marks the eighth anniversary of the Bab al-Asbat uprising , which erupted on the morning of Friday, July 14, 2017. The uprising erupted after the occupation forces closed all gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque following a shooting attack carried out by three young men from the city of Umm al-Fahm , inside Palestinian territory , targeting an Israeli police force stationed at Bab al-Hatta, one of the mosque's gates.
The young men then entered the Al-Aqsa compound, where police forces pursued them and clashed with them until they were martyred in the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock. The operation resulted in the deaths of two Israeli policemen.
This operation sparked the anger of the occupation, which resorted to escalating the situation by installing electronic gates at the mosque's gates. Jerusalemites responded by taking to the streets and participating in an open-ended sit-in until the gates were removed two weeks later.
On the eighth anniversary, Al Jazeera Net interviewed Khaled Owaisi, associate professor of Jerusalem studies and head of the Islamic History Department at Ankara University of Social Sciences, who spoke about the difference between the state of Al-Aqsa during that uprising and shortly after the Battle of the Flood of Al-Aqsa , the most important lessons learned from it, and what can be learned from that experience to protect Al-Aqsa today.
Awisi: If there had been a similar reaction after the Al-Aqsa flood, as happened in the Sword of Jerusalem, there would have been a real deterrent to the occupation (Al Jazeera)
The following is the full text of the interview:
What's the difference between the state of Al-Aqsa today and during the Bab al-Asbat uprising? What changed that led to its closure remaining unchanged after October 7th and after the Iran-Israel war?
The difference lies in the nature of the threat, the level of Palestinian mobilization, and the occupation's tools. What Al-Aqsa faces today is far more dangerous than it was eight years ago.
Had there been a similar response after the Al-Aqsa Intifada, as also happened during the 2021 "Sword of Jerusalem" operation, it would have provided a real deterrent to the occupation. However, Gaza was left alone to pay the price of defending the mosque after the intifada.
