Israeli Arabs to strike over move ‘to keep Muslims from Temple Mount’

The representative body for the Arab community in Israel on Sunday called for a general strike of the sector later in the week, to protest alleged changes to the status quo on the Temple Mount and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

All businesses and educational institutions in Arab communities across Israel will shut down Tuesday, with lawmakers from the Joint (Arab) List leading a large demonstration in the northern Israel town of Sakhnin. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are planning to hold a parallel strike on the same day.

The decision to strike came at a meeting of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel umbrella organization. The meeting, held in the Arab town of Kafr Qara in northern Israel, explored various forms of protest before calling the strike.

The strike is over what the group called “the efforts by the Netanyahu government to separate Muslims from the al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Lawmakers from the Joint List also plan to visit the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount on Wednesday, despite a blanket ban imposed last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on lawmakers’ visits to the compound due to the ongoing tensions. The MKs had intended to visit the Temple Mount on Sunday but delayed the trip.

The decision to issue the Temple Mount ban was made in late September, but police only began implementing it last week. It originally only included Jewish lawmakers, but was extended to all MKs after protests from cabinet ministers.

Not all Israeli Arabs have shown enthusiastic for the strike; Nazareth Mayor Ali Salem has criticized the decision, Channel 2 reported, and called on the Joint List Knesset members to instead take action to calm the recent violence.

“I blame the leaders; they are destroying our future, they are destroying coexistence,” Salem told Army Radio on Sunday.

The wave of attacks started in Jerusalem last month over what Israel has repeatedly insisted are unfounded Palestinian rumors that Israel was expanding its presence at the Temple Mount and the al-Aqsa Mosque. Under a longstanding arrangement at the site, which is administered by an Islamic trust, Jews are allowed to visit during certain hours but not to pray there, while Muslims may visit and pray.