Israel Hayom..
21 February '20..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/02/21/jerusalems-best-kept-secret-comes-in-form-of-silent-prayer/
Did you know Jews pray on the Temple Mount? They do this discreetly, without provocations, and the custom is one of the best kept public secrets in Jerusalem. In some cases it is a single worshipper; rarely, 10 men enter the esplanade to pray in a minyan – the quorum required for certain religious obligations.
No external signs of Jewish prayer can be seen – no siddur, tallit, or tefillin. Nevertheless, the gathering is a prayer service in the full sense of the word. The police – and this is the true novelty – no longer drive the worshippers away, unless their intention is clearly to provoke conflict. Significantly, in hundreds of cases in recent years the police have turned a blind eye – at most they hurry the worshippers on.
Publicly, Israel has upheld the status quo that allows Jews to visit the Temple Mount but not to pray there. In practice, the prohibition on praying is no longer as strictly enforced as it once was. Although Jewish prayer on the site is very limited in scope, in recent years prayer services have been conducted – a fact of which the Muslims are also aware. The Waqf, an Islamic trust that controls and manages the current Islamic edifices on and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, regularly reports the activities on the Temple Mount to the Jordanian authorities, which often gripe to Israel on this issue.
The Jordanians cite the "Kerry understandings," reached in 2015, which put in writing, for the first time, the status quo established by Iconic Israeli statesman Moshe Dayan on the Temple Mount: Jewish visits – yes; Jewish prayers – no. Israel regularly promises to comply more strictly with the Kerry understandings. However, the de facto conditions, which have in fact changed significantly in favor of the Muslims over the years, shape a flexible status quo, on this issue among others.
This relatively new development speaks to clauses of the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan that address arrangements at the Temple Mount. The principle shaping much of the plan is the recognition of facts on the ground – whether in Judea and Samaria and the settlements, in Jerusalem, or on the Temple Mount.
Trump's team formulated two apparently contradictory clauses: On the one hand, the plan supports the status quo that allows Jews to visit the Mount but forbids them to pray there; on the other hand, it leaves open the possibility that in future, Jews will be able to exercise their right to pray in what is the holiest site in Judaism.
The clause is broad enough to allow for this future change in the status quo, yet is also clearly delineates: "People of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, in a manner that is fully respectful to their religion, taking into account the times of each religion's prayers and holidays, as well as other religious factors."
The Israeli interpretation of the new provision lays stress on peaceful worship by members of all religions. In other words, both Jews and Muslims can pray on the Temple Mount, as long as they are peaceful and refrain from provocations and riots. At the same time, the clause accounts for "other religious factors," thus setting in place an "exit strategy" for various scenarios, in the present or future, in which Jews' right to pray on the Temple Mount in accordance with the Trump plan cannot be secured.
PA appraising the damage
The sensational Temple Mount clause was preceded by various signs. Few Israelis remember that during the 2000 Camp David negotiations, former PM Ehud Barak, who was willing to divide Jerusalem and the Old City, demanded that the Palestinians allow Jews to establish their own prayer area on the Temple Mount and that they recognize the Jewish connection to it. The Palestinians rejected both demands, defining them as "non-starters."
In fact, Barak followed in the footsteps of the late Gen. Motta Gur, who led the forces that liberated Jerusalem in 1967: Some years before his death Gur traced the outline of his permanent settlement proposal in Jerusalem, including exercising of the right of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. Barak's demand was also in line with one of the sections of the "City of Peace" program drawn up by Yaakov Hazan – one of the mythological leaders of Mapam, the United Workers Party that was one of the ancestors of modern-day Meretz.
Hazan's proposal also included the possibility that, under some conditions, Jews would be granted a prayer area on the Mount.
However, there is no need to go so far back in time. Netanyahu himself hinted at the same possibility just last year. In August 2019, on his visit to Ukraine, he was asked about the issue directly. At an informal press briefing he spoke of a possible agreement allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. When asked when this might happen he responded: "Don't worry, it will happen before the coming of the Messiah."
Even under the Obama administration, which was notoriously unsympathetic to Israel, officials at the US State Department clearly noted, in their report on international freedom of religion, that Israel practiced a discriminatory policy with regard to Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.
The Palestinians, meanwhile, are appraising the damage. The new American position not only acknowledges Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and not only makes a provision – unprecedented in an official American document – for the exercise of the right of prayer by Jews on the Temple Mount; it also explains the Jewish narrative regarding the Mount, which the Palestinians have been systematically denying for decades.
The Trump peace plan states that "although today Jews pray today at the Western Wall, which was a retaining wall of the Second Temple, the Temple Mount itself is the holiest site in Judaism." A senior Palestinian official who spoke last week with members of the Jordanian royal family, seeking to ensure that Jordan takes the right side in the dispute with Israel over the Temple Mount, expressed his disappointment at the sea change in American policy compared to the Clinton and Bush administrations. Indeed, the understandings between Netanyahu and Trump regarding the Temple Mount, among other issues, are revolutionary – in theory, for now, if not in practice.
Only two decades ago, at the 2000 Camp David Summit, Barak agreed to Palestinian administration of the Temple Mount and Israeli sovereignty over the Western Wall. Sovereignty over the Temple Mount was disputed at the time.
The Americans proposed a division of sovereignty according to levels: The higher level would be placed under Palestinian control, and the lower, underground level, where, according to Jewish tradition, the remnants of the Second Temple are buried, as well as the Western Wall, would be placed in Jewish hands.
Another proposal discussed at the time for an arrangement on the Temple Mount was the designation of an area which would be under "divine sovereignty", to be administered by an inter-faith body. Another, later option proposed transferring sovereignty over the Temple Mount to an international body, such as the UN Security Council.
Dennis Ross, the former US special envoy to the Middle East, proposed placing only the mosques – not the entire compound – under Palestinian control and granting the Israelis sovereignty over the Western Wall. The Palestinians rejected all these proposals; Israel rejected most. Furthermore, the Palestinians did not agree to Israeli sovereignty along the length of the Western Wall. They were prepared to recognize Israeli sovereignty only over about 60 meters (200 feet) of the 488-meter (1600-foot-) long wall – the section of the open prayer plaza.
A 400% increase in tourism
Against this background, it is easy to understand why the US's new position has shocked the Palestinians. Three years ago they learned of the idea of turning Abu Dis into their capital; two years ago they learned of the American intention to redraw Jerusalem's municipal boundaries so as to exclude a number of outlying neighborhoods, which would be united with Abu Dis. They never imagined, though, that on the issue of the Temple Mount the Americans would decide in favor of continuing the status quo under Israeli sovereignty, with a possible implementation of a change they have been struggling against for years – granting Jews the right to pray there.
Abbas himself interprets the Temple Mount clauses as a time-slot arrangement for praying on the Mount, "with Jews praying there one day and us the next". "I will not go down in history as having sold Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa," he said to his close circle.
The change in the American position regarding the Temple Mount also reflects the sharp increase in the number of tourists and the number of Jews visiting the site. In this respect, the Americans were unreserved in their praise of Israel in the ""deal of the century"."
The plan describes and lauds Israel's protection of the freedom of religion and freedom of access to Jerusalem's holy sites, particularly the Temple Mount. "We believe," write the Americans, "that this practice should remain, and that all of Jerusalem's holy sites should be subject to the same governance regimes that exist today," namely – the Israeli regime.
Here are the numbers behind these statements: In 2015 the Temple Mount was visited by about 193,000 tourists; in 2016 – about 218,000; in 2017 – about 291,000, in 2018 – 633,000, and in 2019 – 804,000 – an increase of 400% in the course of five years.
An even larger increase was recorded in the number of Jewish visitors to the Mount a decade ago compared to today: 5,500 in 2009, compared to 38,000 in 2019 – a sevenfold increase in 10 years.
No interference from the judiciary
In addition to the Temple Mount organizations, which continuously work to increase the number of Jewish visitors to the site, there are two agents responsible for this change: Former Jerusalem Deputy Police Chief Yoram Halevy, and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. Both have led a policy of significantly improving the visiting conditions of Jews on the Mount, and have even encouraged Jews to visit the site in an attempt to increase their number.
In recent months, Erdan has been repeating the following statement, never made before by a Minister of Public Security.
"The status quo on the Temple Mount since 1967 is unjust, and this injustice should be corrected so that Jews will not only be able to visit the Mount, but also to pray there. The Temple Mount is the holiest site for the Jewish people, while it is only the third-holiest site for Muslims. It is imperative to act so as to allow Jews to pray there as well, but this should be achieved by means of political arrangements, rather than by force".
Erdan has met with the prime minister on this issue, and his position may even have influenced the relevant wording of the ""deal of the century"." By contrast, Erdan had difficulty convincing Netanyahu to act so as to restore the previous arrangements at the Gate of Mercy, which the Palestinians turned into a mosque about a year ago.
Recently, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition submitted by the Regavim NGO regarding the mosque, despite the fact that in its response to the petition the state confirmed the movement's allegations – that the Waqf Council, along with agents related to Hamas, entered the compound illegally, held hostile activities there, and even brought in equipment needed to operate a mosque, such as new prayer rugs, chandeliers, partitions, and Quran books.
Chief Justice Esther Hayut and justices Menachem Mazuz and Anat Baron granted the state's motion to quash the petition, saying that "the unique circumstances of the Temple Mount, and the site's particular sensitivity, require great caution in the judicial review of activities there." They emphasized that the judicial practice followed by the court in this regard is non-intervention in government decisions, "except in highly unusual cases when the decision constitutes a major distortion of justice or is extremely unreasonable".
Jordan's double game
The government has acted with particular caution regarding the Gate of Mercy, negotiating with Jordan and attempting – futilely so far – to cease the mosque's operation by agreement. By contrast, in the case of previous Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrama Sabri – a prominent agitator on the Temple Mount – Israeli action has been much more determined.
Sabri was among those who led the initiative to turn the Gate of Mercy into a mosque. He regularly denies any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, asserts Muslim ownership of "each and every grain" there, maintains ties to Hamas, holds dialogue with Turkey, and has recently banned the teaching of the Israeli school curriculum in east Jerusalem.
About a month ago Sabri was banned from entering the Temple Mount for a week; after violating the order he was banned for another four months. Sabri's record includes many radical and inflammatory statements, but the most infuriating was his statement of support for suicide bombings during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
Despite Sabri's removal from the Mount, tensions there are still running high. Israeli and Palestinian Arabs are sure to join forces in the struggle over Al-Aqsa and the ""deal of the century"," as are the Arabs of Jerusalem and Hebron. Members of the Joint Arab List recently visited the Temple Mount and met with current Grand Mufti Muhammad Hussein, as well as the Waqf management and activists of the Fatah movement in Jerusalem. The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee also visited the site. Additionally, about a month ago Hamas launched a campaign called the "Great Dawn," aimed at what it calls the "Israeli schemes to Judaize" the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
As part of the campaign, mass prayers have been held at the Cave of the Patriarchs each Friday for the past several weeks. Fatah and Hamas intend to hold similar mass prayer services on the Temple Mount, including protest rallies and incendiary calls to action. The police have reacted harshly, dispersing and arresting dozens of participants.
Jordan has also made inflammatory statements and, as usual, it is playing a double game. On the one hand, it has achieved its goal of preventing Saudi Arabia, its main contender for custody of the Islamic holy sites, from gaining any status at Al-Aqsa as part of the "deal of the century". Jordan owes this accomplishment to the efforts of the US, but also of Israel, which acted on its behalf. On the other hand, it continues in its struggle against Jewish prayer on the Mount and against the sharp increase in the number of Jewish tourists there.
Looming in the background, as always, is the fear of another terrorist attack. Last week's shooting at the Border Police checkpoint near the Lions' Gate is the sixth attack on the Temple Mount in the past two-and-a-half years. Two of the attacks, the first – in July 2017 – and the most recent one – last week – were shootings. The other four were stabbings.
In the summer of 2017, under pressure from the Jordanians and the Palestinians, metal detectors were removed from the Temple Mount's gates, making it more difficult to prevent knives from being brought to the site. In this sense, the Temple Mount is not a "sterile area" as one might wish. The security apparatus largely depends on the constant alertness of the police, other technological devices, and on the element of luck in the random inspections of Muslims entering the Temple Mount gates.
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