Why Ben-Gvir's Al-Aqsa compound rhetoric is dangerous and disruptive

Analysis

Daoud Kuttab

Members of Israeli security forces guard the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following clashes that erupted during Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on April 5, 2023. — AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

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One of the thorniest issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has always been the Old City of Jerusalem and who has control and rights in the holy places, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif compound more broadly, which Jews call Temple Mount.

The latest flareup came this week after Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said in an interview with Army Radio that a synagogue should be built at the contested holy site. The call for Jews to pray at the compound is in violation of the 1967 Status Quo Agreement. In a sign of the severity of the development, the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister said that the status quo has not changed at Al-Aqsa.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said calls to undermine the status of Al-Aqsa aimed "to drag the region into a religious war that will burn everyone."

But for many observers, the enforcement of the Al-Aqsa agreement has long been lacking.

Background

Why Ben-Gvir's Al-Aqsa compound rhetoric is dangerous and disruptive

Israel's far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called for the establishment of a synagogue at the sensitive Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount complex, engendering fierce responses from Palestinian and Israeli leaders alike.

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