United in hate under the Mugrabi bridge

While the recent infighting between Hamas and Fatah has shown the mutual hate and enmity between the two main Palestinian factions, it pales into insignificance when both sides raise to an occasion - real or fabricated - to display their Joo-hate.

The waves of hysteria about the newly generated myth about "Israeli Designs on Al-Aqsa" are getting higher and higher by the day. Just to watch the language used by various Muslim sources is highly educational, seeing a new low in the anti-Israeli propaganda. So:

• Israeli designs on Al-Aqsa (Al Jazeera)
• Attempts to “obliterate” the Islamic stamp of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al Jazeera)
• Ethnic cleansing operation (Al Jazeera)
• Israel's intentions to destroy holy Islamic sites (Abu Mazen via Haaretz)
• What Israel is doing in its practices and attacks against our sacred Muslim sites in Jerusalem and al-Aqsa is a blatant violation (King Abdullah II via Haaretz)

And, of course, the created myth is immediately foolowed by dire threats. The threats come even from the Israeli Muslims:

MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List) warned on Tuesday that the excavations are likely to ignite a third intifada, which will include protests and conflict throughout the Arab and Muslim world.

It is clear then what should be expected and, indeed, came from the others:

"I have a stern warning for the enemy," Khaled Meshal said at a news conference in the Syrian capital. Head of the northern branch of the Islamic movement Sheik Ra'ad Salah, and the head of Jerusalem's Supreme Muslim Council Ikrima Sabri called this week for all Muslims in Israel to flock to the Temple Mount complex to prevent Israel from actions that they say are meant to destroy the Mugrabi Gate. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday said that Israeli excavation works near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem were likely to endanger regional peace efforts, Israel Radio reported.

But what is really going on?

The dig is part of a plan to rebuild the Mugrabi bridge walkway planned to run from the Dung gate to the Mugrabi gate, which serves as the primary entrance to the compound referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as al-Haram al-Sherif, the Noble Sanctuary.

The following diagram (from BBC, to avoid accusations of bias) shows the location of the bridge:


It is easy to see that the location of the bridge is a) outside the Temple Mount and b) quite far away from the Al-Aqsa mosque. To get a better visual impression, here is a snapshot of the area (the Mugrabi bridge is marked by the red line):

Currently the bridge is a wooden temporary construction, a clear safety hazard that must be addressed - for the sake of some of the same rubble rousers that create the hysteria today. It's enough to remind that the old bridge collapsed in 2004:

However, the tactics of the Joo-haters are clear: to use the opportunity for heating up the scene and unite the divided Palestinian fractions now is much more important than the destiny of some bridge. And if it collapses again, so what, it is an additional bonus that will allow to blame Zionists anew.

To add fuel to conflagration, some parties would use anything:

Husseini said he suspected that the excavations around the holy site were attempts to tunnel under it - a common allegation among Muslims, though one never substantiated - and demanded that Israel cease all digs immediately.

Of course, coming from the camp that produced uncounted myths like use of uranium shells in Gaza, poisonous gases, dissemination of bird flu, poisoning of wells - this one is not surprising.

The goal of the current Palestinian PR exercise is clear: while overcoming the internal squabbles is difficult to impossible, it would serve all parties to turn the attention to the Zionists' "atrocity". While keeping the knives ready for the next opportune moment.

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