Will key Ramadan dates be trouble-free at Al-Aqsa?

The month of Ramadan has a special flavor in Jerusalem, especially in the courtyards and mosques that make up Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which is home to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Whenever the term Al-Aqsa is used, most people fail to realize that the reference is to an entire area, clearly demarcated with gates, containing various institutions and places of worship.
This area’s most important place of worship is Masjid Al-Qibli, the silver-domed mosque at the northern end. Second in importance is the gold-covered Dome of the Rock. Because of its size and the number of worshippers, Masjid Al-Qibli is dedicated to male worshippers, whereas the Dome of the Rock is partly or entirely (depending on attendance) set aside for female worshippers. In addition, there is the Islamic Museum, other institutions and places of learning, plus the Bab Al-Rahmeh prayer halls.
In addition to buildings, the 144-dunam compound also contains large open spaces, which allow for the overflow of worshippers. This can fit as many as half a million worshippers. Friday prayers, especially during Ramadan, witness an ever-growing number of worshippers, often in the hundreds of thousands.
The Israeli occupation often tries to restrict attendance to Al-Aqsa, but on Fridays during Ramadan its security personnel cannot keep up with the huge crowds. The restrictions are therefore transferred to checkpoints at the various entrances to the holy city, from the north, east and south. Also, Israel at times tries to restrict entry to the Old City itself, forcing worshippers to pray at the nearest location to Al-Aqsa, meaning they are not able to listen to the Friday sermons.
Before the most recent Israeli elections in 2022, which brought far-right and racist leaders into government, Israel would keep all non-Muslims away from the holy mosque, even outside of praying hours. But following the ascension of Itamar Ben-Gvir to the post of national security minister, the insistence that Jews could visit the mosque grew, much to the anger and rejection of the Jordanian Waqf that administers the site. This year, with Ben-Gvir no longer a minister, the new police order is to restrict “visits” to smaller groups and only once a day.

The motivation for preventing worship is not security-related, but is rather revenge punishment against former prisoners. 

Daoud Kuttab

But while making some concessions, the Israeli government has also increased the number of Palestinians denied entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli police force has recommended and the courts have rubber-stamped orders denying tens of Palestinians the right to worship in their mosque for six months on undocumented allegations relating to security considerations. However, a closer look at those affected reveals that they include all Palestinian prisoners from Jerusalem that were recently released as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The absurdity of automatically considering every released Palestinian to be a security threat was exposed when the ban on worshipping in Al-Aqsa Mosque was extended to Khaled El-Halabi. El-Halabi, who served 20 years of a 28-year prison term, is a Palestinian Christian who would not normally participate in prayers at the Islamic shrine, thus proving that the motivation for preventing worship is not security-related, but is rather a revenge punishment against Palestinian former prisoners.
Despite these restrictions, which are a violation of the right to worship, it is expected that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, will worship during Ramadan. Of special interest, however, is what happens in the last 10 days of the holy month, when Muslims stay up all night at the mosque because it was on one of those days that the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad. Among those last 10 days, the 27th day of Ramadan is given special status. It is called Laylat Al-Qadr (the night of power), which is when the Holy Qur'an was revealed.
In previous years, Israeli security forces have physically tried to prevent worshippers from staying overnight on those days. It is unclear what will happen this Ramadan, however, as the region continues to suffer from a state of instability, which has kept people concerned about trouble being caused for the simplest of excuses to fulfill the wishes of radical politicians.

• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist. X: @daoudkuttab