NYN | Articles
By Dr. Maysa Al-Masri
What you are about to read is not merely a political analysis, but rather a revelation of what is being prepared in secret files — the most dangerous plan against Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967: an American-Israeli project quietly advancing through Congress under the title of “Religious Freedom”, but with the true goal of burying the Wadi Araba Agreement and Jerusalem forever.
In the corridors of the U.S. Congress, a draft bill is being prepared that may be the most dangerous scheme Jerusalem has ever faced. What appears publicly as a call for equal freedom of worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is, in essence, a deliberate attempt to dismantle the existing status quo and undermine the Jordanian-Islamic custodianshipestablished under the 1994 Wadi Araba Peace Treaty. The bill, supported by a Republican faction loyal to the Israeli right, is led by Congress members Claudia Tenney and Clay Higgins, yet the fingerprints of Benjamin Netanyahu’s office are evident in every line of its text.
Take note: this initiative, which promotes the so-called right of the Jewish people to pray on the Temple Mount, is not symbolic. It marks the beginning of a broader plan, quietly transforming Jerusalem into a zone of absolute Israeli sovereignty. It is a soft political war, waged in the name of freedom but aimed precisely at erasing the last traces of official Arab presence in the city.
Netanyahu’s real goal has nothing to do with religion or equality — it is about political dominance. He seeks to strip Jordan of its political legitimacy, as the Hashemite custodianship remains the last obstacle to the full Judaization of Al-Aqsa. This custodianship, protected under international law, reminds the world that Jerusalem is not entirely Israeli, and that an Arab partner still oversees one of the region’s most sensitive sites. For Netanyahu, this represents a sovereignty loophole that must be closed at any cost — even if it means tearing apart a peace treaty that has lasted for three decades.
For years, Netanyahu has advanced this project in three coordinated stages:
Weakening the Islamic Waqf through security restrictions and reducing its authority.
Normalizing Jewish presence inside the compound through repeated incursions led by ministers and rabbis under police protection.
Legalizing that presence politically through the U.S. Congress under the banner of “religious freedom.”
This third stage — unfolding now — is the most dangerous, as it converts de facto control into de jure legitimacy, granting the occupation American and international legal cover.
So, what does Netanyahu really want?
He wants to resolve the Jerusalem issue before any future negotiations, imposing an irreversible reality — a “united Jerusalem” under full Israeli sovereignty. In doing so, he closes the door on any discussion of final status or East Jerusalem, effectively rendering the Wadi Araba Agreement meaningless and stripping Jordan of influence, reducing it to a silent neighbor with no power to object.
Behind these political objectives lie deeper and more perilous ambitions. Netanyahu, embattled at home and seeking a historic legacy to immortalize him in the memory of the religious right, aspires to be remembered as the man who restored the Temple Mount to the Jews. He wants to appear not merely as a political leader, but as a messianic figure, exploiting the unprecedented fusion between Israeli Zionism and American Evangelicalism.
The bill moving through Congress is, in part, a transnational religious-political alliance: Netanyahu offers the American Christian right the realization of its prophecy, while gaining divine justification for annexing the Al-Aqsa compound — and, in return, securing unwavering Republican support ahead of the next U.S. elections.
The language of the bill conceals a lethal political poison. It claims that Muslims enter the site through eleven gates while Jews and Christians use only one, creating the illusion of religious discrimination. But in truth, the aim is to invert the reality — transforming the compound from a purely Islamic sanctuary to a shared site, and eventually to a primarily Jewish site. Israel is not seeking equality — it seeks legitimacy for its occupation, wrapped in a deceptive humanitarian discourse, while the Arabs remain absent.
The most dangerous aspect of this move is its slow and calculated execution. Netanyahu does not want an open crisis; he wants to achieve his goals gradually — first, passing the bill as a symbolic gesture of support, then using it as a pretext to expand Israeli security control over the compound, and finally declaring that the new reality has succeeded in ensuring “security and religious freedom.” Thus, without firing a single shot, the occupation becomes legitimate sovereignty, and Arab custodianship fades into history.
The consequences could be catastrophic. Passing this bill would ignite an uncontrollable regional and religious conflict. Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank would see it as a declaration of war on their identity and on the soul of their city. Meanwhile, Israel would exploit any Arab protest to claim to the world: “We are defending freedom against Islamic extremism.”
It is a brilliant yet sinister strategy, designed to portray Israel as the victim while it steals the spiritual keys of the city.
The truth that no one in Washington or Tel Aviv wants to acknowledge is that this bill represents a blueprint for dismantling the last remnants of Arab and Islamic sovereignty in Jerusalem. It is a quiet coup against history, carried out in the name of tolerance but aimed at erasing every Arab trace from the Al-Aqsa compound.
This project may pass without major media attention — but on the day it becomes law, Jerusalem will never be the same again.
That day will mark the beginning of the phase Netanyahu has long dreamed of: complete sovereignty over the Holy Sanctuary.
It is a dangerous moment, one that transcends politics and threatens to alter the very spirit of a city that has always been the measure of justice on earth.
Dr. Maysa Al-Masri is a political writer from Jordan.
