In what is now the standard version of the two-state solution, a newly created Palestinian state would have as its eastern border the Jordan River. But such an outcome would pose a serious threat to regional stability—a fact behind Israel’s plans to extend its sovereignty to this strip of land. Yaacov Ayish explains:

While many in the West seem to think the current fighting in Israel is about housing policy, or human rights, or the selective blockade of the Gaza Strip, the rhetoric of Palestinian leaders and on Palestinian social media makes clear that it is in fact about al-Aqsa mosque. This should come as no surprise: fabricated claims that “al-Aqsa is in danger” have been used to provoke anti-Jewish violence for a hundred years. In this particular case, explains Haviv Rettig Gur, both Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party exploited the claim in their rivalry for Palestinian hearts and minds: