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Analysis

BICOM Briefing: Jerusalem violence – background and implications

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Key Points

  • Increasing intensity of disturbances in Jerusalem against the backdrop of the current diplomatic stalemate are raising concerns for a wider escalation of violence, with PA President Mahmoud Abbas set to make high profile announcement at the UN General Assembly on 30 September.
  • Recent weeks have seen increased violence in pockets of East Jerusalem, with Palestinian youths armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails attacking traffic and police, and triggering clashes on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.
  • Palestinian youths driving the violence appear spurred by accusations that Israel intends to change the status quo at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, though Israel has repeatedly made clear that Israel is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.
  • So far, fears that the disturbances could ignite a widespread Intifada in the West Bank have not been realised, but concerns for an escalation in the West Bank or Gaza Strip are growing.

What are the latest developments in Jerusalem?

  • Recent weeks have seen increased violence in pockets of East Jerusalem, with Palestinian youths armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails attacking traffic and police, and triggering clashes on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. A mother and baby were injured in a similar attack on 20 September.
  • On 13 September, 64-year-old Israeli Alexander Levlovitz was killed when the car he was driving crashed in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighbourhood after it was attacked by rock throwers. Three Israeli police and 21 Palestinian rioters were injured in clashes on 18 September.
  • Unrest in the city has ebbed and flowed since the disturbances which preceded the Israel-Gaza conflict in the summer of 2014, but has seen a gradual increase in recent months.
  • Life threatening attacks including rock throwing at cars, and ‘lone wolf’ vehicle attacks and stabbings have become frequent in Arab or mixed areas of the city. However street violence and riots still involve only relatively small gangs of youths.
  • The Jewish holiday period (mid to end of September) has brought an increase in Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and spurred disturbances. During the Jewish New Year (September 13-15) Palestinian brought stones, firecrackers and in some cases small pipe bombs into the compound and barricade themselves in the Al Aqsa Mosque with the intention of provoking disturbances and preventing non-Muslims visiting the area. Israeli riot police then ascended the Temple Mount Haram al-Sharif to disarm them, leading to clashes. (For video footage click here.)

What is the cause of the disturbances?

  • Palestinian youths driving the violence appear spurred by accusations that Israel intends to change the status quo at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that Israel is committed to the status quo which places the site under Islamic religious authority, and tightly restricts non-Muslim access.
  • Israeli officials blame Hamas and Islamist groups inside Israel for this incitement. Meanwhile, the radical northern branch of the Islamic Movement, led by Raed Salah, pays Muslim activists, known as Mourabitoun to harass Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount.
  • Tensions and suspicions are heightened by extreme Jewish nationalist groups and politicians who – against the government’s position – seek to challenge the status quo arrangements which tightly restrict Jewish access and ban Jewish prayer on the site.
  • In the context of heightened tensions, various Arab players, including Hamas, the PA and Jordan, are competing to position themselves within Palestinian and Arab public opinion as the true defenders of the site, leading to a further escalation of rhetoric on the Arab side. Hamas declared last Friday a “Day of Rage” whilst PA President Mahmoud Abbas said: “The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours … and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem.”
  • The case of Mohammad Allan, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who has conducted a series of hunger strikes to protest his administrative detention, has also added to the tension. Allan is considered a risk by Israeli security agencies.
  • The situation in the Gaza Strip is also another source of Palestinian anger.
  • Tensions are also underpinned by the lack of any diplomatic process to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This leaves East Jerusalem Arabs in particular in a limbo. Whilst they enjoy Israeli residency rights and social welfare benefits, they have underdeveloped housing and public services.

What is the context to the situation on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif?

  • The area is the holiest site in the world for Jews, being the location of the First and Second Jewish Temples (the Second destroyed in 70 CE), and is now the location of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest in Islam, and the Dome of the Rock.
  • Jews traditionally do not enter the Temple Mount itself but worship at the foot of an external retaining wall (the Western Wall or ‘Kotel’).
  • From 1948 until 1967 the entire area was under Jordanian control with no Israeli access. After Israel captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War it left the Islamic religious authorities (‘Waqf’), in charge of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, paid by the Jordanian government. Non-Muslims are allowed to visit only during certain hours, and banned from prayer. Though this arrangement challenges the notion of Israeli sovereignty over Judaism’s holiest site, Israeli governments have consistently abided by it to avoid friction.

How is Israel reacting to the current tensions?

  • The Israeli government is projecting a tough message, strengthening rules of engagement for police in Jerusalem, and seeking to establish lengthy minimum sentences for rock throwing and heavy fines for parents of minors involved in violence.
  • At times Israeli police have stopped some Palestinians, e.g. men under 40, entering the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in an attempt to prevent clashes.
  • At the same time Israel is sending a message, especially to Jordan and other Arab states, that contrary to Palestinian accusations, it has no intention of changing the status quo.

What are the implications for the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

  • So far, fears that the disturbances could ignite a widespread Intifada in the West Bank have not been realised. Whilst the PA contributes to the incitement, driving up tension in Jerusalem, it attempts to keep down any demonstrations within West Bank areas under its own control. However, confrontations between the PA security forces and demonstrators in Palestinian cities have become fiercer, triggering a gun battle in Jenin last week.
  • There are increasing fears that the violence and incitement add to the pot of simmering tensions for radical groups in the Gaza Strip. Salafi Jihadist groups are increasingly asserting themselves and claiming responsibility for rocket fire as frustration with Hamas grows.
  • Meanwhile Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans a major announcement in his speech to the UN General Assembly next week, which some anticipate to be a renunciation of the Oslo Accords. He is likely to use the tensions in Jerusalem as a basis for incendiary rhetoric and demands for international pressure on Israel.