Israel is taking advantage of the war on Gaza to exert control over the al-Aqsa compound and keep Palestinians out.
Palestinians perform Friday prayer on the street due to Israeli police turning away Palestinian young people from the checkpoints set up around Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, on March 8, 2024.The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which lies in the heart of occupied East Jerusalem and is one of Islam’s holiest sites, is typically bustling with worshippers from Palestine and around the world. In Ramadan and the days leading up to the Muslim holy month, the compound practically spills over with people.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, has, in recent weeks, doubled down on his demands to drastically limit the number of Muslim worshipers at the site, including limitations on Palestinian citizens of Israel, and residents of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Wasim Obeidat, another resident of Jabal al-Mukabbir, was also summoned to the al-Qishleh police station on February 27 to sign a commitment not to enter the Mosque during the Holy month. The 20-year-old was issued a 6-month ban last year for refusing police orders to leave the Mosque after the conclusion of prayers.
And while Israel maintains that it does not impede Palestinians’ right to worship at their holy places, Israeli police maintain a permanent presence around the Old City and at the gates of the Mosque, where they routinely subject Palestinians to arbitrary stops and searches. Israeli police stationed at the gates of the Mosque occasionally ban, at their discretion, Palestinians from entering.
Safadi suspects he is being tracked by smart cameras, which alert police officers at the gates of the Mosque of his presence. “No country in the world conditions entry to the holy places on age. Only the occupation authorities specify age as a requirement for entry, and this practice carries a lot of injustice and has deprived hundreds of thousands of Muslims from praying at the al-Aqsa”, Sheikh Sabri toldSabri, a leading religious figure in Palestine, has repeatedly maintained that the al-Aqsa Mosque is exclusively Muslim, opposing Jewish claims over the site.
However, Jordan’s custodianship over the site is largely symbolic, with the primary modes of control and power over the site lying in the hands of Israeli authorities. In 2021, Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war over Israeli provocations at al-Aqsa, and settler attempts to take over Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
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