By Lama Ghosheh – Mar 23, 2024
The connection to al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as rebellion and resistance for its sake and defending it, is based on national, religious, spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions.
Ahead of the outset of the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli “Heritage” Minister Amichai Eliyahu called for the complete erasure and eradication of the month of Ramadan. In statements to the Israeli Army Radio, he said, “The so-called month of Ramadan must be wiped out, just as our fear of this month must also be wiped out.” He made this statement in response to concerns about rising tensions in the West Bank and occupied al-Quds during the month of Ramadan, which coincides with the aggression on the Gaza Strip ongoing since October 7, 2023.
The Israeli Minister’s statements reflect a general state of affairs prevailing in the Israeli system, from the Prime Minister down to all strata of society. This is a state of fear and anxiety about the possibility of escalation and confrontation during this month, given its religious and social significance for Palestinians in general. It also coincides with the accumulation of systematic repressive policies implemented by the Israeli occupation, which have tightened the grip on the people of al-Quds since the beginning of the ongoing war on Gaza.
There is a semiotic link between the aggressive policies that the Israeli occupation resorts to in order to control and oppress the Palestinians and the patterns of steadfastness and resistance that the latter embark on. It can be said that all of the colonial acts that the Israeli regime has carried out in the occupied city of al-Quds recently can be classified under the term “cultural genocide” against the Palestinian identity. This is an attempt at the erasure of Palestinians, which falls under ethnic cleansing, spatial cleansing, social cleansing, cultural cleansing, and nominal cleansing.
Colonial practices in the occupied city of al-Quds have become consolidated since October 7, through the criminalization of sitting in the Bab al-Amoud area, given the political and social connotations of this geographical space, rich in anti-colonial and pro-resistance characteristics. For five months, the people of al-Quds have been denied the right to sit and even move around there. Many have tried to rebel against this measure as it is unfair and extremely provocative, but they have been met with beating, assault, and sometimes arrest.
This comes along with the spread of a wave of incitement charges that the occupation has peddled to silence the voices of the people of al-Quds, condemn them, choke them, and implant a state of psychological terror in their souls. This may contribute to the creation of self-censorship tools that the Palestinians utilize among themselves, meaning that they started to think before they speak, think, or write.
All of this is accompanied by continuous attempts to intensify temporal and spatial control over the holy al-Aqsa Mosque and to set impossible conditions for the entry of worshippers to the Old City and al-Aqsa Mosque.
Based on the above, this year’s Ramadan is an opportunity to mobilize people and breathe new life into the ideals of Resistance, which is what the Israeli occupation fears, both government and settlers. After suppressing and terrorizing them in al-Quds and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 and after disconnecting the villages of the West Bank, they want to ensure that the Palestinians do not utilize Ramadan to confront this oppression and aggression.
The people of al-Quds and the act of rebellion
The people of al-Quds have established, through their resistance and uprising, a culture of rebellion instead of a culture of defeat. They, along with Palestinians in other parts of historical Palestine, have shattered the notion of fear. The colonial policies of terror and their sadistic practices are no longer effective.
The Israeli occupation forces, which have been portrayed as “invincible”, were defeated on the steps of Bab al-Amoud, Sheikh Jarrah, and al-Aqsa Mosque during the Habbat al-Karama, or the May Uprising, which took place during the Battle of Seif al-Quds in 2021. Prior to that, the Habbat Bab al-Asbat, or the Lions’ Gate Uprising in 2017, stopped the project of installing electronic gates at the entrances to the holy site. Both of these events established a new equation of deterrence that broke the colonial will and its policies and contributed to the revival of the discourse of unity and dignity after a decades-long political drift.
There is no doubt that the repercussions and effects of these events, including the great event of Palestinians crossing from Gaza into the occupied Palestinian territories that took place on October 7, have been embedded in the consciousness of the people of al-Quds in one way or another. Based on the possibilities of translating this resistant consciousness into individual and collective action on the ground, the occupation is making continuous attempts to demonize the month of Ramadan and directly link it to a prevalent state of fear, even among the people of al-Quds themselves. This is aimed at deterring them from carrying out any counter-struggle actions and creating a self-imposed barrier that prevents them from mobilizing (a thought police unit).
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Ramadan and Al-Aqsa Flood
The connection to al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as rebellion and resistance for its sake and defending it, is based on national, religious, spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions. Al-Aqsa is seen as a symbol due to its sanctity, and this symbolism was clearly evident in the Lions’ Gate Uprising. The uprising was victorious, and it became clear that the secret to the cohesion and strength of the masses was the status of al-Aqsa Mosque and what it represents in the Palestinian consciousness and conscience as a national, religious, and cultural sanctuary, as the Mosque forms part of the Palestinian identity.
What further increases the sensitivity of the situation currently is that one of the main goals of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, launched on October 7, 2023, was related to the holy al-Aqsa Mosque and the ongoing violations and constant settler incursions it faces, not to mention the systematic operations to void it of its Palestinian worshippers. This makes any direct violation or escalation by the occupation increase the intensity of the situation, especially since the war of extermination is still ongoing, the blood has not stopped flowing, and hunger reigns supreme.
Ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a decision to restrict the entry of Palestinians from inside the Green Line and al-Quds to al-Aqsa Mosque to perform religious rituals in line with the proposals of Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and contrary to the recommendations of the security services.
Netanyahu’s office underlined that “Israel will impose some restrictions on the entry of worshipers to al-Aqsa Mosque during the […] month of Ramadan according to the security situation, and will make the decision based on the security situation.” Ben-Gvir demanded that the government completely ban Palestinians from the West Bank from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and prevent Palestinians from al-Quds and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 who are under the age of 70 from entering.
The occupation is trying to exploit the current Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the state of internal fragmentation in Israeli society, as well as its many fears, to force a brand new status quo in al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli government aims through the aforementioned to break the red lines regarding the Mosque and leap forward in this file driven by Ben-Gvir’s “vision”.
Resisting the occupier is not limited to the holy month of Ramadan, even though this month is a month of sacrifice and Jihad. Resistance does not need a specific time, and the ongoing course in the Gaza Strip and throughout the occupied West Bank and al-Quds confirms that the arena of resistance is the entirety of geographical Palestine. It stands as a resistance that will continue until the liberation of every inch of occupied Palestinian land.
