The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs said on Sunday that Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque 27 times during December, under the protection of the occupation forces, as part of a policy aimed at normalizing the Jewish religious presence inside the mosque, including performing collective Talmudic prayers.
She added that "the eastern part of the mosque, near the Bab al-Rahma prayer area, has become the main destination for settler prayers." She also noted that "settlers held noisy celebrations in the Western Wall plaza, west of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, coinciding with the start of the Hebrew month of Hanukkah."
She added that the occupation prevented the call to prayer 53 times at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, and closed gates and prevented employees from performing their duties, while settlers organized provocative activities inside the sections they control.
The Ibrahimi Mosque is located in the city of Hebron, specifically in the Old City, which is under full Israeli control, where about 400 settlers live, guarded by about 1,500 Israeli soldiers.
In 1994, the Israeli occupation divided the mosque, allocating 63 percent to Jews and 37 percent to Muslims, following a massacre committed by a Jewish settler that resulted in the killing of 29 Palestinian worshippers. The prayer room is located in the section designated for Jews.
In the same context, the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported that the new Israeli police commander in Jerusalem, Avshalom Peled, officially assumed his duties before the month of Ramadan, in a move aimed at implementing the directives of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to change the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The newspaper pointed to a clear erosion of the status quo, with settler incursions escalating and religious rituals being performed publicly inside the sanctuary, amid a decline in police intervention to prevent these violations.
She added that Peled "will be tested in how he deals with violations of the status quo at the Temple Mount, and Ben-Gvir's efforts to escalate tensions with Arabs in Israel," noting that Ben-Gvir succeeded, after "strenuous efforts," in removing the former Jerusalem police chief, Amir Arzani, "who refused to allow radical changes at the Temple Mount."
Arzani refused to allow Ben-Gvir to treat the Temple Mount as if it were his home in the Kiryat Arba settlement in the southern occupied West Bank, according to the newspaper. It continued: "Beled is taking over the Jerusalem police command at a very sensitive time: Ramadan, which is always tense, begins in mid-February, but this year it seems Ben-Gvir is doing everything he can to inflame the situation."
The newspaper explained that the Temple Mount has "clearly changed," as "the status quo has eroded," and the number of Israeli settlers storming it has increased.
The status quo at Al-Aqsa is the one that prevailed before Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, according to which the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, is responsible for managing the affairs of the mosque.
But in 2003, the Israeli authorities changed thissituation by allowing settlers to storm Al-Aqsa, while the Waqf Department demands that the incursions be stopped.
Haaretz reported, "Temple Mount activists, including Ben-Gvir's wife, succeeded in influencing the Jerusalem police, and over time they undermined the measures agreed upon between Israel, Jordan, and the Islamic Waqf (Ministry)."
Since taking office in December 2022, Ben-Gvir, the leader of the far-right "Jewish Power" party, has stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound more than once, sparking a wave of international criticism.
In a related development, the Israeli occupation court postponed on Sunday the trial of Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith to January 20, on the pretext of his violation of previous military orders, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Since taking office in 2018, Ghaith has faced a series of arbitrary measures, including house arrest, restrictions on movement, and being prevented from communicating with dozens of Palestinian figures, in what Palestinian authorities describe as attempts to isolate him from the political and national scene in occupied Jerusalem.
