On the pretext of a military drill, Israeli forces temporarily closed a gate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday (14 July). The move disrupted worshippers’ entry, Palestinian authorities said. The Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian Authority said in a statement that Israeli forces had closed the gate.
Although only the King Faisal Gate was closed, extra security measures were also tightened at the mosque’s other entrances, obstructing worshippers’ normal entry. Israel’s security measures and restrictions around the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been rising steadily of late. Earlier this year, during the war with Iran, Israel closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque for an unprecedented 40 days on security grounds, barring Palestinian worshippers from Friday prayers, the night-time taraweeh prayers of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr prayers.
Palestinian officials sharply criticised that step, saying it was not a security need but an attempt to undermine the Islamic identity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and advance its “Judaisation.” In a report published earlier this month, the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said Israeli forces had raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound 26 times in June, and that in the same period 4,212 Israeli settlers had entered the compound under heavy police protection.
For several decades the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been run under an internationally recognised “status quo” arrangement, under which the entire 1,44,000-square-metre site is administered by the Islamic Waqf authority under Jordanian supervision. This includes the Dome of the Rock, the Qibli Mosque, the surrounding courtyards, gates and religious structures.
Under this arrangement, non-Muslims may visit the site at set times, but the right to pray there is reserved for Muslims alone, and the Waqf authority also handles the maintenance, administration and religious affairs of the site. Palestinians allege that Israel has been gradually weakening the “status quo” arrangement since it occupied East Jerusalem in 1967.
They say that, alongside imposing strict restrictions on worshippers, the Israeli presence in the Al-Aqsa compound has been increased. In recent months, they say, the Waqf authority’s powers have been further curtailed by limiting its maintenance work, cancelling staff permits and allowing Jews to pray there in defiance of a long-standing ban. In a report in May, Middle East Eye claimed that Israel and the United States were actively working to end Jordan’s historic custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, though Washington denied any such plan.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report