JERUSALEM: Under a heavy police presence, tens of thousands of Muslims attended the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a gathering weighed down by the war in Gaza.
Old men leaning on canes, veiled women and smartly dressed children flowed through the gates of the Israeli-annexed Old City for the midday prayer, which unfolded peacefully, though some younger men were turned away by police conducting security checks.
“It’s random. They decide who they let in, who they don’t let in, and you don’t know why,” said Amjad Ghalib, a 44-year-old carpenter from the Mount of Olives who described relief at being granted access.
“I have to be honest, we are afraid,” he said, a prayer mat resting on his shoulder.
“It’s the first year I see so many forces (police), and their eyes, their look... Two years ago I could argue with them, but now... they’re giving us no chance.”
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam’s third holiest site and Judaism’s most sacred, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The site has been a flashpoint for violence during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in past years, and thousands of police officers were deployed on Friday, some of them heavily armed.
“There are so many soldiers. Wherever you go, you find them. They make it difficult,” said Ezzat Khouis, a 75-year-old tour guide, referring to the police.
“Why do they do this?... This is not good for us, not good for the future, for the peace and for the people to live together.”
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 31,490 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has flared to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to the health ministry in Ramallah.
Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 430 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, the ministry says.
For security reasons, Palestinians trying to access Al-Aqsa from the West Bank were expected to face some restrictions this year, police said in a statement earlier this week.
Only men aged 55 and over and women older than 50 would be allowed to enter the mosque compound from the territory, government spokesperson Ofir Gendelman said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that, despite the restrictions, worshippers would be allowed to enter the mosque “in similar numbers” to past years.
But those assurances meant little to some young men who were denied entry to the Old City on Friday.
“It’s unfair. When they refuse to let in young boys, it hurts me very, very much,” says Fida Absiya, who stood at the entrance to the Old City collecting money for orphans and the less fortunate.
“Since the first day of (the war) we knew that we would have very difficult days,” a man who declined to give his name told AFP.
Other West Bank worshippers were unable to reach Jerusalem, including Umm Al-Abd who attempted to cross at the Qalandia checkpoint to its north.
“In the past, I used to go (to Al-Aqsa) every Friday and I never missed (the prayers),” the 50-year-old woman said.
“Today they did not allow me to enter. I am sad. I will be sad all day.”
‘Difficult’ Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque
https://arab.news/mved4
‘Difficult’ Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque
- The site has been a flashpoint for violence during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in past years
- Thousands of police officers were deployed on Friday, some of them heavily armed
Syria’s Sharaa calls for united efforts to rebuild a year after Assad’s ouster
- Sharaa’s Islamist-led alliance launched a lightning offensive in late November last year, taking the capital Damascus on December 8
DAMASCUS: President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Monday urged Syrians to work together to rebuild their country, still marred by insecurity and divisions, as they marked a year since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.
The atmosphere in Damascus was jubilant as thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, AFP correspondents said, after mosques in the Old City began the day broadcasting celebratory prayers at dawn.
“What happened over the past year seems like a miracle,” said Iyad Burghol, 44, a doctor, citing developments including a warm welcome in Washington by President Donald Trump for Sharaa, a former jihadist who once had a US bounty on his head.
“People are demanding electricity, lower prices and higher salaries” after years of war and economic crisis, Burghol said.
“But the most important thing to me is civil peace, security and safety,” he added, taking a photo of people carrying a huge Syrian flag and sending it to his friends abroad.
Sharaa’s Islamist-led alliance launched a lightning offensive in late November last year, taking the capital Damascus on December 8 after nearly 14 years of war and putting an end to more than five decades of the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule.
Since then Sharaa has managed to restore Syria’s international standing and has won sanctions relief, but he faces major challenges in guaranteeing security, rebuilding crumbling institutions, regaining Syrians’ trust and keeping his fractured country united.
“The current phase requires the unification of efforts by all citizens to build a strong Syria, consolidate its stability, safeguard its sovereignty, and achieve a future befitting the sacrifices of its people,” Sharaa said following dawn prayers at Damascus’s famous Umayyad Mosque.
He was wearing military garb as he did when he entered the capital a year ago.
‘Heal deep divisions’
As part of the celebrations in Damascus, hundreds of military personnel marched down a major thoroughfare as helicopters flew overhead and people lined the streets to watch.
Sharaa and several ministers were in attendance, state media reported.
Monday’s events, including an expected speech by Sharaa, are the culmination of celebrations that began last month as Syrians began marking the start of last year’s lightning offensive.
Multi-confessional Syria’s fragile transition has been shaken this year by sectarian bloodshed in the country’s Alawite and Druze minority heartlands, alongside ongoing Israeli military operations.
In a statement, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “what lies ahead is far more than a political transition; it is the chance to rebuild shattered communities and heal deep divisions.”
“It is an opportunity to forge a nation where every Syrian — regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or political affiliation — can live securely, equally, and with dignity,” he said in the statement, urging international support.
On Sunday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which investigates international human rights law violations since the start of the war, warned the country’s transition was fragile and said that “cycles of vengeance and reprisal must be brought to an end.”
The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that control swathes of northeast Syria said Monday that “the next phase requires launching a real, inclusive dialogue... and establishing a new social contract that guarantees rights, freedoms and equality.”
The Kurdish administration in the northeast has announced a ban on public gatherings on Monday, citing security concerns, while also banning gunfire and fireworks.
Under a March deal, the Kurdish administration was to integrate its institutions into the central government by year-end, but progress has stalled.
On Saturday, a prominent Alawite spiritual leader in Syria urged members of his religious minority, to which the Assad family also belongs, to boycott the celebrations, in protest against the “oppressive” new authorities.
