After a brief spell of silence in the region, communal tension started to simmer as a result of clashes at an iconic mosque in the holy city of Jerusalem even as the Israelis on Monday observed Jerusalem Day, a national holiday celebrating the annexation.
What’s the present scenario?
On Tuesday, Palestinian militants launched dozens of rockets from Gaza while Israel also retaliated with airstrikes leaving 24 people, including nine children dead in Gaza overnight, as per the Washington Post.
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More than 700 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem and across the West Bank in 24 hours, including nearly 500 being treated at hospitals. Also, six Israeli civilians were hurt by rocket fire.
What’s the reason behind the recent clashes?
Jerusalem’s old city has been considered a significant religious sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and perhaps the main reason behind the Middle East conflict. Religious nationalists in Israel have been taking out demonstrations through the Old City for years now that include marching through the densely populated Muslim Quarter which is seen as provocative by many Palestinians.
For almost 100 years, Jerusalem remained one of the bitterly contested places on earth witnessing violent confrontations between Jews and Arab. However, the latest confrontation began almost a month back after the Israeli decided to block some Palestinian gatherings at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The recent clashes broke at the start of Ramadan after Israeli police put barriers outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate. It is a popular gathering spot after the evening prayers during the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. However, the barriers were removed, but protests picked up over the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, as per the AP report.
Even as these restrictions were eased, tensions were brewing over a plan to evict dozens of Palestinians from an east Jerusalem neighbourhood.
While Monday’s clashes took place in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City. Israel considers Jerusalem as its “unified, eternal” capital, and it occupied east Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the West Bank and Gaza.
However, Palestinians are demanding these territories for their future state and want to claim a stake in east Jerusalem as their capital.
On the other hand, Israel annexed the eastern part of the city in a move not recognized internationally. While the fate of east Jerusalem leaves hanging and perhaps hampering the peace process, which came to a halt more than a decade ago.