Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 

By Andrew Lee Butters
Time Magazine

Disputes between religious communities over access to holy places are a
staple of life in Jerusalem's Old City, but it was more than just
another sectarian turf battle that saw Israeli police on Sunday enter
the Muslim-controlled area on the Temple Mount to quell stone-throwing
by Palestinians. Instead, the riot in the Holy City was yet another sign
that, in the absence of any real peace process, the two sides may be
headed for renewed confrontation.

For weeks now, tensions have been mounting in Jerusalem. Spurred by the
Obama Administration's efforts to revive final-status negotiations and
emboldened by its successful rebuff of Washington's demand for a
settlement freeze, Israel has moved to consolidate its control of
occupied East Jerusalem by demolishing Palestinian homes and expanding
Israeli construction there. Islamist groups have seized on archeological
excavations in the Old City to claim that Israel plans to seize control
of the Muslim holy sites — a charge vehemently denied by Israel, but one
that has nonetheless roused outrage across the Muslim world. In response
to feared protests, Israel has barred Palestinians under 50 or not
resident in Jerusalem from access to the al-Aqsa Mosque complex on the
Temple Mount — known to Muslims has the Noble Sanctuary — and that, in
turn, has only heightened Muslim suspicions over Israel's intentions.
(See pictures of 60 years of Israel.)

Sunday's clashes came after Islamist groups called for Palestinians to
"defend" the site after Israel had allowed Israelis to enter it the
previous day. The confrontation may have had less to do with keeping
Jews from praying at al-Aqsa, however, than with the erosion in
Palestinian faith in President Mahmoud Abbas' path of negotiating peace
with the Israelis and Americans. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal set the
tone on Sunday by declaring, "Jerusalem's fate will be decided with
jihad and resistance, and not negotiations." The symbolic power of the
Jerusalem issue has a radicalizing effect not only on the Palestinians,
but all across the Arab and Muslim world, with anti-Israel sentiment at
a fever pitch even in Turkey, a long-standing Israel ally.

Although Hamas supporters may have played a leading role in the
Jerusalem protests, there was plenty of evidence of Fatah supporters
fighting alongside them — a fact noticed by the Israeli government,
which banished the Palestinian Authority official responsible for the
holy sites for two weeks. Nor is that a new development: while President
Abbas continues go through the motions demanded by the Obama
Administration, he has reportedly threatened to quit and warned that no
peace is possible with the hawkish government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. And many leaders of Abbas' own Fatah movement are now
privately talking about going back to the barricades. A split has
emerged between Abbas and a younger generation of Fatah commanders who
have lost patience with his faith in a U.S.-led peace process that has
left them no closer to statehood than they were a decade ago. There are
daily confrontations between the old guard and the new guard, says
Hassan Bakir, the chairman of the Palestinian Center for Research and
Documentation in Beirut. They are tired of listening to Abbas, who
hasn't lived up to his promises. The new guard is calling for a return
to resistance. (See pictures of life under Hamas in Gaza.)

Rather than restore Palestinian faith in the peace process, the Obama
Administration's efforts may have only fueled the backlash. Any optimism
over renewed peace efforts that had been generated by President Obama's
Cairo speech quickly dissipated as Washington failed to win Israeli
compliance with its demand for a settlement freeze. And the
Administration put Abbas in an untenable position earlier this month by
leaning on him to revoke Palestinian support for the U.N. discussing the
Goldstone Report, which accused Israel and Hamas of committing war
crimes during last winter's fighting in Gaza. So intense was the outcry
that followed among Palestinians, including top leaders of Fatah, that
Abbas was forced to make a humiliating about-face.

If Israel's relations with the Palestinians are deteriorating and
propelling a less accommodating Palestinian leadership to the fore, the
scuffles in Jerusalem are also deepening Israel's isolation in the
Muslim world. France this week had to cancel plans for a summit of
Mediterranean countries after Egypt refused to attend a meeting with
Israel's hard-line Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. And in Jordan on
Monday, the 15th anniversary of a peace deal with Israel was observed by
demonstrators burning an Israeli flag and calls by the parliamentary
opposition for the pact to be rescinded.

President Obama raised expectations after taking office by promising the
region speedy movement toward settling the Middle East's most toxic
conflict. So far, the Administration's efforts have produced precious
little progress — and unfortunately for Obama, the Palestinians may no
longer be waiting for Washington to do more to press the Israelis.
Instead, they are growing more inclined to do that themselves, in ways
that could quickly turn the Mideast into a crisis for the Administration.

— With reporting by Rami Aysha / Beirut and Jamil Hamad / Bethlehem

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