‘The saddest day for Muslim worshippers in Jerusalem’: al-Aqsa mosque closed at Eid | Eid al-Fitr
FOr for the first time since 1967, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, will be closed at the end of Ramadan on Friday. Tensions are rising among Palestinians as Israeli authorities keep the mosque closed and force worshipers to hold Eid prayers as close to the indoor area as possible.
On Friday morning, hundreds of worshipers were forced to pray outside the Old City as Israeli police barricaded the entrances to the site.
Due to security concerns about the US-Israeli war against Iran, Israeli authorities took effective action on February 28. Mosque complex in Jerusalem closed For most Muslims who pray during Ramadan. Authorities framed the move as a security measure linked to the escalating conflict with Iran, prompting thousands of Palestinians to gather and pray. instead outside the gates of the Old City.
But Palestinians say the move is part of a broader Israeli strategy to take advantage of security tensions to tighten restrictions and consolidate control over the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, which includes the seventh-century Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine. According to Jews, this is the Temple Mount with the first temple and the second temple, dating from the 10th century BC, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
“Tomorrow will be the saddest day for Muslim worshipers in Jerusalem,” Hazen Bulbul, a 48-year-old Jerusalemite who has been celebrating the end of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque since she was a child, told the Guardian. “What I fear is that this will set a dangerous precedent. This may be the first time, but probably not the last. Israeli interference in the holy city has been increasing since October 7.” [2023].”
In recent months, there has been a sharp increase in arrests of Palestinian worshipers and religious officials in the Old City, along with repeated raids on the complex by Israeli settlers. Police detained individuals in the mosque area, including during prayer times, and restricted access to many Palestinians seeking to enter the mosque.
Sheikh Ikrime Sabri, the Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher and former grand mufti of Jerusalem, issued a religious decree encouraging Muslims. Performing the Eid prayer at the closest point to the mosque. With a heavy security presence in the Old City’s side streets and Israeli forces searching and confronting residents, many fear tensions over the closure of the mosque on the last day of Ramadan could escalate into clashes with police.
The closure was condemned by the Arab League, which called it a “blatant violation of international law” and said it risked undermining freedom of worship and increasing tensions across the region.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the League of Arab States and the African Union Commission stated that they strongly condemn the closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim prayers “especially in the holy month of Ramadan”.
In a joint statementThe statement said that the closure “means a serious violation of the existing historical and legal status quo in the Islamic and Christian holy places in the occupied city of Jerusalem, an attack on the established religious rights and heritage of the Islamic nation, a provocation against the feelings of Muslims worldwide and a violation of the freedom of worship and the sanctity of the holy places.”
The statement states that Israel, the occupying power, “takes full responsibility for the consequences of these illegal and provocative measures.” The report also states that their continuation “marks an escalation of violence and tension and threatens to undermine regional and international peace and security.”
Halil Assali, Director of the Media Unit of the Rector’s Office of the University of Jerusalem, said that the closure of the mosque was “a disaster for the Palestinians”.
“When the Israelis see Palestinian young people trying to pray at the point closest to the Masjid al-Aqsa, they run after them and throw them out while they are praying.”
Sorrow and joy in the ruins of Gaza
Meanwhile, a deepening humanitarian crisis continues in Gaza, overshadowed by a broader war. While hundreds of thousands of Muslims prepare to celebrate the end of Ramadan among the ruins of devastated cities, Israeli bombardments do not stop, albeit occasionally.
Gaza experiences Eid al-Adha as a place of stark contrasts—sorrow and temporary joy, hunger and celebration, grief and the fragile endurance of daily life—where the sounds of bombardment now merge with the sounds that mark the end of Ramadan.
“The joy of Eid is missing,” said 32-year-old Sadeeqa Omar, a mother of two who was sent to Deir al-Balah from northern Gaza. “We all carry our own burden. Some of us lost our homes, some of us lost their families. As for me, my wife is away and cannot return to Gaza because the crossings are closed. Still, we try to fulfill our religious teachings that encourage the joy of Eid as much as we can.”
“We were expelled from Al Qararah during Ramadan, in the first year of the war,” said Alaa Al-Farra, 49, who lives in Khan Younis. “This holiday will not be much different from previous holidays, as our movements are limited due to sudden air attacks every day.”
After months of war, vestiges of tradition cautiously returned. In the crowded camps, the smell of kaek and maamoul pastries wafted from makeshift ovens filled with leftovers as families tried to recreate rituals many children had never known. The markets were ablaze with sweets and colors, but remained inaccessible to most; hands hovered in the air, then retracted, as parents settled for the smallest of treats to provide a momentary sense of festivity.
On Thursday, for the first time since Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran, the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza was reopened and some UN convoys were allowed to enter. But the joy of the holiday is felt unequally.
“Of course there is a feeling of relative security after the ceasefire, but that is not enough,” said Kholoud Baba, 42, from Gaza City. “Just last week, an area near our home in Western Gaza was evacuated in preparation for an airstrike. This happened close to iftar time, and the displaced people had to leave the area without taking anything with them.”
Behind the subdued celebrations lies a landscape of loss: mothers mourning their children killed in the recent strikes, and others who celebrate the holiday in silence, stripped of their rituals, continuing the holiday with nothing but memory.
