The morning started with horrific news about three (Palestinian) young men getting killed at al Aqsa inside a shooting exchange with Israeli police\soldiers.
For the first instant, the news seemed unreal. How can any Palestinian or anyone enter Al Aqsa with a weapon? The next piece of news was that the deceased were three young men from Um al Fahem, which means Israeli citizens, who can have easy access to guns. This made it sound as if it is justifiable that the shooting occurred. Armed people shoot!
But then, videos started to be shared, and right next to the Dome of the Rock, the attack took place, or maybe part of it, a man was on the ground, and he tried to get away and then enormous shooting put him down. He was shot down with hundreds of bullets. And this was inside the court of the Dome of the Rock.
In an average day. On any day. It is practically impossible to enter the area of Al Aqsa. All of it from any single entrance without being stopped and checked by a group of Israeli police who stand loaded weapons at the entrances ( ALL ENTRANCES ) and NOT A SINGLE PERSON can enter without being checked and go through machines and identities, and questions asked.
So today, a typical early Friday, three young men from Um al Fahem decide to shoot Israeli police inside the Aqsa?
If these young men were religious, and it sounded so from the facebook of one of them, they would never try to shoot or take a gun to the mosque. These people live in Israel; they can kill Israelis anywhere if they just wanted to go wild and decide to throw the Jews into the sea. It was not a “sneaking” Palestinian from the West Bank hunting to find an Israeli (Police)
The fact that two Israeli police were killed does not say anything ( We will get the names released soon to realize they were Arabs of course). It is, of course, an important reason to close the mosque.
But then I think, let’s put the scenario that these three people were armed. Why would they need to run or combat inside the mosque area?
There is a scenario that can be very logical. They are stopped at the entrance, attacked, harassed, after all, they are three Palestinians wanting to enter the mosque and they are under forty on a Friday .this is not the “good” Arab style an Israeli (police, soldiers…) like to see. One of the men that were killed was a wrestler ( according to FB) which also makes me ask the question, why would a competitive wrestler need a gun to go to pray ? )
Some weeks ago, in the last days of Ramadan, I went to the Aqsa with my kids and sister. We were stopped as usual at the entrance, and the policeman started interrogating us, in the sense that we don’t look like the style that a Muslim woman should be. I am not sure if he was speaking in Arabic. He started flirting with the girls, and at some point, he said: Please enter, welcome. I grabbed my daughter and said: come on, he is inviting us as if it is his house. I felt mad. But this was easy to trigger him; he was madder. He switched to another face, and he said: give me your IDs. At that moment he was in full control of our lives. Other soldiers\ police in the track where he was standing became alerted. People started looking with caution as if a fire is about to start. My eldest was furious, and she said: You are asking me if I am from Jerusalem? You think you have control over me entering my place? I come from a time where people like you never existed. My family has been here before this mosque was even here.
I was thinking the Nusseibeh genes were exploding in my daughter’s brain at that moment; especially she was asking me to calm the moment before.
After ten minutes or less of trying to make our life miserable proving to us that he is the one who can or cannot make us enter to pray, we got in.
What happened today brought that memory quickly back. This is not a single memory. This is what it means each time you think of going to the Aqsa.
So if this was the case with fresh looking sexy women like us who did not look Muslim enough to fit his criteria and thus, raising a brow in “ are you serious? You Moslems?” . It is not hard to imagine what happened to these young men at the entrance today.
You are encountered with bull like men in police uniform who are standing there to make your life miserable and will by no doubt be rewarded if they can kill you. Every Palestinian down is a valuable Palestinian in the Zionist school of terror.
What happened today is, by all means, an attempt to seize an opportunity to capture the Aqsa and its surrounding. Not to forget, that the UNESCO’s resolution on the Buraq Wall ( The Wailing Wall) was proved to be for the Islamic Waqf ownership, and hence, part of the AL Aqsa territory.
As of course, ISralei does not even care about International Resolutions and Laws, it can be a strike of showing the real face of terror that the state of Israel never seized to hide. The Abrahamic Mosque that was annexed forcibly and split between Moslems and Jews some more of a decade ago is an outstanding example of how Israel is attempting to do in Jerusalem. Also in timing, the UNESCO is resolving the dispute on the Ownership of the Abrahamic Mosque and its belonging to the Islamic Waqf and has no Israeli statutory rights on it.
Amid all the chaos that is happening at the moment, analyzing, blaming, weeping … The least we could do is to be in Jerusalem. Physically close as much as we can to the old city and the Aqsa.
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News and commented:
There is no more shame in Israel – it has been exiled!