on Tuesday”pointing out that the kingdom “whose monarch is the Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, calls for the preservation of the legal and historical status of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa and limiting escalations and unilateral and provocative acts”.
From Gaza to Washington, the condemnation of the international community
“Our people will continue to defend their holy places and the Al-Aqsa Mosque”launched a Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, calling “crime” the displacement of Ben Gvir. It’s about a “unprecedented provocation”estimated the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.
On Tuesday evening, operatives in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip fired a rocket towards Israel, but it failed to hit its target and crashed in their territory, the Israeli military said.
Ben Gvir had previously visited the site as an MP, but this is his first visit since entering government last week. Contrary to the position of the Israeli rabbinate, he pleads for Jews to be allowed to enter and pray there.
“What will people say when they see a minister, an observant Jew, flouting the position of the rabbinate”wrote Yitzhak Yossef, Sephardic chief rabbi, in a letter to Ben Gvir.
Jordan denounced a “provocation” foreshadowing “an escalation” and summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman as the UAE called for “put an end to serious and provocative violations” on the site.
In Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy, a Foreign Ministry spokesman denounced a “violation of international rules and an insult to the values of Muslims around the world”.
Israel’s attack on holy sites in Jerusalem “will not only blow up the situation inside Palestine, but could blow up the whole region”Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Tuesday evening.
The White House has warned that “any unilateral action that would endanger the status quo (around the holy sites in Jerusalem) would be unacceptable”. A US State Department spokesperson told him “deeply concerned” by this trip by Itamar Ben Gvir, judging that the visit was likely to “exacerbate tensions and incite violence”.
For his part, the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Farhan Haq, underlined “the importance of maintaining the status quo in holy places”adding that the UN chief “calls on everyone to refrain from taking any action that could escalate tensions in and around holy sites”.
Berlin also called on Tuesday to “avoid actions that could increase tensions”. “The status quo” on this Esplanade in Jerusalem has “long contributed to maintaining fragile peace and security around holy sites”underlines on Twitter the German ambassador in Israel, Steffen Seibert.
The status quo on the #TempleMount/Haram Al Sharif has long helped maintain the fragile peace and security around the holy sites. Germany urges everyone to avoid actions that could increase tensions.
— Steffen Seibert (@GerAmbTLV) January 3, 2023
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “determined to strictly maintain the status quo”.
“This is what happens when a weak prime minister is forced to hand over responsibility to the most irresponsible person in the Middle East in the most explosive place in the Middle East”commented on Twitter the leader of the opposition and former prime minister, Yaïr Lapid.
This is what happens when a weak prime minister is forced to entrust the most irresponsible man in the Middle East to the most explosive place in the Middle East.
— Yair Lapid – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) January 3, 2023
In 2000, the visit of Ariel Sharon, then head of the right-wing opposition, to the esplanade led to bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police, marking the start of the second Intifada (2000-2005).
In May 2021, after violence on the compound and elsewhere in East Jerusalem, Hamas fired salvos of rockets into Israel, leading to an 11-day war with the Israeli military.
Ben Gvir advocates the annexation by Israel of the West Bank and the transfer to neighboring countries of part of the Israeli Arabs, descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
(with AFP)