Wesam Afifa

As a result of the escalating violations practiced by the Israeli occupation, a new wave of tension is targeting the Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. This comes in parallel with the serious challenges faced by Jerusalemites, as the City of Al-Quds is witnessing a renewed campaign of religious attacks and provocations, with Al-Aqsa as a landscape for the growing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The tension between the two parties has grown, as has the occupation's propensity towards fascism, driven by the extreme right side. This party has served as a front for the religious conflict waged by settlers and religious people against the city's Islamic and Christian holy places.

The end of the current month is predicted to undergo a new-fangled wave of escalation dubbed "Anniversary of the Temple Destruction." This is one of the four prominent annual events, in which extremists attempt to impose control over Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and change its spatial and temporal reality through annual occasions. For instance, the Passover, the Al-Quds Day, the Anniversary of The Temple Destruction, and other Jewish holidays.

The historical threats against the Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa are an attempt to turn it into a Jewish temple.  The city experienced the Al-Buraq Revolution in 1929, which ignited the flame of the Palestinian conflicts with the Zionist Movement emerged. Since then, the Israeli endeavors to control the city, change its demography and divide it temporally and spatially have never come to an end.

In the religious conflict, one of the pillars on which the Zionist Movement built its claims was to establish a religious state. This, therefore, has made the Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa face a series of attacks that do not only pose a threat to Palestinians and Jerusalemites only, but to all Arabs and Muslims around the world.

During the last few years, Al-Aqsa has been facing a dramatic transformation towards partial Judaization. Apparently, this endangers Muslims' first Qibla and positions Jerusalemites under the threat of religion-based ethnic cleansing.