Unrest on Temple Mount as Tensions Rise // FAI ONLINE

Palestinian men throw fireworks during a riot targeting Israeli security forces atop the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday, May 7, 2021 (Reuters, via bbc.com).

Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Friday night and evacuated its occupants, after 17 officers were wounded by crowds throwing stones and fireworks. The violence was some of the worst seen in Jerusalem’s Old City in years, erupting as thousands gathered for Friday evening services at the mosque, which sits atop the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, also known to Muslims as Haram esh-Sharif, or “the Noble Sanctuary,” Islam’s third-holiest site. Aid services reported at least 160 Palestinians were injured in the ensuing melee.

In the wake of the security action at the Al-Aqsa complex, Palestinian demonstrators marched down Route 1 in protest on Saturday, the main artery which runs through Central Israel between Tel Aviv-Yafo and Jerusalem. Israeli police dispersed the crowds to allow the resumption of vehicle traffic. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with commanders of the Israeli military and law enforcement, making the decision to bolster the presence of Israeli security personnel throughout Jerusalem on Saturday. The announcement comes as a street brawl and gunfire between Jewish and Arab civilians was reported near the Mount of Olives.

MoD Gantz’s team is also watching the Gaza frontier closely, as the Hamas terror organization, which rules the Gaza Strip, has previously threatened to open the “gates of hell” if Israel took action on the Temple Mount. Amateur video showing Palestinian men rushing the Gaza border fence was posted to social media on Saturday, as reports circulated claiming that Hamas had rejected Israeli overtures for de-escalation through Egyptian intermediaries, suggesting that further conflict between Israel and Gaza militant groups may be imminent.

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Saturday is the last and most revered day of the Ramadan season, known as “Laylat al-Qadr, or the “Night of Destiny,” a time which is typically marked by heightened tensions between Israeli authorities and Palestinians anyhow, but further amplified this year by a dispute regarding an Israeli court case involving the eviction of several Palestinian families from the Shaikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The case has its origins in the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War, and has been in litigation for years. But after violence near the Damascus Gate in Old Jerusalem prompted Israeli authorities to close the plaza around the gate in April, the Shaikh Jarrah case became a way for anti-Israeli groups in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to build momentum and provide a rallying point for anti-Zionist organizations across the world, drawing condemnation against Israel from Western and Muslim governments alike. The Wire will produce an in-depth analysis of the Shaikh Jarrah controversy in the coming days.

In the meantime, we would implore the global Maranatha family to be in prayer for the people of Israel today, both Israeli and Palestinian, Jew and Muslim, as a very complex and layered reality begins to flash into yet another conflict. We pray that the truth would be heard, and that the lies and violent schemes of the enemy to stoke hatred of the covenant people or their Arab neighbors would be exposed and come to nothing. As always, we pray for conflict and upheaval to open new doors for Good News of the Prince of Peace, who has “torn down the dividing wall of hostility” and made “one new man” from His body which includes both Isaac and Ishmael.

Maranatha.