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On the Temple Mount, Israel and the Palestinians Live in Parallel Worlds

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser - The tension between Israel and the Palestinians on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem largely reflects the completely different ways in which the two sides view the reality around the mount. The Israeli perceptual framework seeks stability and is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount, to freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem, and to maintaining public order. It is thereby exercising its sovereignty and the responsibility entailed by it. However, many Palestinians, both in the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, along with many Israeli Arabs and Muslims worldwide, including in Jordan, see the existence of the nation-state of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel as lacking all justification. In their view, Israel's presence in east Jerusalem is illegal, and Israel as a state, and not just marginal messianic groups within it, seeks to alter the status quo on the Temple Mount. This problem is the product of long years of indoctrination and incitement based on religious beliefs and core values of Arab and Palestinian nationalism that portray the Jews as the ultimate evil. With no possibility of reaching a permanent solution and seeking to ensure stability in the short term, Israel has decided to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and pacify Gaza with material benefits. While this approach has certain advantages in the short term, it is likely to exact substantial costs in the medium and long term because it creates a sense of achievement among our enemies, raises their hopes of further achievements in the conflict over who is right, and erodes Israeli deterrence. The writer, Director of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center, was formerly head of the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence.
2022-05-09 00:00:00
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