Israel’s high-stake game at Al Aqsa

The state of Israel was established on the ruins of Palestine, based on a series of objectives that were initialed by letters from the Hebrew alphabet, the consequences of which continue to guide Israeli strategies to this day.

The current violence against Palestinian worshippers at Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem is a logical extension of this Zionist ambition.

Plan A (February 1945), Plan B (May 1947) and Plan C (November 1947) all strove to achieve the same end: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine of its original inhabitants.

It was not until March 1948 that Plan Dalet (Hebrew for Plan D) brought together all the preparatory stages for final implementation.

Championed by the Haganah Jewish militias, “Plan Dalet” saw the destruction of hundreds of villages, the depopulation of entire cities and secured the defence of the new country’s borders, ensuring that Palestinian refugees are never allowed back.

For Palestinians, that phase of their history is known as the “Nakbeh”, or the “catastrophe”.

“Dalet” was an astounding success from the Zionists’ point of view. However, the borders were never truly defined in order to allow for territorial expansion, at the opportune time.

That moment came when Israel launched its war of 1967 (known to Palestinians as “Nakseh” or the “Setback”), seized East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and thus sealed the fate of entire historic Palestine.

Occupied Jerusalem was not open for negotiations: it is Israel’s historic, eternal and undivided capital, it claimed, citing or misinterpreting biblical references as it saw fit.

Almost immediately, the Israeli government annexed Jerusalem by extending the West Jerusalem municipal borders to include newly conquered East Jerusalem.

It was not until 1980 that Israel passed a law that explicitly annexed the illegally occupied city to become part of the so-called Israel proper.

Since then, Jerusalem has been a major point of strife, political conflict and controversy.

Understandably, the Jerusalem political discourse is conflated with discussion about religion, but it is far more encompassing than a conflict over access to holy sites. 

The fate of Jerusalem and its holy sites cannot be understood separately from the fate of Palestine. And the daily struggle of Palestinian Muslims and Christians in this city is a representation of the struggle of Palestinians everywhere.

As West Jerusalem was conquered under “Plan Dalet”, East Jerusalem, like the rest of the occupied territories was, along with other Palestinian regions, the target of another plan, the “Allon Plan”.

It was named after Yigal Allon, a former general and minister in the Israeli government, who took on the task of drawing an Israeli vision for the newly conquered Palestinian territories.

While the Israeli government moved to immediately change the status quo governing East Jerusalem, the Allon Plan sought to annex more than 30 per cent of the West Bank and all of Gaza for “security purposes”.

It stipulated the establishment of a “security corridor” along the River Jordan, as well as outside the “Green Line”, a one-sided Israeli demarcation of its borders with the West Bank.

The plan envisioned the incorporation of all Gaza Strip into Israel and was meant to return parts of the West Bank to Jordan as a first step towards implementing the “Jordanian option” for Palestinian refugees, i.e., ethnic cleansing, coupled with the creation of an “alternative homeland” for the Palestinians.

While the plan did not fully actualise, the seizure, ethnic cleansing and annexation of the occupied land was a resounding success.

Moreover, the Allon Plan provided an unmistakable signal that the Labour government, which ruled Israel at the time, wanted to retain large parts of the West Bank and all of Gaza, with no intention of honouring United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which challenged Israel’s military takeover of Palestinian territories. 

To ensure that the seizure of new land is irreversible, the Labour government needed to move some of its citizens (in violation of the Geneva Conventions) to the newly occupied territories.

Doing so required reaching out to the most reactionary, religious elements of Israeli society, the religious ultra-nationalist camps, who were on the margins of mainstream politics.

To capitalise on the government’s alluring settlement policies in the West Bank, a group of religious Jews rented a hotel in the Palestinian town of Al Khalil (Hebron) to spend Passover at the “Tomb of the Patriarchs”, and simply refused to leave, sparking the biblical passion of religious Orthodox Israelis across the country, who referred to the West Bank by the biblical name, Judea and Samaria.

The move ignited the ire of the Palestinians who watched in complete dismay as their land was conquered, renamed and, later, settled by outsiders.

In 1970, to “defuse” the situation, the Israeli government constructed the Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of the Arab city, which invited even more orthodox Jews to Al Khalil.

The Allon Plan may have been intended for strategic purposes, but what began as a political objective intermingled with the religious and spiritual.

Over the years, the strategic settlement growth was complemented by the religiously motivated expansion championed by a vibrant movement, exemplified in the founding of “Gush Emunim” (Bloc of the Faithful) in 1974.  Its mission was to settle legions of fundamentalists on the West Bank.

Little has changed since. The current Israeli government is a government of settlers who are not engaged in a symbiotic relationship with the government, but dominate a political establishment that is teeming with zealots and fanatics, relentless on changing the status quo in Jerusalem, starting with Al Haram Al Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary). 

Al Haram Al Sharif is one of the holiest Islamic sites, but this is not just about religion. Israeli politicians have been “debating” the status of Al Haram Al Sharif for many months as right wing, religious and ultra-nationalists elements are advocating the complete appropriation of Al Aqsa Mosque (situated in Al Haram Al Sharif compound), currently under the management of the Islamic Trust (known as waqf.)

Israel’s new minister of internal security, Gilad Erdan, is repressing any Palestinian in Jerusalem who dares challenge new Israeli rules regarding Muslim access to Al Aqsa.

Scores of Palestinians have been shot and beaten, and many more arrested in recent days as they attempted to confront Israeli police that escorts Jewish extremists on their provocative “tours” of the Muslim holy site.

The current conflict suggests a repeat of  February 25, 1994, when a US-born Jewish fanatic, Baruch Goldstein, stormed into Al Haram Al Ibrahimi in the Palestinian city of Al Khalil and opened fire.

Over 50 Palestinians were killed while kneeling for prayer on that day.

In the name of “keeping the peace”, the Israeli forces took over the mosque and began regulating Muslims’ access to it, allowing Jewish worshippers into the Palestinian holy site.

Goldstein and his most ardent supporters hailed from the notorious Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement. 

Israeli politicians now want to see Al Aqsa Mosque status changed as well. The government wants to ensure its complete dominance over the Palestinians, while the extremists wanted to demolish the mosque, seeking ancient Jewish temples presumably destroyed in 586 BC and AD 70.

But to change the status of Al Haram Al Sharif, which has been an exclusive Muslim site for the last 1,300 years, much blood will have to be spilled. That, too, is being managed by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has successfully pursued the country’s attorney general to permit the use of sniper fire against protesting Palestinian youth.

With such rightwing, extremist politicians at his side, Netanyahu’s designs in Jerusalem, consistent with the political mood in Israel today, are also consistent with plans enacted by his predecessors many years ago.

The fact that plans to conquer even the remaining symbols of Palestinian nationhood and spirituality have finally reached Al Aqsa is particularly alarming.

Considering the turmoil throughout the Middle East and the ineffectual Palestinian leadership, Netanyahu is likely to push forward with his plan, no matter the price or the consequences.

The writer, www.ramzybaroud.net, has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally syndicated columnist, a media consultant, author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London). He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.