Context

On Monday, Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem, leaving a reported 300 people injured. The stand-off came at the end of a week of tensions over the eviction of Palestinian residents from two neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, to make way for Jewish settlers.

Cause of the clashes

• The Al-Aqsa is located on a plaza at Temple Mount, which is known in Islam as Haram-e-Sharif.
• The Mount is also Judaism’s holiest site.
• The most imposing structure on the compound is the Dome of the Rock, with its golden dome.
• The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall sacred to Jews, is one side of the retaining wall of the Al-Aqsa compound.
• Soon after the 1967 Six-Day War ended, Israel gave back to Jordan the administration and management of the Al-Aqsa compound.
• While non-Muslims have not been allowed to worship at Al-Aqsa, Jewish individuals and groups have made repeated attempts to gain entry to the Mount Temple plaza.
• Since the late 1990s, around the time of the first intifada, such attempts began occurring with a regularity as Jewish settlers began claiming land in East Jerusalem and surrounding areas.
• It has led to repeated clashes and tensions at Al-Aqsa.

Rival claims over Jerusalem

• Both Israel and Palestine have declared Jerusale their capital.
• In July 1980, the Israeli Parliament passed the Jerusalem Law declaring it the country’s capital.
• Palestinians declared Jerusalem the capital of the putative state of Palestine by a law passed by the Palestinian Authority in 2000.
• The 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence also declared Jerusalem as the capital.
• For the present, the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters in Ramallah.

How the world is reacting

• The Security Council held a meeting on the situation in Jerusalem, but did not make any statement immediately.
• Last Friday, the US said it was “extremely concerned” .
• The UAE, which recently recognised as Israel as a state and sealed a historic peace agreement to normalise relations with it, has “strongly condemned” the clashes and the planned evictions in Jerusalem over the past week.
• Saudi Arabia said it “rejects Israel’s plans and measures to evict dozens of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem”.
• Pakistan Prime Minister also condemned Israel for violation of international law.

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