Israeli Raid on Al Aqsa Means a Palestinian Intifada in Offing

However, the international media portrays it, the raid by Israeli soldiers on the Al Qibli Mosque in the Al Aqsa Compound after the dawn prayers on Friday is wholly unacceptable and shows the vast divide between Israelis and Palestinians.

It was truly shocking to see Israeli troops on live videos firing stun grenades as well as gas canisters at worshippers after the Muslim dawn prayers and within the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

The Al Qibli Mosque was sorrounded by Israeli troops. Non were allowed out, worshippers were forced to stay put. Chaos dominated inside the mosque with teargas flowing in its hall. The scene was devastating as the Israeli police fired rubber-coated and metal bullets at the people. 

Outside were Israeli police, shoving, beating, man-handling old, middle-aged and young worshippers. In different cases police were kicking young people on the ground. All this has been highlighted in hashtags on the social media (#AlAqsaUnderAttack #Palestine #المسجد_الأقصى).

It was mayhem, and afterwards, inside the mosque, broken glass and debris was documented across the mosque. Its as if nothing has changed but things get worse all the time.

This is not to say anything of the injured. Figures soon shot up to 100 and 150 with many critically injured and needed to be taken to hospital. More than 400 people were arrested by the Israeli troops. 

An explainer video has been posted about the Israeli troop raid on Al Aqsa. To say it was Palestinian throwing rocks at Israeli troops would be simplified. Honestly, to say also, they were throwing "firecrackers" on Israeli soldiers who are loaded with military equipment including rifles, machine guns and hand grenades is facile to say the least. 

Why were Israeli troops languishing at the mosque at dawn one may ask?

Wasn't it an outright provocation? The troops entered the mosque because they wanted to make way to the Israeli settlers to celebrate the Jewish Passover within the vicinity of Al Aqsa. The year, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan comes at the same time of Easter and the Jewish celebrations. It should have been festivities across the religious divide but it wasn't to be because of the David and Goliath scenarios.

This is the first time in three decades the different religious festivals come together and celebrated at the same time. But the action of the Israeli police led to emotions and frustrations being raised by Palestinians.  

 Surely they can't just barrage in whenever they like; an understanding between Jordan - which is the custodian of the holy places and Israel - is supposed keep Jewish troops at arms length. But clearly this is not being respected and settlers are frequently seen running around Al Aqsa compound being guarded by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. 

This got out of control on Friday morning with Al Aqsa becoming a war zone and battle ground with Israeli guns and machine guns being fired at people, and as different video-clips show with individual voices saying the Israeli army is storming the compound in a big way:

Jerusalem, Arab Jerusalem and the holy places have always been a flashpoint ready to blow up at any time. While many say Israeli troops have sought to stay away from the compound, nevertheless their enduring presence have always been felt and sometimes raiding different areas of mosque. 

However this time around, the boiling situation appears to be getting out of control again because of the increasing tensions in the occupied West Bank in the last week as a result of the deadly tit-for-tat killings on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide. 

The Israeli government has been furious at the killing of around 13 Israelis by Palestinians in less than three weeks and their major cities like Tel Aviv, Hadera and Beershaba. Israeli is responding with an iron-fist approach by raiding different Palestinian towns and cities with its troops killing Palestinian, youths and women. In just three weeks they killed around 25 people.

It is feared this cycle of violence will never stop, could lead to another intifada and worse still to an another all out conflict like the Israeli war on Gaza in May 2021. Already, there are rumblings with Arab-Israelis protesting in Nazareth in solidarity with their brethren in Jerusalem.