Ziad Ibhais - a researcher specializing in Jerusalem affairs

This morning, Sunday 8/28/2022, the occupation police took out a group of Zionist extremists who danced and sang in Al-Aqsa Mosque. They took them out of the Lions’ Gate, northeast of Al-Aqsa Mosque, towards Al-Ghazali Square. Then, after they protested that they did not all participate in the dancing, the occupation police accompanied them back to Al-Aqsa from the Gate of the Lions, to impose this trick agreed upon between the two parties, the first Jewish incursion into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Gate of the Lions since the beginning of the current path of aggression in the year 2000. Indeed, it may be the first since the occupation in 1967 if we exclude the first months of the occupation of the mosque, which is what was celebrated. The directness of the extremist Temple groups, which was highlighted in the Hebrew press, confirms the prior castling of this precedent, and here we must pay attention to a set of important premises:

First: This aggression came on the day the Jewish extremists celebrated the beginning of the Hebrew month of September, at the end of which the Zionists prepare for Rosh Hashanah, and the repetition of the experience of blowing the trumpet in Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is consistent with it being a preliminary preparation for a future climax of aggression against Al-Aqsa.

Second: The targeting of the Lions Gate is old and ongoing. There are two gates in Jerusalem bearing this name, one of which is in the wall of the Old City and is its only gate open from the east, and the second is the gate of Al-Aqsa Mosque, located to the left of the interior of the first gate, and they are separated from each other by a square known as Imam Al-Ghazali Square.

In Picture No. 1 below, the “Captive Amphitheatre” project is shown, which was unveiled in 2007 as part of the plan for Old Jerusalem to be a gathering point for settlers east of Al-Aqsa Mosque, parallel to Al-Buraq Square to its west.

Third: In the spatial division project for Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was approved internally by the Likud Party in 2012, in the map bearing No. 2 below, the Lions’ Gate appears to the left of the picture as one of the proposed doors for Jews to enter the eastern courtyard of Al-Aqsa after it was cut off for the benefit of the Zionist extremists, as they dreamed.

Fourth: In 2017, Al-Ghazali Square and Lions’ Gate were the center of Zionist measures to impose electronic gates, iron crossing tracks, overhead bridges, and cameras in the Lions’ Gate, as picture 3 shows below.

Fifth: On 12-2017, the Lions’ Gate became the center of the annual Zionist celebration of the Festival of Lights “Hanukkah” and the lighting of the menorah adjacent to the door to demand the introduction of the menorah ritual into Al-Aqsa Mosque, as in Picture No. 4 below.

Sixth: On April 16, 2020, the occupation authorities installed metal barriers with traffic lights on the road entering from Lions Gate to the Old City to strengthen their control over the passage of cars and pedestrians through it, and their installation is documented in Image 5 below.

Seventh: In the month of 12-2020, the occupation authorities began the process of ravaging the Al-Wusfiya cemetery overlooking the Lions’ Gate and resumed it in the month of 10-2021. Although this project had another context, modifying the movement of pedestrians and limiting access to the Lions’ Gate was one of the direct goals of this aggression.

Briefly and clearly: The storming of Bab al-Asbat today is not just the diligence of a policeman, but rather a renewal of a historical line that aspires to create an entry point into Al-Aqsa from the eastern side, parallel to Bab al-Mugharibi from the western side. Calling it at this moment comes in the context of preparing for the next long aggression that will extend between... 9-27 until 10-17-2022, that is, a month from today.

Al-Aqsa Yassingith