The last ten days of Ramadan confirmed the Palestinians’ strong adherence to the Aqsa Mosque and their rejection of the new de facto situation that the Israeli occupation works to impose.
Israel was not satisfied with the Palestinians’ strong defense of the Aqsa during the last ten blessed days of the holy month that witnessed unprecedented numbers of worshipers performing I’tikaaf (religious retreat). Thus the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) decided to step up its attacks on the Aqsa Mosque after Ramadan.
In a raid on Bab Al-Rahma prayer hall during Eid al-Fitr Israeli police forces damaged the hall’s equipment and cut off the electricity supply.
The hall’s prayer items were completely destroyed by the Israeli forces according to the Jerusalemite worshiper Um Bilal Abu Sneina who spoke to a PIC reporter.
“There was massive destruction that took place aimed at seizing control of Bab Al-Rahma. The occupation soldiers cut the electricity wires and violated its sanctity” she said.
She added that the Israeli police used the end of Ramadan as an opportunity to impose a new de facto situation on the area.
The researcher in Jerusalem affairs Khaled Odehallah confirmed that the IOA is waging a “fierce battle” in Occupied Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque under the title Bab Al-Rahma prayer hall.
Odehallah explained to the PIC reporter that the IOA is attempting to seize control of the prayer area after failing to do so in 2019.
According to Odehallah the IOA plan to impose a temporal and spatial division of the holy shrine includes separating the Bab al-Rahma prayer area from the Aqsa Mosque.
“This plan had its origins in the Israeli assaults on Palestinian worshipers during the holy month of Ramadan” he continued.
The Jerusalemite researcher further pointed out that the IOA has recently intensified its Judaization plans at the Aqsa Mosque.
“Israel is keen to limit the battle within the Aqsa walls as the odds will be in its favor” he told the PIC reporter.
According to the status quo reaffirmed in 1967 between Israel and Jordan the holy compound is administered by the Islamic Waqf endowment seated in Jordan. Non-Muslims can visit the site but cannot pray there.
Israel closed Bab al-Rahma in 2003 alleging the site was being used by members of the outlawed Islamic Movement in Israel Northern Branch for political activities an allegation denied by the Islamic Waqf.
Palestinians were able to open the Bab Al-Rahma prayer hall in February 2019 after it was closed by the IOA for 16 years.
Reportedly days after the gate was reopened an Israeli court ruled that several Palestinians arrested for praying at the site are not guilty of any crime as the structure no longer belongs to an alleged “terror organization” but to the Waqf.
Bab al-Rahma’s closure for 16 years under the claim of a court order turned out to be false.
