Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Subject: International relations

Context: ISRAEL’SNEW far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir briefly visited Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a site also revered by Jews, prompting fierce condemnation from the Palestinian sand several Arab countries.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

• Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. The mosque was built on top of the Temple Mount, known as the Al Aqsa Compound or Haramesh-Sharif in Islam.
• Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Great Mosque of Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey.
• Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the 16th or 17th month after his migration from Mecca to Medina, when Allah directed him to turn towards the Kaaba in Mecca.

How Jerusalem become a hotly contested territory?

• The city of Jerusalem is holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews.
• “The Temple Mount” in the city is the holiest site in Jewish religion and Jews from across the world come to pray Western Wall of the Biblical temple.
• “Al-Aqsa mosque”, which is Islam’s 3rd holiest site after Mecca and Medina is also located within the city.
• “Church of the Holy Sepulchre” in Jerusalem is thought to be the site of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, thereby making it holy for Christians too.

Concept:

• The Gaza Strip or simply Gaza, is a self-governing Palestinian territory.
• It is located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north border.
• Gaza and the West Bank are claimed by the de jure sovereign State of Palestine. The territories of Gaza and the West Bank are separated from each other by Israeli territory.
• Both fell under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, but the strip has since the Battle of Gaza in June 2007 been governed by Hamas, a Palestinian fundamentalist militant Islamic organization which came to power in the last-held elections in 2006.
• It has been placed under an Israeli and US-led international economic and political boycott from that time onwards.