Ziad Ibhais - a researcher specializing in Jerusalem affairs

The “Hebrew Purim” holiday falls today, Sunday, 3/24/2024, and continues until tomorrow, Monday, 3/25, to constitute a platform for renewing the approach of aggression against Al-Aqsa #, based on the biblical holidays, and an occasion to spite the Zionist entity that is conducting its war motivated by it, and a renewed station for trying to change the identity of Al-Aqsa and dedicate The division therein is by insisting on its inclusion in the Biblical holidays, even when they intersect with Ramadan, and thus constitutes a renewal of the challenge imposed on the people of Palestine and the entire nation in the face of a religious replacement project that has now placed Al-Aqsa at the heart of its goals.

This intersection between Purim and the second week of Ramadan comes to renew a continuous series of aggression over the past five years, as in the three years between 2019 and 2021, the Hebrew anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem - or what is called Zionistly the “anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem” - intersected with the twenty-eighth. of Ramadan, which led to the start of the Battle of Saif al-Quds on the same evening in 2021, then the Biblical Passover intersected with the third week of Ramadan in 2022-2023 to be a subject of tension and escalation in Al-Aqsa, and for confrontation and bond, the central theme of which was seclusion, which led to the battle of seclusion. In Ramadan of 2023; Which constituted the first model of multi-front engagement in the Battle of Al-Aqsa, and perhaps it was the reconnaissance round in practice before the Al-Aqsa flood on October 7.

Today, with the addition of a month to the Hebrew year to correct its symmetry with the solar calendar, the Hebrew holiday of Purim “Purim” has become the opposite of Ramadan. It is a marginal holiday compared to the holidays that intersected with Ramadan in the past five years, and one of the sources of its marginality, as Al-Mesiri explains, is that it comes before the Hebrew Passover. In one month, while the Hebrew Passover intersects with the Christian Passover, Purim does not intersect with any holiday on the European continent, which made its value decline further among the majority of the world’s Jews who were concentrated in Europe, which was actually reflected in the application as the Temple groups used it as a platform for preparation. For the Passover aggression and the renewal of the raids after the long cessation of the biblical holidays between the months of October and March in the Gregorian calendar.

This year, the danger that the “Hebrew Purim” aggression poses to Al-Aqsa can be diagnosed in:

FirstlyRenewing the approach of using the Biblical holidays as a platform for aggression against Al-Aqsa: It is the first Biblical holiday that comes after the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, which began at the end of the previous long holiday season, with the exception of a marginal occasion, which is the Hebrew Festival of Lights, which comes in the month of December, and the interruption in holidays continues after that. 

Today, the Temple groups see this holiday as a test of their will and patience, and of the ability of religious Zionism to renew the policy of religious replacement in Al-Aqsa, despite the blows the entity has received and is still receiving in the war. It therefore constitutes an important platform for preparing for the Hebrew Passover, which will fall two weeks after Ramadan on the 23rd. -4-2024, which the Temple groups were impatiently waiting for its intersection with Ramadan to pass, perhaps their opportunity to impose the Easter offering would be better, as the Easter offering at Al-Aqsa is a central title in their salvation thought.

secondlyWith its historical background, this holiday constitutes an occasion to display spite against enemies: it commemorates the biblical legend that embodies how God makes the enemies of the Jews “a ransom for his people.” The Persian minister Haman tried to plan a massacre of the Jews on this day, but he was killed in their place, and Mordecai the Jew was appointed as minister in his place. In the Zionist mind today, every Zionist is Mordecai and every Palestinian is Haman, whom God will make a ransom for. This is what makes the Hebrew Purim a station for spite and healing, as it comes during a war whose main motive is these psychological motives.

ThirdConsecrating Partition: For the Temple groups and the Zionist entity in general, the intersection of a biblical occasion with the month of Ramadan is an opportunity to perpetuate Partition. To confirm in practice that Al-Aqsa is not a purely Islamic sanctuary, but rather a shared sanctuary, and that the Islamic consideration therein does not transcend Jewish consideration, and this is what in practice increases the weight of any occasion that intersects with the month of Ramadan, because it is simply a window to perpetuate a policy that has come to be at the forefront of Zionist goals: replacement. The religious community is in Al-Aqsa, and the idea of partition is only an interim step on its path.

In the face of this, experience since 2013 and through the stages of 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 has demonstrated that # seclusion the night before any intrusion is the necessary gateway to thwarting it, or at least to confront it and not allow the intruders to monopolize Al-Aqsa; Therefore, itikaf was the title of battle in the year 2023, and therefore the occupation forces are keen to prevent it and limit it to limited days throughout the year, while the Jerusalemites and Al-Murabitun fight successive battles to impose it. For this reason, specifically, the occupation forces were keen to storm the Al-Qibli Mosque on the night of Wednesday to Thursday to expel the worshipers after Tarawih and ensure that itikaf is prevented. Before the storming on Thursday, the day of fasting in preparation for the Hebrew “Purim,” the experiment was repeated on Saturday night and Sunday, 3/24, to ensure that the Biblical Purim aggression passed without response.

What is truly regrettable in this confrontation over itikaf is the Endowment’s keenness to issue the decision to perform itikaf every year as if it were its free decision, despite the fact that it is prohibited in public with the weapons of the occupation soldiers and their cleavers, and despite the fact that limiting itikaf to Thursdays, Fridays and the last ten days does not carry any religious justification, and is in contradiction. Frankly speaking, with the prophetic directive to travel to the three mosques, how long will this insistence continue? What benefit can you expect from it?

# Let's break the siege maximum