A number of Israeli settlement and Judaization movements organized a campaign to use the electoral battle and build a Jewish temple (Synagogue) on one of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s entrances. These movements demanded that the government allow them to hold mass demonstrations to raise this demand in a broad manner and shut the Golden Gate area, known by the Muslims as the Bab al-Rahma, which was opened by Jerusalem citizens. A government spokesman announced his support for the decision to reshut Bab al-Rahma gate and did not object to the idea of building a temple nor did he approve. Meanwhile, he boasted of the governments activities to Judaize Jerusalem and curb what he called Palestinian terrorism. On the other hand, political sources said the Israeli army warned the government of the possibility of tension escalation in the West Bank. They said this is due to the decisions taken by the government in light of Knesset’s general elections, especially as the economic situation has been worsened in the occupied territories. In the context of Israeli decisions that would lead to an escalation, the army pointed to the decision to deduct 500,000 shekels from the tax revenues of the Palestinian Authority, claiming to pay salaries for prisoners and martyrs’ families. It stressed that the decision was driven by partisan political motives related to the Knesset elections. Israeli security services believe that the Palestinian Authority will not stop paying the salaries of the prisoners and that the suspension of these salaries would provoke a curse among the prisoners and could blow up the situation in prisons, igniting the Palestinian street. Sources in the security services said that there are other reasons that could lead to an escalation in the West Bank, including changing the Palestinian leadership. “The current leadership is weak and refrains from taking concrete steps against Israel,” one of the sources said, adding that this led to a “confidence crisis” with West Bank residents.