For the seventh consecutive day, the Israeli occupation authorities continued to close the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to worshipers, preventing them from performing the third Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan. Local sources confirmed that the occupation police informed the Islamic Endowments of the continued ban on prayer based on instructions from the Home Front, in an escalatory step not witnessed in the Holy City for many years.
The occupation forces began their repressive measures last Saturday morning, forcing worshipers and those in seclusion to leave the mosque courtyards under threat of arms. These restrictions included preventing the performance of evening and Taraweeh prayers throughout the past week, with intensive military reinforcements deployed in all alleys of the Old City and its main entrances.
In response to this ban, hundreds of Jerusalemites performed Friday prayers in the streets surrounding Bab Al-Amoud and in various neighborhoods of Jerusalem, expressing their adherence to their right to access their mosque. Camera lenses also captured Palestinian women performing prayers on the hills of the Mount of Olives overlooking the Dome of the Rock, in a scene that embodies the extent of deprivation imposed by the occupation.
This closure coincides with the imposition of a comprehensive security cordon on all governorates of the West Bank, following recent military developments and mutual attacks between Israel and Iran. It appears that the occupation seeks to exploit regional circumstances to impose a new reality in occupied Jerusalem, by reducing the Palestinian presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque to its lowest levels.
Historical records indicate that this is the fifth time Al-Aqsa has been closed on a Friday since the occupation of the city in 1967. Previous times were linked to major security events, such as the electronic gates uprising in 2017, or during periods of direct military aggression, which reflects the seriousness of the current stage and its repercussions on the existing situation.
In the city of Hebron, the situation was no better, as the occupation forces imposed strict restrictions on the entry of worshipers to the Ibrahimi Mosque. Official sources reported that the occupation allowed only 60 worshipers to enter, out of thousands who flocked from various villages and towns of Hebron to perform Friday prayers on this blessed day.
The director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Moataz Abu Suneineh, described these measures as a blatant assault on freedom of worship guaranteed by international conventions. He explained that thousands of citizens remained stranded at the military checkpoints and electronic gates surrounding the sanctuary, without being able to reach the mosque courtyard to perform religious rituals.
Abu Suneineh clarified that the Ibrahimi Mosque suffers from a systematic policy of tightening aimed at Judaizing it completely by controlling the number of worshipers and their entry times. He pointed out that the occupation exploits Islamic religious occasions to increase the pace of repression, in an attempt to impose absolute Israeli sovereignty over the sanctuary and change its pure Islamic identity.
Since 1994, the Ibrahimi Mosque has been subject to an unjust temporal and spatial division, with settlers controlling 63% of its area, while the remaining area is allocated to Muslims. This division came as punishment for worshipers after the horrific massacre carried out by an extremist settler, which led to the martyrdom of 29 Palestinians while prostrating in dawn prayer.
It is worth noting that the occupation does not allow the Ibrahimi Mosque to be fully opened to Muslims except for ten days throughout the year. These days include the Fridays of Ramadan, Laylat al-Qadr, and religious holidays, but the recent measures have proven that even these few days are now threatened with complete prohibition and closure under flimsy security pretexts.
What is happening today is a dangerous precedent that represents a blatant violation of freedom of worship and a direct infringement on the rituals of Islam during the holiest times.
شارك برأيك
For the seventh day.. The occupation continues to close Al-Aqsa and restricts prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque