Ben-Gvir Visits Sensitive Jerusalem Holy Site

Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Ben-Gvir Visits Sensitive Jerusalem Holy Site

Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians.

“I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement following the visit. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it “proves who is in charge in Jerusalem.”

It’s his second known visit since becoming a member of Israel’s most right-leaning government ever.

The visit by the extremist minister comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine.

The hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and home to the ancient biblical Temples. Today, it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there.

Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site.

Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there.

Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel launched near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks.
More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.



Lebanon, Israel Ceasefire Deal Will Take Place in Three Phases and ‘Simultaneous’ Withdrawals

 Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
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Lebanon, Israel Ceasefire Deal Will Take Place in Three Phases and ‘Simultaneous’ Withdrawals

 Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)

Informed sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that US-President elect Donald Trump agreed on the steps that President Joe Biden’s administration will take to ensure the success of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

Israel approved the ceasefire on Tuesday night after Lebanon had already agreed to it.

The sources, which followed up on the negotiations for the 60-day truce, said the steps call for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and their weapons from the South where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is deployed. In return, Israeli forces will withdraw from southern Lebanon.

More negotiations through American mediators will take place throughout the process.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Trump “gave his blessing” to the process during his meeting with Biden at the White House two weeks ago.

A committee led by the US will oversee the implementation of the withdrawal. France, Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL are also part of the committee.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Hezbollah’s withdrawal will take place in three 20-day phases. The first withdrawal will take place in the western sector.

It will coincide with an Israeli pullout from areas it occupied in that region. A strengthened Lebanese army force and UNIFIL troops will deploy in their place.

The second phase will cover the central sector and follow the same process.

The residents of the frontline southern villages will not be allowed to return to their homes immediately until they are deemed safe and after ensuring that no Hezbollah members or weapons remain there.

Residents of the so-called second and third line of villages south of the Litani River will be allowed to return to their homes immediately.

The source expected the US to play an “effective role” in the mechanism to oversee the withdrawal. It did not clarify whether any American forces will take part in the process.

It revealed that Britain and other countries will “exert special efforts to verify whether illegitimate weapons are being smuggled to Hezbollah.”

The five-member committee will not replace the tripartite committee already in place and that includes Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL.