Internal tensions that are exported internationally. Condemnations multiply Wednesday after violence in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, where the Israeli police intervened to dislodge Palestinian worshipers, in full season of religious holidays.
Decked out in riot gear, Israeli police entered the mosque, one of the world’s most iconic Muslim places of worship, overnight Tuesday-Wednesday and arrested more than 350 people who had barricaded themselves there, called “rioters”.
This comes as Muslims have reached the middle of the month of Ramadan and Jews have been celebrating Passover since Wednesday evening, in a particularly tense atmosphere between Israelis and Palestinians since the beginning of the year.
UN shocked, US concerned
The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, said he was “shocked and appalled” by the “violence and beatings” of the Israeli security forces, according to his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.
The White House said it was “extremely concerned”, calling on “all parties to avoid further escalation”, as two more rockets were fired Wednesday evening from the Gaza Strip into Israel (according to the Israeli army and witnesses) after similar shootings on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, which had led to Israeli strikes.
Saying he was “dismayed” by the images of violence in Al-Aqsa, the UN envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, also considered that the “indiscriminate rocket attacks” were “unacceptable”.
New prayers this Wednesday
In Jerusalem, crowds of Muslims gathered again Wednesday for evening prayers at the Esplanade of the Mosques, where Al-Aqsa is located.
The third holiest site in Islam, the esplanade is also the holiest site for the Jews, who call it “Temple Mount”. It is located in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian area occupied and annexed by Israel, and its surroundings are heavily guarded by the Israeli police.
Overnight, Israeli forces armed with ‘batons, weapons, tear gas canisters and smoke bombs’ burst into the mosque, ‘breaking down doors and windows’ as worshipers gathered there to pray at night, Abdelkarim Ikraiem, a 74-year-old Palestinian, told AFP.
VIDEO. Violent intervention of the police in the Al-Aqsa mosque in the middle of Ramadan
A video widely circulated on social networks shows police clubbing people on the ground inside the building. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Wednesday it had treated at least 37 wounded.
The police denounce acts “outside the law”
Israeli police have released a video showing explosions of what appear to be fireworks inside the place of worship, with silhouettes throwing rocks.
Other footage shows police moving forward protecting themselves with shields, a barricaded door, batteries of fireworks on the ground and officers evacuating at least five people with their hands cuffed behind their backs. The police specified that an agent had been injured by a stone in the leg and denounced the action of “outlaws” masked.
“These leaders barricaded themselves several hours after (the last evening prayers) in order to attack public order and desecrate the mosque”, while chanting “slogans inciting hatred and violence”, a- she said in a statement, adding that she dislodged them after trying to start a dialogue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the security forces had been “forced to act to restore order” in the face of “extremists”. Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh blasted a “level of brutality requiring urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action” while Jordan, which administers the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, expressed alarm at ” ongoing attacks that may lead to escalation”.
“Trampling on the Al-Aqsa mosque is our red line,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while the Arab League, which organized an extraordinary meeting, warned against “provocations” hurting “the feelings of believers”. The ruling Hamas in Gaza denounced an “unprecedented crime”.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has experienced a new outbreak of violence since the inauguration, at the end of December, of one of the most right-wing governments in the history of Israel. Nearly 110 people have died since the start of the year. In May 2021, after violence on the compound and elsewhere in East Jerusalem, Hamas fired rockets into Israel, resulting in an 11-day war.