Esplanade des Mosques: Palestinians fear the end of the “status quo”
Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine and Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
© Sami Boukhelifa/RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
After Israeli Interior Minister Ben Gvir's controversial visit to the Esplanade of the Mosques, a meeting of the UN Security Council was held on Wednesday evening in New York, in particular to discuss the "status quo", in under which only Muslims have the right to pray on the Esplanade.
But the Palestinians accuse Israel of wanting to change this state of affairs.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Sami Boukhelifa
Halfway between the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa, Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, contemplates the Esplanade of the Mosques.
A long black coat, a red hat surrounded by a white turban, he enjoys a peaceful afternoon before prayer.
But "
we must not rely on the apparent calm
", he explains, because here the struggle is permanent.
“
Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967, the Israelis have tried to impose their authority on the Esplanade of the Mosques.
I challenge them to achieve this.
The Palestinians are aware of the danger, they will prevent Israel from carrying out its plans,
he promises.
We call on the UN Security Council to condemn any attempt to change the status quo.
The Security Council must take the appropriate measures to protect the Esplanade of the Mosques
”.
“
Ben Gvir is a provocateur
”
Just before the prayer, Abdelatif el-Rifai performs his ablutions.
This retiree was there on Tuesday during
the visit of Minister Itamar Ben Gvir
, a Jewish supremacist from the far right, to the Esplanade.
“
Ben Gvir has come here several times.
This time he was surrounded by police.
He will end up making the situation escalate.
It will cause a catastrophe, and not only for the Palestinians, but for the Israelis as well.
He is a provocateur.
Except that here, the situation is explosive, and everyone will pay the price of destabilization
,” laments Sheikh Mohamed Hussein.
Israeli leaders regularly confirm their attachment to the
status quo
, according to which only Muslims have the right to pray on the Esplanade of the Mosques.
But in recent years, a growing number of Jews, close to the ideas of Itamar Ben Gvir, also come to pray there discreetly.
► To read also: Visit of Ben Gvir on the esplanade of the Mosques: what reaction from the Arab world?
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