Israel Allows ‘Incendiary’ Hanukkah March Near Al-Aqsa Mosque by Group Demanding Full Jewish Control of Site
A provocative demonstration at the holy site on the first night on the Jewish holiday has many worried it could trigger 'an eruption of violence'
In a move that could further inflame tensions between Israel and Palestinians, an extremist group in Israel is planning to march on one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem on Thursday night after police greenlit a permit for them to gather at Temple Mount on the first night of Hannukah.
Temple Mount, known as the Dome of the Rock, or Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslims, is considered one of the most sacred sites of both the Islamic and Jewish faiths. The marchers plan to demand that the Islamic charity that controls the site hand the reins to Israel.
The activists are
calling to "restore full Jewish control over the Temple Mount and
Jerusalem," against Waqf control that has traditionally opposed Jewish
religious _expression_ there, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Waqf is the independent oversight body that manages Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa.
The march on Thursday will be limited to 200 participants, the newspaper reported. It’s set to enter through the Damascus Gate and wind through the traditional Muslim quarter of the Israeli capital.
It’s being billed as the Maccabee March, a nod to a revolt by a small Jewish sect in ancient Judea that culminated in the rededication of the Temple, the holiest site in Judaism.
Though central to both Muslims and Jews, it has been administered by the Waqf, since 1948. To Muslims, it is the place where the faith’s founder, Mohammed, ascended to heaven. For Jews, it is the site of the Second Temple and likely of the First Temple as well. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, marking the beginning of nearly two millennia of the Jewish diaspora.
For ultra-Orthodox Jews, it is also the site where the third and final temple will be built when the Messiah returns.