Tisha B'Av, the annual Jewish fast day that commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, and Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Festival of the Sacrifice, violently converged on the Temple Mount this year. Israeli media outlets closely followed every call toward incitement in Jerusalem's Old City, thrown object, and opening and closure of a gate to the site during the clashes that erupted. But it seems that Arab media outlets, or at least large news sites like Asharq Al-Awsat, were not bothered by what transpired in Jerusalem, and put greater focus on the Muslim holiday and visits by senior officials to Arab states.
The Palestinians are used to this. When the Israel Police canceled prayers in July 2017 following the murder of two border policemen at the site, the Palestinians were disappointed by the weak response from the Muslim world, which amounted to nothing more than condemnations and a few protests by Palestinians in Jordan.
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It seems that the increasing commitment of Arab Gulf states, foremost among them Saudi Arabia, to the fight against terrorism, along with warming ties with Jerusalem, have left their mark. The growing rift between the Palestinians and Riyadh was given sharp expression not long ago, when the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned a visit to the Temple Mount by an official Arab media delegation that included Saudi blogger Mohammad Saud, as "part of the effort of the Zionist-American political conspiracy to take out the Palestinian target."
Saudi Arabia is busy contending with its own complex internal affairs and is interested right now in stabilizing the regime. It will certainly allow the Arab street to blow off steam through harsh statements to the media, but nothing more.
As always, Jordan, too, is between a rock and a hard place. It is not interested in an unnecessary escalation in the fragile reality on the Temple Mount that could threaten its ability to set some kind of policy there. Jordan issued its first condemnation of "Israeli violations" at Al-Aqsa Mosque at 12:20 p.m. on Sunday and the kingdom's Al Ra'i newspaper reported that "the Israeli occupation is storming the mosque and harming dozens of Palestinians." But beyond these public statements, Jordan is acting with caution. King Abdullah is not thrilled at the prospect of entering a conflict with Israel over the volatile Temple Mount issue. As a rule, opening the site to prayer serves to take the pressure off the Jordanian monarchy from the Arab street.
The Palestinians are looking to be seen as defenders of the site and those fighting the Muslim nation's war. In practice, however, it is only Iran that fully supports the Palestinians' policies in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, although even this support is solely political in nature. Shia Islam has no interest in Jerusalem, and as a result, this support reflects more than anything a final and desperate Iranian attempt to create some kind of consensus with the other Gulf states.
Israel must not make the mistake of concluding that the Gulf states will adhere to Riyadh's policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Qatar's relations with Israel may be surprising, but Doha is unequivocally acting to promote Palestinian interests. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have repeatedly stated that absent significant progress in peace efforts, they will not establish closer ties with Israel. For now, Kuwait has not joined the other states in forging Israel ties. Even Omani officials, who have been acting tirelessly to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, are meeting with senior Palestinian officials in an attempt to convince them to give the US peace plan a chance. The relative silence on the matter of the Temple Mount and the gradual warming of ties have not, therefore, served to strike the Palestinian issue from the Gulf states' agenda.
