Despite Israeli restrictions, many Palestinians find it difficult to reach Al Aqsa
As the sermon on the Islamic holy month of Ramadan played over the loudspeakers of the Al Aqsa Mosque, 13-year-old Yousef al-Sideeq sat on a bench outside the gate of the complex.
“Most Fridays they prevent me from coming in for no reason,” the young Jerusalem resident said, referring to Israeli police.
Every Friday Yousef visits Jerusalem’s Old City to pray at Al Aqsa, the third holiest site for Muslims and part of the shrine sacred to the Jewish people, who call it the Temple Mount. But since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza, heavily armed Israeli police forces, which guard many of the Old City’s gates, have prevented him from entering the complex, he said.
He only managed to get in twice.
Muslim access to the mosque has long been a point of contention as Israel has exerted tighter control over the complex in recent years, one of many restrictions endured by Palestinians living under decades of Israeli occupation.
As Ramadan begins, many also fear any additional restrictions Israel might impose on the religious site, which can draw 200,000 people in a single day, not only from Jerusalem but also from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel as a whole .
Israeli police said people “entered following stricter security checks that are being implemented due to the current reality, in addition to efforts to prevent disturbances.” But they did not answer specific questions about whether there was a policy banning certain worshipers, especially young men, from entering the mosque on Fridays.
They said they were “maintaining a balance between freedom of worship and the need to ensure safety.”
Late on Sunday, Palestinian and Israeli news media reported that police officers prevented many Palestinians from entering Al Aqsa to perform prayers for the start of Ramadan. Both media quoted a video whereupon officers chased and beat several Palestinians with batons.
Israel has said there has been no change to the status quo, which allows only Muslims to worship at the compound. The site is revered by Jews as the site of two ancient temples, and by Muslims as the Noble Shrine, the complex containing the Al Aqsa Mosque and other important Muslim prayer areas. The complex includes the Dome of the Rock, a golden-domed prayer hall.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City and the Aqsa complex, from Jordan in 1967 and later annexed it. Much of the world considers it occupied territory and does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
Many Palestinians say their access to the Al Aqsa complex has become increasingly limited in favor of Jews, who consider the Temple Mount the most sacred site in Judaism.
Incidents at the compound have sometimes sparked broader conflicts. The second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, began in 2000 when Ariel Sharon, who later became Prime Minister of Israel, visited Al Aqsa surrounded by hundreds of police officers. Confrontations at the compound in May 2021 contributed to the outbreak of an eleven-day war between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that has controlled Gaza for years, called the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel Al Aqsa Flood and said it was partly a response to “Judaization plans” at the mosque.
According to Israeli authorities, the attack killed around 1,200 people and took around 200 hostage. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attack on Gaza in the war against Hamas, according to health officials in Gaza.
In recent years, Jewish worshipers have prayed at the Aqsa complex. The most extreme are trying to build a third Jewish temple on the site of the Dome of the Rock.
Some of the most provocative events include the raids on the Aqsa complex by baton-wielding police who fired tear gas and sponge bullets and clashed with Palestinians who threw rocks and set off fireworks.
“The Al Aqsa Flood came in response to the settlers’ violations of Al Aqsa,” said Walid Kilani, a Hamas spokesman in Lebanon, referring to Jewish worshippers.
Israeli police officers “stormed the mosque and insulted Muslim prayers there,” he added. “We had to take revenge because Al Aqsa is our holy place and mentioned in the Quran.”
In the first weeks of the war, only Muslims aged 60 and over were allowed in, said Mohammad al-Ashhab, a spokesman for the Waqf – an Islamic trust that manages the mosque and is financed and controlled by Jordan.
Attendance at Friday prayers, a holy day for Muslims, fell from 50,000 to just 1,000, he said.
Although the situation has improved since then, he said, many Muslims are still unable to attend.
Many Palestinians fear for the future of Al Aqsa, especially now that Israel’s most right-wing government ever is in power.
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it had decided not to impose new restrictions on Al Aqsa during Ramadan and would allow a similar number of worshipers as in previous years.
In addition to long-standing Israeli restrictions on Muslims coming from the occupied West Bank, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right National Security Minister, had called on the government to impose restrictions on Palestinian citizens of Israel this year.
Still, the ambiguous language of the Israeli government’s decision worries some. Human rights groups fear that freedom of worship could be restricted under the guise of safety and security.
“Netanyahu’s statement does not actually guarantee full freedom of access for Muslims to Al Aqsa, but rather conditions it based on security and safety needs,” Ir Amim, an Israeli rights group focused on Jerusalem, said in a statement in response of the decision. “This could in turn lead to a decision to ultimately apply collective entry restrictions during Ramadan.”
“Our freedom of worship has deteriorated,” Mr al-Ashhab said.
To reach the grounds of the Al Aqsa Mosque on Friday, Muslim worshipers had to pass through at least three layers of police barricades, where authorities denied people entry, checked IDs or searched bags. Many arrived with prayer rugs in hand.
AbdulAziz Sbeitan, 30, rushed through a Muslim cemetery on the edge of the Old City after turning away from the Lion’s Gate, one of seven entrances to the historic district. He was on the phone with friends who were trying to get in through another gate.
The Jerusalem resident has always attended Friday prayers in Al Aqsa, but he has not attended once since October 7. Every Friday he tries multiple ports.
Sometimes he accompanies an older woman or young girls in an attempt to get through, but each time the police push him back, he says.
“It is a house of God and the house of our ancestors,” Mr. Sbeitan said as he walked quickly toward Herod’s Gate. “As Muslims it is important; Al Aqsa is for Muslims.”
When he arrived at Herod’s Gate, he saw many young men being turned away, in some cases forcibly pushed by the police.
Mr. Sbeitan swore under his breath as he lit a cigarette and watched. Around him, other young men offered advice and, in some cases, encouragement.
“Come on, let’s try another gate,” someone said to his friend.
“Guys, we’ve tried all the gates, but they won’t let you in,” another man told them. “They let us in once, and once we got inside the gate, they pushed us out again.”
He said Israeli police told him young men were not allowed inside. Like many others, the man, a 28-year-old Jerusalemite, did not want to give his name for fear of retaliation by police.
It wasn’t just young single men who were excluded. Fathers with small children and some women were also rejected.
“It’s all according to their whims,” said one woman as she walked away after being prevented from entering through the Lion’s Gate.
As the call to prayer sounded inside Al Aqsa, 13-year-old Yousef joined an impromptu gathering of dozens of young men who were unable to enter.
In recent weeks, those who could not pray inside Al Aqsa gathered in the streets and held their own sermons and prayers. But things seemed even more difficult on Friday when Israeli police pushed them away from the Lion’s Gate and further outside the walls of the Old City.
Undeterred, one man began the call to prayer, sometimes barely audible over the sound of sirens and horns along the street, passing buses and the shouting of police.
Soon another man stepped onto a stone barrier on the sidewalk and began to deliver a ready-made sermon.
“Shall we not liberate Palestine?” said the man, whose name was only Yousef, fearing retaliation despite the risk he had already taken by leading a sermon.
When he finished, more heavily armed police officers stepped out of two vehicles.
The man seemed unfazed. He then led dozens — mostly teenagers and men in their 20s and 30s — in prayer on a busy Jerusalem sidewalk surrounded by two churches and the Tomb of the Virgin. The golden Dome of the Rock, the center of the Aqsa complex, was barely visible above the ancient city walls.
Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting from London.