Wednesday, April 5, 2023: Another attack of the Al-Aqsa mosque. This time, it was twice in less than 24 hours. At least 400 Palestinians were arrested and 6 people were wounded.

Why did this happen, yet again? In the month of Ramadan, it is a common Muslim tradition to pray i’tikaf, the practice of staying at the mosque for a number of days as a way of devoting oneself to God. The Palestinians stayed in the mosque overnight, which was used to justify the crackdown. There are videos and reports that show the police beating worshippers with batons, along with eyewitnesses stating that they saw smashed windows and doors, and rubber bullets used to attack and remove the worshippers.

Francesca Albanese, a UN Special Rapporteur, said: “As Palestinian Muslims gathered for Ramadan prayers exercising their right to worship in Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli authorities used blatantly excessive and unjustified force against them.”

Following this raid, a teenage Palestinian was shot and killed in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank along with reported incidents of violence in Nablus and Bethlehem. One person was also reportedly killed in Beit Ummar by live ammunition and many more were harmed by the teargas fired by the Israeli forces.

The legal status of Al-Aqsa mosque, and who administers it, is a topic that is a bit more nuanced. The holy mosque is located in the Old City which is in the East of Jerusalem. This area of the land has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. There is, however, a ‘status quo agreement’ between Jordan and Israel that states that Jordan has custody of the compound, despite Israel occupying East Jerusalem. Under this agreement, non-Muslims can only visit during certain hours but they are prohibited from praying in it.

However, over the past few years, there has been an increase in police raids happening in the mosque, which the Muslim community perceives as a provocation. This is especially so because the abuse of power exercised through these violations occur during Ramadan. Furthermore, Palestinians tend to receive a disproportionate consequence for the same crime, which again reinforces the systemic injustices pervading the country. There is no explicit mention of overnight worship in this agreement, but an Israeli spokesperson claims that there is an agreement between Jordan and Israel where Palestinians would not enter the mosque during the night.

Friday, April 7, 2023: Israel attacks the West Bank and Tel Aviv. Three people were killed.

These attacks began after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into the occupied territory. The Palestinian militia, Hamas, was blamed for these. In the aftermath, two sisters were killed, their mother was wounded in the occupied West Bank, an Italian man was killed, and seven others were wounded. The Israeli authorities classified both of those as ‘terror attacks’ and mobilized the IDF and police units to combat these attacks.

Unfortunately, these horrific scenes of pain are not the first or even the tenth we have witnessed in Palestine. They frequently occur throughout the year and always during the holy month of Ramadan. Such crackdowns are particularly shameful during the month of Ramadan because of the inherent holiness of the month, and the message of peace and worship that permeates it. It is the one month of the year that people should not commit sinful activities and ought to focus on their spirituality and connection to God.

These attacks, therefore, discourage people from engaging with spirituality and infringe on their ability to go to mosques for worship. The UN reported that Israel has increased military operations since the beginning of 2023. Since the start of 2023, there have been at least 95 Palestinians killed, including 17 children. These statistics usually do not get reported and their stories are not told.

Despite this consistent violence, mainstream media often only showcases a misconstrued perception of the situation, one tainted with passivity regarding the Palestinian struggle in the holy month of Ramadan. Most news sources portray Palestinians' struggle from a very idealistic Western lens that brushes past the essence of violence and the severity of their struggle.

For example, as analyzed by Richard Medhurst, when it comes to the events in Palestine, it is called "tension", but the behavior of a Russian soldier with Ukrainians is called "violence". This double standard yields from a racial standpoint, and illustrates that even in oppressive situations an intersectional power dynamic exists between the respect granted to various oppressed peoples. From an imperialist lens, Arabs are often perceived as terrorists, depriving them of mercy while Israeli soldiers are seldom condemned for their atrocious actions. This can especially be seen when the Palestinians attempt to retaliate against the Israeli forces. The double standard is excruciatingly clear. A European country in the context of national conflict garners international support for capacity-building to self-defend their nation without excruciatingly widespread judgment and criticism. On the contrary, in the case of Palestine, mainstream media surrounding the occupation is often riddled with manipulative language that gives a very inaccurate perception of the Palestinian people’s resistance against the state of Israel. Mostly, Palestinians are made to come across as violent, in the wrong, and arbitrarily causing conflicts.

When Googling something like “Palestinian-Israeli conflict during the holy month of Ramadan,” one of the first articles that come up is one issued in the Times of Israel. Judging by the name, the article does everything possible to paint Palestinians in an awful light. Referring to the IDF soldiers as police and stating that “some of the Palestinians threw rocks and glass bottles at police,” without also mentioning the ways the police have acted is very misleading and only shows a one-sided view. Labeling the Israeli Occupation Forces as police is misleading as it portrays them as figures of protection which are at odds with their actions. Instead, Palestinians often view them as tools of surveillance and discipline under the occupation.

On the other hand, Arab news sources or sources from more neutral countries often portray a more accurate perspective. Al Arabiya news stated that Israeli forces did not allow medics into the attack site and left Palestinians struggling for hours. However, they did not fail to mention the Palestinians' response to throwing rocks after being mistreated and violated. Due to Western states shaping the media the public consumes, biased sources occupy more space than more accurate ones.

Even when taking a step back and looking at a source/organization like the United Nations, when they report these events, they often look past the severity of the situation and sometimes try to equalize the blame on both sides. For instance, the UN expresses the severity of the situation by stating facts but never truly condemns Israeli settlers or downplays their role in attacking innocent Palestinians. Also, many articles fail to mention the actual violation of the aforementioned status quo agreement, which has otherwise gained condemnation by much of the Arab world.

The UN constantly attempts to applaud peace talks and reconciliation efforts after the violence ensued by Israel. However, what is not mentioned is how little say or leverage Palestinians have in any of the agreements or efforts to solve the issue. Several UN-published articles often quickly sweep the lack of sovereignty in Palestine under the rug and state that the violent consequence can be ‘reversed’ by creating a mutual understanding between Israel and Palestine. However, in reality, that is just code for putting up a front of mutual respect, which does not exist in reality, to conceal the fatal flaws of the approach which is being taken by supposedly peace-building parties such as the UN to diffuse the situation.

Overall, the international coverage of the chaos and attacks at Al-Aqsa mosque, emphasizes the issues of misinformation and Western imperialist influence. The exact impact of the situations that periodically happen yearly in the Holy Month of Ramadan is rarely ever signified in articles and is often distorted through Western perception. Despite the public being aware of the issues and wrongdoings against Palestinians, the extent to which it has reached is not amplified or vocalized enough in mainstream media.

*This piece is co-written by members of the E-Board of Students for Justice in Palestine. Email them at feedback@thegazelle.org. *