Israel is set to keep Al-Aqsa Mosque closed through the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr and beyond, Middle East Eye has learnt. Sources familiar with the occupied East Jerusalem mosque’s affairs said Israeli authorities informed the Islamic Waqf, the body responsible for administering the site, of the decision in recent days.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, deemed one of the holiest sites in Islam, was closed by Israeli authorities earlier this month, citing the "security situation" amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. The unprecedented closure, particularly during the month of Ramadan, has been condemned by Palestinians as the latest attempt by Israel to exploit security tensions to impose further restrictions and consolidate control over Al-Aqsa.
This has been the first Ramadan since Israel seized East Jerusalem in 1967 that Palestinians have been unable to perform Friday prayers at the mosque.
Last week, eight Muslim-majority countries condemned the "unjustified" closure, saying Israel has "no sovereignty" over the revered site and must lift the restrictions immediately.
However, the closure has continued unchecked. Friday prayers and Ramadan night prayers remain banned, and Palestinians have been barred from reaching the site, with a heavy presence of Israeli forces in the Old City.
Since the closure, no more than 25 Waqf staff members have been allowed inside the vast mosque complex per shift. A source told MEE that Israeli authorities even rejected a request for an additional staff member from the manuscripts department to enter the site.
Police reportedly told the Waqf that if any additional employee were allowed in, Israeli settlers would be permitted to resume their daily incursions into the mosque.
The source added that Waqf officials suspect Israeli forces have also installed cameras inside prayer halls within Al-Aqsa Mosque, including inside the Dome of the Rock, enabling constant surveillance of the site.
Old City shutdown
The closure of the mosque has been accompanied by a near-total lockdown of the Old City, where Al-Aqsa Mosque and dozens of normally vibrant Palestinian-run markets are located.
Only residents of the Old City have been allowed inside since the war with Iran began, leaving the area deserted. Meanwhile, life has continued largely uninterrupted just meters away outside the Old City’s ancient walls.
Sunday was the Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night in the Islamic calendar. Israel deployed hundreds of police to block routes to the mosque, forcing worshippers to pray on the streets under the threat of violence.
"Closing the Old City in this manner has never happened before," said Dr Mustafa Abu Sway, a professor who teaches at Al-Aqsa Mosque and a member of the Islamic Waqf Council in Jerusalem. "There is an inconsistency when you compare what is happening inside the Old City with what is happening outside it, where people are moving freely, praying in mosques, and life in the city continues as normal."
Abu Sway added that if the concern were people's safety, worshippers could take shelter in the prayer halls beneath Al-Aqsa, which can accommodate thousands.
Aouni Bazbaz, director of international affairs at the Islamic Waqf, told MEE earlier this month that the closure has raised concerns about long-term change. "This has fueled fears that what is presented as a temporary measure could gradually become a permanent or semi-permanent arrangement, particularly if people become accustomed to the restrictions or if patterns of access to the site are altered," he said.
Al-Aqsa Mosque has been governed under a decades-long status quo, or international arrangement, preserving its religious status as an exclusively Islamic site. Under this status quo, the administration of the site, including control over access, falls to the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, the Jordanian-appointed religious endowment responsible for managing the mosque complex.
However, since Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinians say this arrangement has been gradually eroded through increasing restrictions on Muslim access while Jewish presence and Israeli control have expanded.
Palestinians have long alleged and complained Israel's control over East Jerusalem, including the Old City, violates several principles of international law, which stipulate that an occupying power has no sovereignty over the territory it occupies and cannot make permanent changes there.