Skip to main content

Op-ed in official PA daily warns Israel of igniting “religious war” in Jerusalem: “Playing with fire will burn the fingers of the ones who ignited it”

Op-ed by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily

“One should not play with fire [when dealing with] a cause the size of the cause of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem. This warning is directed first and foremost to the Israeli occupation authority – this authority which in recent days is acting insanely (refers to Israel placing metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount following a terror attack there on July 14, 2017, in which 2 Israelis were murdered; see note below –Ed.) and is racing against time in order to carry out its plans regarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem and to try and impose its false narratives on the ground and convey them to the world. Israel thinks that the Arab nation’s weakness and its current preoccupation with its [own] crises will enable it [Israel] to carry out this plan, but playing with fire [when dealing with] a cause the size of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem will… burn the fingers of the ones who ignited it, particularly if the situation reaches an explosion and turns into a religious war.”

Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Jabarin, Muhammad Hamed Abd Al-Latif Jabarin, and Muhammad Ahmad Mufaddal Jabarin - Israeli Arab terrorists aged 29, 19, and 19, who shot from the Temple Mount at Israeli policemen, murdering 2 Israeli Druze border policemen - Haiel Stawi and Kamil Shnaan, on July 14, 2017. Two of the terrorists were shot and killed by other policemen during the attack. The third terrorist was shot and killed while trying to flee.

RelatedView all ❯