- Global Voices - https://globalvoices.org -

Palestine: Anger At Opening Of Hurva Synagogue

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Israel, Palestine, Politics, Protest, Religion

Last week the rebuilt Hurva, or Ruin, Synagogue [1] was opened in the old city of Jerusalem, amidst a wave of protests [2] by Palestinians. The opening has been denounced [3] by a number of Palestinian leaders as being part of a project to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque [4], which is only 700 metres away.

Mohammed Abu Allan is critical of the attitude of the Palestinian Authority towards what is happening in Jerusalem; it has called for major national conference to make a decision about the steps to be taken. He says [5]:

الأمر يبدو وكأن الإجراءات الإسرائيلية في القدس وغيرها من المدن الفلسطينية أمر مستجد وليس سياسة دائمة منذ عشرات السنين .. هذه الخطوة الفلسطينية المنتظرة دلالة واضحة على غياب إستراتيجية واحدة موحدة في مواجهة الاحتلال، وسياسة فلسطينية قائمة على ردة الفعل بالدرجة الأولى وليس ضمن سياسة مؤسسية مرسومة تتناسب مع حجم الحدث المضاد من قبل سلطات الاحتلال
It seems as if the Israeli actions in Jerusalem and other Palestinian cities are a new matter rather than a policy that has been in place for decades… This prospective step by the Palestinians is a clear indicator of the absence of a single, united strategy against the occupation, a Palestinian policy based primarily on a reaction, which is not part of a planned systematic policy commensurate with the scale of the opposing actions of the occupying authorities.

Ola Eliwat reminds her readers of what Golda Meir [6] did and said 40 years ago at the time of a fire [7] in Al-Aqsa Mosque. She says [8]:

قبل 40 سنة لما انحرق المسجد الأقصى، كانت رئيسة الوزراء الإسرائيلية وقتها هي جولدا مائير، فلما صار اللي صار اختبات وطلبت تشديد الحراسة عليها، فسألوها ليش هيك مرعوبة، قامت حكت: إنتوا عارفين شو يعني المسجد الأقصى ينحرق؟ هلأ الأمة العربية والإسلامية كلها رح تثور علينا ..
Forty years ago when the Al-Aqsa Mosque was on fire, Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister at that time, hid herself and requested extra security. She was asked why she was so terrified, and she replied, “Do you know what the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque means? Now the Arab and Islamic worlds are going to rise up against us…”

After listing a series of angry statements and questions, Ola asks:

بس يا ترى لو انهدم الأقصى رح يصير اللي كانت مائير خايفة منه وهو إنه أمة كاملة تصحى؟ ولا حيصير اللي إحنا خايفين منه، وهو إنه أمة كاملة تنمسح بكرامتها الأرض؟
But if Al-Aqsa were destroyed, would the thing that Meir feared happen, namely that an entire people would awaken? Or would that which we fear happen – that an entire people would be humiliated?

The blogger calling herself Hayat El Alam describes the patriotic feelings towards Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque that she has as a Gazan [9]:

كَوْني فلسطينية كل قطرة دم تجري في شراييني هي غَزِّية بحتة خالصة لا شائبة تشوب أصالة نسبي لابدَّ وأنّ كلّ خليةٍ في جسدي تتوجه الآن بكل أيضياتها نحو القدس -على اعتبارها الشغل الشاغل للإعلام وأفواه الناس هذه الأيام لما لا يخفى على أحد من محاولات تهويد ومسح لكل أثر يدل على وجود معلم تاريخيّ أثريّ دينيّ إسلاميّ قدسيّ يسمى المسجد الأقصى عن أرض بيت المقدس , بل ومحاولة ليس فقط محو التاريخ بل وإعادة صياغته من جديد ..
As a Palestinian, with every drop of blood flowing through my veins being pure Gazan, and no impurity adulterating my origins, every cell in my body must now turn in the direction of Jerusalem, in view of the fact it is the major concern of the media and people's conversations these days. This is because of an obvious attempt to Judaize the city and remove every trace of the existence of a sacred Islamic historical monument called Al-Aqsa Mosque from Jerusalem's land. Indeed it is an attempt not just to erase history but to rewrite it.