AxisMundi Jerusalem

Israeli-Palestinian tensions are on the rise after Israel’s announcement that it intends to include several religious sites, holy to Jews and Muslims, in an Israeli heritage project. Some Palestinians are speaking about the possibility of a third Intifada, or uprising. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinians have misunderstood Israel’s intentions in pressing ahead with what he called a plan to refurbish the holy sites in question.

Several protests broke out  in the West Bank city of Hebron last week over Israel’s inclusion in the heritage project  of the Tomb of on the Patriarchs, a politically sensitive site (read more here).

On Saturday, four Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers  in Bethlehem. The Israeli military said soldiers had opened fire in response to stone-throwing at them, striking a vehicle. The commander of the forces involved in the incident has been suspended.

Violence flared again on Sunday, near al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, when Palestinians threw stones at visitors approaching the mosque and Israeli police entered the esplanade and fired tear gas (see our latest story here).

Some are drawing parallels to flaring passions in Jerusalem’s Old City  to events that sparked the second Palestinian Intifada–it broke out in 2000 after Ariel Sharon, then the Israeli opposition leader, visited  al-Aqsa compound. Known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, and to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is revered by both religions.

Check out footage of today’s clashes, from Reuters TV:

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In this Saturday’s op-ed in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam (Arabic only), political analyst Hani al-Masri’s column, entitled  “The third Intifada is coming sooner or later,” doesn’t beat around the bush.

Masri argues that the Palestinian leadership needs “to begin preparing to lead the coming Intifada when the conditions become ripe, because when it happens it will not wait for permission from anyone.”

This is how Palestinian authorities can prevent popular anger from “turning inwards,” he says,  and instead direct it “toward the (Israeli) occupation, in an organised fashion, with specific and realistic political goals that have been agreed upon,  or else it will slide into armed confrontation, in which Israel excels.” (Masri would not, however, rule out all forms of armed resistance if an Intifada were to break out).

Even before the incidents in Jerusalem,  Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-led government in Gaza, called on the West Bank to start a third Intifada in response to Israel’s heritage list. But the  West Bank-based Palestinian Authority says it is trying to prevent a violent outbreak in the face of what it called Israeli efforts to undermine the return to peace talks by stoking tensions (read an article on Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s  call for a “quiet revolution” against Israeli plans here).

And as talks are stalled and conditions deteriorate,  discussion of “alternatives” to the currently envisioned two-state solution is on the rise. (See our analysis piece here)

Where do you think the situation is headed?

PHOTO:  Palestinian throws rocks at Israeli police during confrontations in Jerusalem. 28 Feb 2010. REUTERS/Ammar Awad