OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Tens of thousands of Palestinians performed Friday prayer at Aqsa Mosque, arriving in large numbers from Occupied Jerusalem and Palestinian communities within the Green Line despite tightened restrictions and measures imposed by Israeli police forces on access to the Mosque.
Worshipers began arriving at the gates and courtyards of Aqsa early in the morning amid heightened Israeli security measures and a heavy deployment of police forces around the Old City and its entrances. The city of Tamra, in 1948 occupied Palestine, organized two buses to transport residents to Jerusalem to participate in the Friday prayer.
Israeli forces erected military checkpoints along roads leading to Aqsa, searched Palestinians, and inspected their identification documents, delaying many worshipers and preventing others from reaching the Mosque for prayer.
Friday prayer coincided with the Jewish holiday season, during which Israeli restrictions have been intensified around the entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City and the gates of Aqsa Mosque. The restrictions come amid increasing incursions by Israeli settlers into the mosque compound under the protection of occupation forces and attempts to impose new realities at the holy site.
In recent weeks, Palestinian and Jerusalemite calls have intensified for Muslims to travel to Aqsa, maintain a steadfast presence at the Mosque, and strengthen the Muslim presence there in response to Israeli measures restricting worshipers’ access and imposing tight controls on movement around the Mosque and the Old City.
The Aqsa Mosque has faced years of escalating Israeli incursions and restrictions on Palestinian worshipers, prompting repeated Palestinian warnings over the impact of these measures on the historical and legal status quo at the holy site.
The Aqsa Mosque is an exclusively Muslim place of worship encompassing approximately 144 dunums. The entire area within its walls, including its courtyards, prayer halls, and religious landmarks, forms part of the Mosque compound, amid continued Palestinian warnings over Israeli attempts to alter the character of the site and impose new realities there.
