Occupied Jerusalem
- The military occupation checkpoints did not prevent thousands of Palestinians, from different regions, from flocking and insisting on performing the dawn prayer in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque as part of the "Great Dawn" initiative called this week "The Dawn of Sheikh Jarrah".
In front of Bab Hutta, one of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, dozens of people were stuck because of the checkpoint that had been erected, and in front of it stood two soldiers who randomly asked the young men to show their personal identities.
With the voice of “God is great, God is great, there is no god but God.. God is great, God is great, praise be to God” collectively, the worshipers stuck in front of the door chanted the takbeer, and many were late in entering the mosque.
It was remarkable the youth attendance in the convoys coming from the Palestinian interior.
Although the occupation soldiers obstructed the entry of many young men, as soon as one of them succeeded in passing the checkpoint, he smiled broadly and jogged towards the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock.
Many of them were repeating, "God grant us victory over you. This occupation will not last long... Its demise is near. Picture me with the Dome of the Rock" on their way to the Qibli prayer hall where they perform prayers.
The occupation forces impede the flow of worshipers at dawn on Friday from Bab Hutta to Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Jazeera)
Emaar and initiatives
In front of the prayer hall, the poor and the rich are generous by offering various types of food to the worshipers, and these people only ask for prayers for the Prophet Muhammad “peace be upon him” or praying for mercy for their dead.
Among them is Umm Muhammad, who comes from the city of Umm al-Fahm in the Palestinian interior, who distributed "manaqeesh" pies and fenugreek sweets to the worshipers, and she told Al Jazeera Net that her body lives in Umm al-Fahm, but her soul flies in the precincts of Al-Aqsa Mosque around the clock.
She adds that she is in the mosque twice a week, "and I eagerly await their solutions to meet the worshipers and perform prayers here... The number of worshipers increases weekly at dawn on Friday" and today the attendance is greater in response to the call of the people of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
With great sadness, Umm Muhammad spoke about the pain felt by everyone watching the videos coming from the besieged Jerusalemite neighborhood, and she wishes she could direct all the buses after performing prayers in the blessed Al-Aqsa towards the neighborhood to support its people.
As for Al-Maqdisi Amin Hijazi, he said that the attendance at dawn today is remarkable, wishing the continuation of the "Great Dawn" initiative on the one hand, and the perseverance in mobilizing the Palestinians to support the people of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on the other hand.
Hijazi said: I believe that the only solution to install neighborhood residents in their homes that are threatened with eviction for the benefit of settlers is to be on the street.
sensitive stage
Not far from that, Jerusalemite activist Fakhri Abu Diab said that the occupation forces are watching with great importance the extent of the Palestinians' interaction with the burning issues in Jerusalem, and that they act based on the Jerusalemites' reaction to the events, and hence the importance of supporting Sheikh Jarrah's people at this particular stage.
Abu Diab praised the initiative for this week’s launch of the name “Fajr of Sheikh Jarrah,” stressing that defending Jerusalem’s neighborhoods whose residents are threatened by ethnic cleansing is a defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque against its ongoing attempts to Judaize it, because all these neighborhoods surround the mosque and are considered a safety valve for it.
The director of the Al-Aqsa Convoys initiative, Medellin Issa, spoke about a wide interaction with "the dawn of Sheikh Jarrah" (Al-Jazeera)
wide interaction
As for the director of the "Al-Aqsa Caravans" project, Madeleine Issa, she has been following for weeks the interaction of the Palestinians with the "Great Dawn" initiative, and said that dozens of buses set off at dawn on Friday towards the first of the two qiblahs.
Regarding the launch of the name "Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood" for this week's initiative, Madeleine said that as soon as this name was given to the dawn prayer, she was certain that the number of worshipers would be greater, because the issue of the neighborhood has been burning and interacting for a week.
In Issa's opinion, the people of the Palestinian interior and Jerusalemites are united in their hearts on this issue, and the influx of thousands of them to perform the dawn prayer carries two messages, the first "as reassurance to the people of Sheikh Jarrah that we are with them and we stand by them, and the second is for the occupation to tell it that these crowds are ready to support those threatened with eviction and forced displacement."