By Masood Abdali
On the one hand, the Muslims are busy gaining blessings of Allah in the last 10 days of Ramadan while on the other hand, there are clouds billowing from teargas and a lot of noise of gunshots from the rubber bullets around Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Three Palestinians including a 16-year-old boy sacrificed their lives for the dignity of the land of pure. The number of casualties has surpassed 300. Stun grenades or sound bombs were thrown after cutting off the power in the mosque which created havoc everywhere.
The bad time for Palestinians began 74 years ago when on April 25, 1920, the United Nations granted a Mandate for Palestine to Britain which had occupied it already. Britain separated it into Arab and Jewish regions in no time.
Israelis were 32% of the population but were given 56% of the land where Israel was established. Palestinians were given 42% of the land of their own state. This whole tragic event cannot be discussed in a single article so we would confine the topic to Bayt al-Maqdis, a place witnessing a lot of Israeli atrocities.
During the partition, Bayt al-Maqdis was declared a corpus separatum. Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, Wailing Wall, the birthplace of Christ, Bethlehem and other important holy sites and objects are located inside an area of one square kilometre from the wall on the eastern side which is called Old City.
The region surrounding the Old City and its suburbs is called Eastern Jerusalem. The population of Bayt al-Maqdis was 100,000 at that time whereas the number of Muslims, Christians and Jews were almost the same. Muslims and Christians were in majority in the eastern Bayt al-Maqdis whereas Jews were located in the western Bayt al-Maqdis. As it is apparent with the name that corpus separatum would be free from weapons and politics and this demilitarised zone would be governed by the locals where people could go only for worship and pilgrimage. And this region would be open to unarmed and peaceful pilgrims from all over the world.
Just after the announcement of the partition, Israelis brought rallies celebrating independence and armed men attacked Arab localities. According to the US resolution, Britain was responsible for keeping the peace between Israel and Palestine and acting upon the partition.
Britain fulfilled this responsibly in a way that Palestinian localities were enclosed by militant checkpoints and Israeli terrorists started targeting the Palestinian localities in the cover of these checkpoints freely.
Thousands of Palestinians were killed in five months before the return of the British Army on April 5, 1948. Israeli army entered Jerusalem, however, according to the agreement, no armed person was allowed to enter Bayt al-Maqdis and the entry of the army was out of the question.
Palestinians came face to face with the Israelis but they were equipped with modern weapons and the resistance was crushed. Israeli leader David Ben-Gurion announced the establishment of a separate state by the name of Israel which was accepted by America and Russia immediately. Harry S Truman was the president of the USA and Joseph Stalin was the president of Russia at that time. As there were signatures of both the USA and Russia on the UN resolution written clearly that the partition of Palestine was temporary and it wouldn’t be made a basis for a state.
Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital after joining its both eastern and western parts following the war of 1948. This matter was raised in the Security Council but the USA and Britain nullified the resolution with their veto power.
Egypt and Syria were defeated in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 against Israel. Frequent defeats disappointed the Arabs. Syria, Egypt and Jordan started to focus on their country’s interest instead of a joint plan against Israel.
Arabs neglected the Palestinians and Israel kept building housing societies expelling the Palestinians from their own homes. A large number of Palestinians became refugees in camps located mostly around the western part of Jordan.
Recently, a campaign has been started to change the status of the eastern Bayt al-Maqdis. Israeli President Netanyahu clearly said during the Palestinian parliamentary elections that eastern Bayt al-Maqdis is a part of the capital and an inseparable part of Israel. Palestinians have access to Bayt al-Maqdis but as this region was not under their political authority so elections wouldn’t be held in this territory.
The reason for the current tensions is because of those notices received by people living in the old town of Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. These notices are sent from the court. Hundreds of Israeli citizens requested the court to evacuate the town of Sheikh Jarrah. According to the ministry of defence, people living here would be displaced and shifted to the refugee camps of western Jordan so this place would be used to build 530 houses and shopping centres for Israelis.
Palestinians started protests against this displacement. Israel used power mercilessly against them which resulted in the loss of so many Palestinian lives. Only Turkey and Pakistan condemned this act of aggression. The European Union has also declared these Israeli steps a threat to the peace but international media is silent.
Aside from the tragedy of displacing thousands of Palestinians from this town, the worst part is a chance that the identity of Al-Quds could be wiped after Israeli societies are established in eastern Bayt al-Maqdis.
The entry of Palestinians into the Old City has been banned following an incident of violence. Now, Al-Aqsa Mosque is open for Muslims in Eastern Jerusalem. If these people are displaced, then it is feared that the old house of Allah could be deserted.
Attempts have been made in the past to demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque in the name of archaeological findings. These attempts were foiled by the Muslims living there. Isn’t the displacement of the guardians is a plan to disgrace the mosque?
