Tensions are high near the Temple Mount/ Haram Al Sharif after the riots and terrorist attacks this past weekend. The recent escalation began after three terrorists killed Israeli policemen outside the Temple Mount/ Haram Al Sharif over a week ago. Israel responded with new security measures. The Sheikh Yousef Abu Snaineh, Imam and Preacher of Al Aqsa Mosque, rejected the security measures and is calling for a “return to the status quo”.
The briefing discussed the meaning, importance, and development of the “Status Quo” with:
Ambassador Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs He participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. He served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israel’s ambassador to Canada.
Professor Yitzhak Reiter, expert on conflict resolution in holy places, expert on conflict resolution in holy places. Yitzhak Reiter is a professor of Middle East, Israel and Islamic Studies. He chairs the Department of Land-of-Israel Studies at Ashkelon Academic College and is a senior researcher at both the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Harry S. Truman Institute for Peace Research of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Reiter served as deputy advisor on Arab Affairs for three Israeli Prime Ministers (Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres). In 2006 he advised the Israel Council for National Security regarding the policy of integrating the Arab minority.
