Status: 03/22/2023 10:32 a.m
Tomorrow begins the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan – there will be more pilgrimages to the Temple Mount. The Israeli police want to significantly increase their presence in Jerusalem.
When the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins, a special time begins in Jerusalem. The main focus is on the place that Muslims call Haram al-Sharif and the Jews call the Temple Mount.
According to the status quo, only Muslims come here to pray. The Ramadan holiday in particular will attract many believers. Haram al-Sharif with the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
Omar Youssef is a city planner and expert on Jerusalem. He fears turbulent weeks, especially around the important Friday prayer: “Fridays in Ramadan are a special day. You have tens of thousands there, it can be up to half a million.”
The Al-Aqsa Mosque will be full, people are praying outside. “And it’s such a spiritual mood. And if the Israeli provocations start now, you don’t know what will happen to these masses. And that’s what’s dangerous,” says the city planner.
The Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock (seen in the picture) and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is a holy place for Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Image: dpa
2000 additional security guards
By “provocations” Youssef means possible security restrictions. Because of the many pilgrims expected, around 2,000 additional security forces will be on duty in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.
Not all Muslims can come: Only men over the age of 55, women and children up to the age of twelve do not need a permit – everyone else does. Pilgrims in recent years have reported lengthy security checks and sometimes humiliating scenes at the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem.
Omar Al-Kiswani, the director of the Al Aqsa Mosque, expects large crowds in Jerusalem during Ramadan.
Image: ARD Studio Tel Aviv / Jan-Christoph Kitzler
“If the police and military provoke, that will create tension”
Omar Al-Kiswani, director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, anticipates ever-increasing crowds, especially towards the end of Ramadan:
If they militarize Jerusalem and stop people from reaching Al-Aqsa, that will create more tension. If they let people come to pray – without these provocations – then no. What they do will have an effect on people’s behavior. Especially when the police and the military provoke, that will create tension.
It is particularly problematic this year that two other important festivals of the major religious communities coincide with Ramadan this year: the Jewish Passover festival begins on April 5 and lasts eight days. Easter is on April 9th. That means: many visitors in Jerusalem in a very small space.
Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi in charge of the Wailing Wall, organizes the ever-increasing stream of visitors to the Temple Mount.
Image: ARD Studio Tel Aviv / Jan-Christoph Kitzler
More and more believing Jews want to go to the Temple Mount
The mountain on which the first and second temples once stood is also a holy place for the Jews. So sacred that Shmuel Rabinovitch would never enter it. Rabinovitch is the rabbi in charge of the Wailing Wall. He organizes ever larger streams of visitors to the holiest place in Judaism.
Ten years ago there were still four million a year, now there are twelve million. More and more believing Jews also want to go to the Temple Mount. Rabinovitch knows that extremists in particular have repeatedly provoked:
We cannot allow any extremist group to take matters into their own hands. We must urge leaders on both sides to remain calm. This is a problem all over the world. Extremists want to set fire. And that’s not good for the community. We must not allow that.
If all goes well, Haram al-Sharif, the Temple Mount, will be completely closed to non-Jewish visitors for the last ten days of Ramadan. But the tense situation in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians could certainly erupt in Jerusalem at any time. The city faces difficult weeks.