The chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is playing with fire. Not two days had passed since the reconciliation government with Hamas was formed, when on June 4, Abbas called on Muslims around the world to take practical steps to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The two haphazard and hasty steps taken by the Palestinian Authority (PA) can be compared to crossing a deep chasm on a slender, electrified wire. When you are riding on a tiger’s back, you know how to get on the tiger, but it’s not at all certain you'll know how to get off.
Hamas, the PA chair's partner in the new government, is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel. On June 14, 2007, this very organization seized power in the Gaza Strip in a violent coup that left many Fatah members running for their lives in terror. They fled to the Erez border crossing and pleaded to be allowed to enter Israel so they wouldn’t be thrown off the roofs of Gaza’s tallest buildings. It should be noted, by the way, that Israel was not indifferent to their pleas and saved many lives.
Furthermore, if rocket fire from the Gaza Strip on Israeli cities could once be traced back to the Hamas government headed by Ismail Haniyeh, the address had changed once the national unity government was formed. The zip code is now Ramallah. From now on the address is no longer Hamas in Gaza. It is no longer Haniyeh. It is Abbas himself. It makes no difference if the missiles from Gaza were fired by Islamic Jihad, groups tied to al-Qaeda or the Armed Resistance Committees. There’s a new boss in town, and his name is Mahmoud Abbas.
No less serious is Abbas’ dangerous call to Muslims to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Abbas is well-aware that the government of Israel takes every possible step to protect the mosque, as if it was the apple of its eye. The right of Jews to worship freely in Israel suffered a dramatic blow because of the Israeli fear that the security situation could deteriorate. Jews visiting the Temple Mount are not even allowed to mutter to themselves, out of fear that they might mumble a prayer and thereby offend Muslims. The State of Israel is fully aware of how volatile the site is and acts accordingly. Its sole purpose in this regard is to maintain and protect the special status that Muslims have on the Temple Mount.
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