By Rachel Avraham, ISRAEL HAYOM
After a weekend of unrest at the Temple Mount and the arrest and subsequent release of two waqf officials, an anonymous Palestinian source has indicated that the recent escalation of violence in Jerusalem is connected to the addition of seven new members to the waqf who are affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and not the Jordanian government. The new members were added after Jordan announced that it no longer wants to have exclusive control over the waqf. While Jordan attributes this to a desire for Muslim unity, the source claims that foreign governments are trying to buy their way into Jerusalem and that Jordan is violating the status quo by letting the PA come into the picture.
Among the new members of the waqf are top PA and Palestine Liberation Organization officials Hatem Abdul Qader (a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council) and Adnan al-Husayni (a member of the PLO Executive Committee, PA minister for Jerusalem affairs and former governor of Jerusalem). Jerusalem Grand Mufti Muhammad Ahmad Hussein and Al Quds University President Dr. Imad Abu Kishek, both of whom were appointed to their positions by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, are also now members of the waqf. In addition, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, whose opinions are known to be extreme and who is linked to the Turkish government, was made a member of the waqf by the Jordanian government.
According to the source, these appointments came at the same time that waqf land is being leased to Palestinian nongovernmental organizations sponsored by the United Nations Development Program and the Palestine Investment Fund in order to build schools and playgrounds such as one in Sheikh Jarrah that was built on the same plot of land where an IDF memorial is located. The source warned that the monument was in danger of being desecrated and that any works intended might be a trigger for instability and violence.
Of course, the PA is not alone in this game. The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, known as TIKA, is also increasingly buying properties in east Jerusalem. Former Israeli Consul General Dr. Yitzhak Ben Gad noted: “Erdo?anis an Islamist and he is also trying to change the situation on the Temple Mount.”
In the wake of these developments, following both Turkey’s and the PA’s increased control over east Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Fatah is utilizing its power to “stir up and escalate the situation.”
Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, warned that the Israeli people should expect more violence in the immediate future following this development. “Abbas, whenever he is in trouble politically, even internally, he tries to incite conflict connected to the Temple Mount as a way of putting himself center stage and presenting himself as a fighter for Al-Aqsa. There has been intense incitement over Al-Aqsa for the past few weeks. It could be that what happened just now was directed from Abbas, who is in need of something to improve himself internally.”
According to the anonymous source, the status of the Gate of Mercy was not the real reason for the escalation: “It is only an excuse for the new Fatah-influenced waqf.” The source added that the Israeli election was also not the real reason for the recent escalation of violence.
According to Marcus, in the wake of Israel’s decision to deduct half a billion shekels from the money that it transfers to the Palestinian Authority (the amount of money used to reward terrorists and their families), Abbas is in such a bad financial situation that “he does not know where to turn.” Abbas is not only desperate because of the reduction in tax revenues but also wants to ensure that U.S. President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” will never see the light of day. He wants the world community to focus more on the Palestinian issue and less on building a coalition against Iran as envisioned at the recent Warsaw Ministerial.
Marcus noted that previously, when Abbas was desperate to put the Palestinian issue back on the map, he turned to incitement and violence as his way out: “He would use the Jerusalem issue to get the Palestinians to resort to violence. Abbas would tell the Israelis and the U.N. that the violence was because Israel stole its money and that if it wanted the violence to stop, Israel must cancel its deductions from the taxpayers. The message to the people is that you have to fight for the Temple Mount.”
Reportedly, due to Abbas’ reaction to Israel’s latest anti-terror measures, his popularity on the Palestinian street has already risen. Many Palestinians are now volunteering to pay the terrorists’ salaries, inspired by Abbas’s hard-line stance on this issue. This development came after “Riad Malki, the PA foreign minister, said that he notified Israel that he will not accept any money transfer if Israel has deducted anything from it. That means that the PA won’t be able to pay salaries and that there will be major cuts.” According to Marcus, such a decision will eventually lead to violence: “These kinds of euphemisms happen always before an explosion. This is what Abbas wants.”
Noted Middle East scholar Dr. Mordechai Kedar noted that the Temple Mount has always been a battleground for all kinds of organizations and states. He claimed that there was a major struggle within the waqf “between the Muslim Brotherhood and those supporting Arab statehood.” Israel supported Jordan, according to Kedar, because Israelis perceived them to be opposed to the “Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Movement in Israel, Hamas, the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has a strong presence in Jerusalem, and other Islamist groups that wanted to radicalize the people against Israel. They viewed Jordan as a state that could bring some stability. All of these groups are not a partner for Israel. It was much easier for Israel to maintain law and order when the orders came from Amman rather than Hamas or the Islamic Movement. However, now there is a regime in Jordan that is delegating authority to the PA. Given this, Israel should not compromise its sovereignty further.”
As Ben Gad noted, “Jordan does not have the right to hand over authority.”
Rachel Avraham is the president of the Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi Center for Human Rights and a political analyst at the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research and Public Relations.
@ Edgar G.: As you know, Edgar, I have a more pragmatic, “worldly” point of view. I never thought we could completely ignore the attitude of Gentiles towards us. However, I believe that if Israel had a competent diplomatic corps and a competent counter-propaganda and information department, public opinion at least in the democracies would come over to our side, and even the governments of these countries would grudgingly concede the justice of Israel’s cause and the justness of whatever measures in self-defense Israel is compelled to take. However, we don’t have competent diplomats or a functioning, adequately hunded information and counter-propaganda agency. Our diplomats and the tiny number of people assined to information belong to the appeasement camp. It all goes back to Israel’s dysfunctional, appeasement-oriented government, which is the real problem.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
We’ve tried “carrots” LOTS of them …but the Mamzerim take but don’t give. So they need a strong dose of “castor oil” in the form of UNREMITTNG strength and aggressiveness. The IDF is a highly mechanized and technological army after all…. and we are at war already for 100 years, so isn’t it about time that we asserted ourselves, and drove towards our goals instead of footering around waiting for the terrorists to “like us”…. They like us very well -but only as a source of cathartic bloodletting and a cushy income for life. Not to mention hotel class cells with free tuition up to Master’s Degree…….
Sounds more like “Alice in Wonderland ” than an endless war wth half crazy bloodthirsty low mentality terrorists.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Absolutely. I’m glad you agree with me. We are either a Sovereign Nation, or an enlarged shtetl. We must make up our minds. There would be much muttering in the whiskers and lots of protests…but what are “protests” after all….a bunch of ideologues and Jew Haters who gather together under umbrellas and shout slogans and dusplay pre-prepared placards. They are always with us until the end of time anyway…..Not a single country (except maybe Zmbabwe) will cancel any economic agreement or order from Israel. (maybe Russia and Saudi Arabia) They need us far too much to make any kind of irreparable breach in the relationship. They are Goym.. they almost automatically despise and scorn us….so what. This will always be with us until the end of time.
The big problem that Israeli People and Govt. have is the delusion that they can merge into the rest of the world’s countries without a ripple, and feel and be the same. This will never happen.
We are “A People Alone”…”of” but not exactly “in”. Who cares…except half–pseudo-pretend-Reform–assimilated-Humanist_ …..Jews..
@ Edgar G.: I agree, Edgar. We would get a lot of flack from abroad for doing some of this, but it still must be done. In addition, the Turks should be completely driven out, including their NGOs assets, including the land they have bought up, seized. Some reprisal has to be taken against Jordan until it behaves itself. Probably cutting back on the water Israel supplies to the Jordanians, at considerable hurt to its own desperate water shortage. Israel should cut off all funds to both Fatahland and Hamastan. Israeli banks should be prohibited from transferring any money to either Judea-Samaria or Gaza. European diplomats should be barred from financing roads, buildings, schools, etc. in Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria. Those who countinue to do this should be expelled.
THere is a very real risk that the Europeans will retaliate by imposing BDS on us, since their governments are dominated by Israel-haters and Arab-Iranian sycophants. Still, I dont see any viable alternative to these measures. Enough is enough.
Maybe we can persuade the Americans to impose countersanctions on the Europeans for imposing BDS on us. Such as excluding them from the market in U.S. savings bonds. The USG once imposed this sanction on the Europeans in connection with another issue (breaking sanctions on Iran?) and it had the desired effect. Even if the USG refuses to impose such counter-sanctions, Israel could ask state and municipal governments to institute counter-BDS measures on the Europeans. A few states and cities already have I’mposed anti-BDS sanctions. That would probably lead the Europeans to back off from whatever sanctions they might impose in a fairly short time.
This would be a good moment for these moves, because of a sympathetic Trump administration that might be willing to back Israel up if it takes these necessary security measures. Having cut off aid themselves to the PA, the u.S. can’t really object if Israel does the same thing.
The real problem is that the Israeli government, and even the IDF, has been taken over by pro-Arab, pro-appeasement wimps, as I’ve explained at length elsewhere. The major obstacles to getting tough with the Arabs and their foreign backers are within the Israeli power structure, not external.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
All this mish-mash that our sagacious pundits are agonising over, could be swept away in a couple of hours by a single battalion. With a VERY firm hand for aftermaths cutting them off at the ankles before they can get gonig……AND THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN….immediately, as soon as the Wakf additions were noticed… and going a little further, however “inconvenient”, taking full control ourselves. We have enough scholars steeped in Arabic lore to provide a strict oversight.
But I’m much more concerned about the plethora of internal terrorist and foreign, enemy entities actually BUYING up parts of Jerusalem. How are they, enemies of the State. allowed to BUY our Land…..??
The term “Only in America” should be changed or added to by including “(and) “Only in supine Israel”…
Also highly relevant to how Israel should deal with Arab aggression, including such actions as the recent “Gate of Mercy” Temple Mount putsch, are the very practical suggestions in Shalom Pollack’s article in the Jerusalem Herald, “Will Israel Disappear in 30 Years?”February 3, 2019. Pollack outlines several practical suggestions, including both “carrots” and “sticks,” for discouraging terrorism and encouraging terrorists to emigrate.
See Vic Rosenthal’s absolutely brilliant analysis,
“Strong horses and strong Jews” on his AbuYehuda web site and on Elder of Zion, for excellent guidelines for a tougher Israeli response to its enemies. Very a propos Rachel’s article.