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SvennoJ on 11 March 2024
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Everything Israel says, they do the opposite

Israeli police pushing Jerusalemites away from Al-Aqsa: Analyst

Firas al-Dibs, a specialist in the politics of Al-Aqsa Mosque, says Israeli police are waging a long campaign to prevent Palestinians from entering the compound that began even before Ramadan – and intensified after October 7.

“In the past few days, police issued orders to prevent many Palestinians from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and arrested many from their homes in addition to assaulting worshippers,” al-Dibs told Al Jazeera.

“There is also widespread police deployment throughout the city as well as an intense militarised presence in the alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City and continued settler incursions onto the compound – all as part of a systemic Israeli policy to rid the mosque of worshippers.”

Palestinians worried about restrictions at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan

Israeli authorities have said that they are not going to restrict the number of worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the first week [of Ramadan], but that this could change based on a weekly security assessment according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last night we saw there were restrictions. Many young men who were not able to enter outside ended up praying in Jerusalem’s Old City outskirts, some of them in the cemetery near Lions’ Gate. Now, this evening will be quite a testament to how the rest of Ramadan will go because Palestinians who we talked to are afraid of these types of restrictions.

They are afraid they’re not going to be able to go into Al-Aqsa for these nightly tarawih prayers that are only happening during Ramadan.

Heavy security presence near Al-Aqsa Mosque as thousands gather to pray

As Palestinian Muslims celebrate the first day of Ramadan, the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem has announced that 35,000 worshipers have gathered at Al-Aqsa mosque. As people gather at the mosque to pray, local sources are reporting that a large number of Israeli police are present at the Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem.

In addition, video verified by Al Jazeera shows the intrusive search of a young Palestinian man by Israeli police in the Bab al-Sharia area, near one of the gates of the Al-Aqsa compound.

Palestine foreign ministry condemns restrictions on Al-Aqsa Mosque

The ministry says in a statement that “continued aggression against Al-Aqsa is the shortest way to blow up the entire conflict arena and bring it into the furnace of a fire that is difficult to control”. The ministry also calls for “urgent and serious international intervention” to stop Israeli moves against holy religious sites.