The occupation imposes severe restrictions on the entry of West Bank Palestinians into Jerusalem and issues deportation decisions to Jerusalemite figures from the mosque (Al Jazeera)

Occupied Jerusalem

 - In a statement issued by his office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that entry of worshipers into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque will be available during the first week of the month of Ramadan, as was the case in past years.

This statement came after Netanyahu's meeting with all Israeli security forces, in which it was stated that the numbers of worshipers would be "as they were in previous years," adding that the situation would be assessed weekly in terms of security and safety aspects, and that decisions would be made accordingly.

Netanyahu did not clarify what was meant by the condition that Al-Aqsa was in during previous years or the numbers allowed to enter it. He also did not clarify the situation of West Bank Palestinians and whether they would be allowed to enter Jerusalem and pray at Al-Aqsa?

In general, the entry of worshipers into the mosque was not smooth in previous years, and included procedures and restrictions on the entry of worshipers and the storming of the mosque by settlers and occupation forces. Will the scene be repeated this year?

Netanyahu announced that entering Al-Aqsa during Ramadan will be like previous years, without providing clarifications (Al-Jazeera)

Restrictions and requirements

Returning to what was the case during the month of Ramadan last year (2023), the occupation authorities issued a decision days before its arrival regarding the entry of West Bank residents into Jerusalem to perform Friday prayers.

The decision stated at the time that women of all ages would be allowed to pass military checkpoints without obtaining special entry permits, and male children under the age of 12 would also be allowed to pass these checkpoints, as well as men over the age of 55.

While the occupation required men between the ages of 45 and 55 to obtain permits to pray, and prohibited entry to those younger than that.

On Fridays of Ramadan, hundreds of Palestinians coming from cities, villages and camps in the West Bank were prevented from crossing the military checkpoints leading to Jerusalem, claiming that there was a “security ban.”

As for the numbers of worshipers on Fridays in the month of Ramadan last year, according to data from the Islamic Endowments Department, they were as follows: First Friday: 100,000 worshipers.

Second Friday: 250 thousand worshipers.

Third Friday: 130 thousand worshipers.

Fourth Friday: 250 thousand worshipers.

Al-Aqsa Mosque was stormed several times and witnessed confrontations between the occupation and worshipers during Ramadan in recent years (Al-Jazeera)

Arrests and deportations

In addition to the restrictions imposed on worshipers before the advent of the month of Ramadan, a campaign of arrests and summonses was carried out against Jerusalemites and residents of the Palestinian interior in order to hand them orders to be removed from Al-Aqsa Mosque on the grounds that they “pose a danger and disturb public order.”

Despite the violations and attempts to prevent Palestinians from reaching the mosque, worshipers succeeded last year in opening the door to seclusion in Al-Aqsa on the first night of Ramadan, and they succeeded in seclusion for two nights in a row, but the occupation police stormed the Al-Qibli prayer hall and forced all those secluded to leave the mosque.

Then the worshipers succeeded in establishing this worship again before the last ten days, and they were met with smooth expulsion and intimidation. Then the Al-Qibli prayer hall was stormed on the night of the 14th and 15th of Ramadan, and everyone found in it was suppressed after direct targeting of the secluded people with rubber-coated bullets, gas and sound bombs, and batons, and 450 secluded people were arrested and injured at once. .

During the holy month, the occupation also renewed the battle of spatial division by targeting the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall through the occupation police storming it over the course of two days and sabotaging the electricity installations. This prompted the Council of Endowments, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places in Jerusalem to issue a statement about the attack on this prayer hall in which it denounced the violations, aggressive behavior and ongoing blatant interventions. By the occupation police, obstructing the reconstruction work of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and deliberately sabotaging the maintenance and restoration work carried out by the Islamic Endowments Department.

After brutally suppressing the secluded people, the occupation police paved the way for settlers’ storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the occasion of the Jewish Passover, and their number during the 5 days of celebrations reached 3,430 intruders. The secluded people responded to their incursion with vocal disturbances, takbeers, performing the Duha prayer in a group, and partially changing the extremists’ course.

Ramadan is our opportunity to break down the doors that we have closed in our condition and go down to Al-Aqsa, rebuild it and gather there.. Why?

Because gathering in Al-Aqsa during Ramadan is not only an act of worship... but rather: #Let us break the siege of Al-Aqsa #My_prayer_in_Al-Aqsa pic.twitter.com/LwQUOOPyjW

- Metras (@MetrasWebsite) March 5, 2024

“Demonizing” Ramadan!

Firas Al-Debs, a Jerusalemite journalist specializing in Al-Aqsa Mosque affairs, told Al Jazeera Net that the statements of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the exaggeration of the Hebrew media, and the ongoing attempts to “demonize” the month of Ramadan are what are fueling the situation in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He added that Muslims devote themselves during this month to worship, and arrive at Al-Aqsa Mosque individually and in groups for prayer, supplication, reading the Qur’an, and seclusion, not to engage in acts of violence, as Ben Gvir and the Israeli media claim.

Al-Debs pointed out that the statement from Netanyahu’s office came after great American and Arab pressure to prevent escalation of the situation and open a new front by obstructing the arrival of worshipers during the month of Ramadan to Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing the importance of not forgetting that the occupation has tightened its grip on this holy site since the seventh of last October. Significantly.

Since the start of the aggression against Gaza on October 7, the occupation has imposed strict measures, the severity of which has eased slightly in recent days, including preventing entry to the Old City for non-residents and preventing entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque for young age groups.

Al-Debs added, "The number of worshipers on Fridays decreased from 50,000 to 5,000, and entry to Al-Aqsa became subject to the whims of the officers and soldiers stationed at the gates, if the worshipers succeeded in reaching the doors of the mosque after crossing the checkpoints that are erected at the gates of the Old City."

Ramadan 2022 did not pass more smoothly, as the occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque after dawn prayers on a Friday, and attacked 30,000 worshipers, resulting in 158 injuries and the arrest of 476 secluded people inside the Al-Qibli prayer hall.

Throughout the month, the occupation police also tightened their procedures at the gates of the Old City and the first Qibla, and on most days prevented the entry of men under 40 years of age, and deliberately punished the worshipers collectively by throwing tear gas using a drone, and sniper teams were repeatedly deployed above the prayer hall. Al-Qibli, and on the roofs surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month.

Source: Al Jazeera