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Powder keg ready to explode

Sep 19,2015 - Last updated at Sep 19,2015

Al Murabitun, in Jerusalem, jolted this week the Arab masses, including heads of states into action, following years of lethargy and apathy regarding Palestinian holy sites, be they Christian or Muslim.

Al Murabitun are roughly 3,000 Jerusalemites, men, women and teenagers, who study the Koran in organised tutorials.

Since 1968, some started to sleep overnight by the mosque, to protect it against possible acts of arson like the one committed in August 1969 by Australian Dennis Michael Rohan.

By rotation, Al Murabitun are helped by the 750 guards appointed by the Jordanian government, as well as volunteers of the Islamic community in Israel, who number nearly 1.6 million.

The clashes that took place in Al Aqsa mosque this week were provoked by the Israeli minister of defence who banned Al Murabitun from entering the mosque, either for tutorials or for vigilante roles.

That military order deepened Arab suspicions that ultraorthodox extremists will use the occasion of Rosh Hashanah (Israeli new year) festivities to commit another arson attack against the mosque.

Jordanians took to the streets all over the Kingdom in demonstrations protesting the atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers against Al Murabitun and the Jerusalem women, named Al Murabitat.

They appealed to His Majesty King Abdullah to exercise his prerogative as the custodian of the holy places and take action against Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister whose minister of agriculture sparked the whole issue when he stormed Al Aqsa gates with hundreds of zealots and started the confrontation with Al Murabitun.

The Moroccan king, as head of the Jerusalem Committee, is expected to ask Islamic heads of states for an emergency summit.

Meanwhile, the Saudi King Salman Bin Abdelaziz had a phone conversation with American President Barack Obama, asking him to exert pressure on the Israeli prime minister to curb his ministers’ agitation and incitement.

The fragile, explosive, situation in the occupied Palestinian territories might lead to mayhem that spares no Jews, Christians or Muslims.

The whole region will be impacted by any such a possibility that will be a bonus for Daesh and other blood-thirsty militias.

The genesis of the 1967 war was the attempt by a few fedayyeen to embroil Egypt and Syria into a confrontation with Israel. 

Initially small-scale clashes and raids snowballed eventually leading to the loss of the West Bank, Jerusalem, Sinai and the Golan Heights. 

 

The Jordanian formula has been announced: enforcing the status quo at Al Aqsa Mosque, which has been operational since 1967.

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