It was on February 25, 1994, that US-born Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein stormed into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Palestinian city of al-Khalil (Hebron) and opened fire. The aim was to kill as many people as he could.
At that moment, nearly 800 Muslim worshipers were kneeling down during the dawn prayer in Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim Calendar. He killed up to 30 people and wounded over 120. Exactly 20 years later, the Israeli army stormed al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest Muslim site, and opened fire. The timing was no accident.
Al-Khalil, like the rest of the West Bank is facing the dual challenge of armed Jewish settlers and Israeli occupation soldiers; the latter enforcing the military occupation, while providing further protection to the settlers. The settlers , extremists from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba, often attack Palestinian residents of the town with complete impunity. Interestingly, many of Kiryat Arba settlers are Americans. Baruch Goldstein was one.
It was not enough that Israeli soldiers within the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque allowed Goldstein - armed with a Galil rifle and other weapons - access to the mosque, but they opened fire on worshipers as they tried to flee the scene. Israeli soldiers killed 24 more and injured others. Goldstein, now a hero in the eyes of many in Israel, is often blamed solely for the massacre in al-Khalil. But in fact, it was a mutual effort between Goldstein and the Israeli army.
Colonial stratagem
This symbiotic relationship between the army and settlers, which dates back to the early days of the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, continues. The Israeli government wants to entrench its occupation, not end it. The settlers, who play an important role in Israel's colonial stratagem, are tirelessly on the lookout for more land, strategic hills and coveted holy places belonging to Muslims and Christians.
While Israeli bulldozers dig into Palestinian land during the day, leveling mounds of ground and destroying olive groves for settlement expansion, heavy machinery burrows beneath the Old City of al-Quds, Jerusalem at night. The Israelis are looking for evidence of what they believe to be ancient Jewish temples, presumably destroyed in 586BC and AD70.
To fulfil "prophecy", Jewish extremists believe that a third temple must be built. But of course, there is the inconvenient fact that on that particular spot exists one of Islam's holiest sites: The Noble Sanctuary , or al-Haram al-Sharif. It has been an exclusively Muslim prayer site for the last 1,300 years.
The Noble Sanctuary, located in Jerusalem's Old City is the home of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The site has been under constant threat, and actual attacks, acts of arson and military violence for nearly five decades. The few Muslim clergy - belonging to the Islamic Trust, which manages the area, along with the custodianship of Jordan - are mindful of the ever-lurking Israeli threat, which often times turns deadly.
It was no surprise that late Israeli leader Ariel Sharon chose that exact place to carry out his provocative " tour " of al-Aqsa compound in September 2000. Sharon invaded al-Aqsa as he was joined by over 1,000 police and army officers. The rightwing leader vowed to reclaim the Muslim site for Jews.
Many unarmed Palestinians, mostly worshipers died on that day, and thousands more in following months and years as the entirety of the occupied territories and Palestinian towns inside Israel exploded with unprecedented fury. Sharon, with the help of his right-wing and ultra-nationalist constituents was later elected prime minister of Israel.
That same dangerous combination - rightwing politicians allied with religious zealots - is at work once more. They are eyeing al-Aqsa for annexation , the same way the Israeli government is labouring to permanently annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank, in anticipation of any future settlement with the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) chose the 20th anniversary of the Goldstein massacre of Palestinians in al-Khalil, to begin a debate concerning the status of al-Aqsa compound. Right-wingers - which constitute the bulk in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - want the Israeli government to enforce its "sovereignty" over the Muslim site, which is administered by Jordan per the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty of 1994. Israeli MP Moshe Feiglin, is the man behind the move, but he is not alone.
Feiglin is a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, and has strong backing within the party, the government and the Knesset. His supporters include Yehuda Glick, an American-born fanatic.
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