Israel has much more to lose by caving in now than by going ahead. It will confirm to the world that the Arabs really do own the Temple Mount and have a monopoly of control over what happens there. If that’s the case, what do you think it will it do to Israel and the Palestinians’ respective claims to eastern Jerusalem, and especially the Old City? It will also demonstrate to the Palestinians the power of mass violence within Israel, and you will get more, and worse, of it until the state is forced to confront it violently-in other words, you will bring on the third intifada you think you are avoiding.
It may be too easy for me to speak from far away in the US, but I think the present rioting can be managed with intelligence and restraint. Israel must continue to explain what it is doing, even though it is blue in the face, but it must keep going with this reasonable and necessary work or forfeit the Temple Mount altogether.
The state should show some spine on this issue; it should remember, and remind everyone else, that Israel is the sovereign power in Jerusalem and that although the waqf has control over Muslim interests at the Mount, it has it due to Israeli generosity, by Israel’s revocable consent, and subject to Israeli law. If the waqf and other Islamic authorities continue to stir up violence they should be reminded that they have things to lose. For example, Israel could close the Haram to worshippers, temporarily or until further notice. Or it can do what it should have done long since, and shut down all the massive new construction work for the mosque at Solomon’s Stables. It could also submit a bill to the Knesset requiring the restoration of that site to as near as possible its state before the waqf started tearing into the Mount (whether or not it is to be enforced). Even publicising what the waqf has done there should help to counteract all the anti-Israel propaganda going about now.
Whatever it does, it should do it while explicitly pointing out that not only Muslims but Jews have a vital interest in the Temple Mount, and not only Israel but Muslims have responsibilities to protect the interests of others. The sense that only Islam matters at the Mount must either be ended or surrendered to.
