Islamizing the Conflict

Abstract

The conflict over the Jerusalem holy sites is a useful tool in the struggle for Palestinian national awareness. The first to make relatively successful use of this issue was the leader of the Palestinian national movement during the Mandate period—Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the “Grand Mufti” and president of the Supreme Muslim Council from 1922 to 1937. The Palestinian Arabs’ political weakness after the British Mandate’s establishment in Palestine caused them to look to the greater Arab and Muslim world as a natural source of support. In their efforts to enlist the support of Muslim countries and populations, the Palestinian leadership employed religious symbols, primarily in the call to save Islamic holy sites from foreign control (Jewish and British/Christian). The Jewish activity during this period played into the Arabs’ hands. During the 1920s, efforts were made to broaden Jewish rights at the Western Wall, the site that in the consciousness of many Jews represented an authentic remnant of the Temple compound, at a time when the Temple Mount/ Haram site was under exclusive Muslim control. The Muslims acted to prevent such an expansion of rights, out of fear that by bringing articles of furniture to the site the Jews would be seeking to establish their sovereignty over it. At the same time, the Muslims worked to enhance the importance of al-Haram al-Sharif.