Could Ibrahimi Mosque’s scenario Echo at Al-Aqsa?

Since the occupation of the city of Hebron in June 1967, the "Israeli" occupation has taken the Ibrahimi Mosque as a central target in its Judaization project, due to its religious and historical status in the Islamic consciousness, and its deep symbolism in Palestinian history.

While most mosques in the West Bank were subject to traditional Zionist military administration, the occupation took a special path toward the Ibrahimi Mosque. The "Israeli" army's chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren, stormed it immediately after the occupation forces entered Hebron, closed its doors, and performed Jewish religious rituals inside, declaring that the place had historical Jewish rights.

What took decades to implement in the Ibrahimi Mosque is being carried out in Al-Aqsa within a few short years!

Since then, the policy of 'temporal division' began by granting Jews the right to enter and pray at specific times. Initially, this was limited to certain Jewish holidays, but it gradually expanded to become a near-daily occurrence. Due to the lack of effective Arab and Islamic reactions, this presence became entrenched and a de facto reality.

In the following decades, 'Israeli' measures continued to strengthen control, including imposing strict security restrictions on Muslim worshippers' entry, closing surrounding markets, and installing electronic gates and surveillance cameras. This culminated in a pivotal incident on February 25, 1994, when the settler Baruch Goldstein carried out a massacre against Muslim worshippers during dawn prayers in Ramadan, resulting in the martyrdom of 29 people.

The Ibrahimi Mosque... and Spatial Division

This crime was not met with a ban on settlers from entering the mosque. Instead, it was used as a pretext to officially impose a 'spatial division,' where the Israeli Shamgar Commission recommended dividing the mosque into two parts: 63% for Jews and 37% for Muslims, with the mosque closed to Muslims on Jewish holidays.

Repeating the 'Ibrahimi Mosque' scenario at 'Al-Aqsa' opens the door to a widespread religious and political confrontation.

In the following years, the occupation authorities imposed more changes, introducing construction equipment and infrastructure projects under the pretext of security and service development, such as excavations, and the installation of an elevator and alarm systems. These steps were viewed by Palestinians as part of a comprehensive Judaization process.

In 2010, the Netanyahu government included the Ibrahimi Mosque on its 'Jewish heritage list,' transforming its name and legal status to allow it to be considered a synagogue open to Muslims at specific times, instead of a mosque that Jews were exceptionally permitted to enter.

And 15 years after that decision, in July 2025, the 'Israeli' government announced the withdrawal of the mosque's administration from the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and the Hebron municipality, and its transfer to the religious council of the Kiryat Arba settlement. With this, the final links of full control over the site—administratively, security-wise, and religiously—were completed.

This long experience at the Ibrahimi Mosque, extending over nearly six decades, raises a pressing question: Is the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque heading down the same path, but at a much faster pace?!

Anyone who has followed the events at Al-Aqsa Mosque since 2015 will notice a clear similarity in the steps taken. The 'Israeli' authorities began to impose an undeclared temporal division by organizing daily incursions for settlers under police protection and restricting the entry of Muslim worshippers, especially during morning hours. They also evacuate the mosque's courtyards of Palestinians before these incursions. Over time, these incursions gained increasing political cover from far-right parties to the point where they have become a familiar daily scene in news coverage.

In mid-2023, Likud party member Amit Halevi proposed a plan for the spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque, allocating a section of its courtyards for the establishment of a permanent Jewish synagogue, granting Jews the right to pray there year-round. This proposal found public support from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who seeks to accelerate the steps, in competition with his colleague, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is known for his role in the project of annexing the West Bank.

Field measures

The similarity between the two cases is not limited to statements; it extends to field measures. In Hebron, the call to prayer was prevented dozens of times each month at the Ibrahimi Mosque. At Al-Aqsa, scenes of closing gates, evacuating worshippers, and allowing settlers to perform public rituals are repeated. On some occasions, these rituals included singing, dancing, and raising 'Israeli' flags in the mosque's courtyards.

"Any harm to the Al-Aqsa Mosque would be a red line and could lead to repercussions that extend beyond the borders of Palestine."

Moreover, controlling the surrounding areas is part of the plan in both cases. At the Ibrahimi Mosque, the occupation state seized surrounding properties and streets to secure geographical connectivity with the settlements. In Jerusalem, similar measures were taken, such as confiscating about 20 properties on Al-Silsila Street, which is adjacent to Al-Aqsa, and annexing them to the Jewish Quarter. This brings to mind the control of the Bab al-Maghariba (Moroccan Gate) area after the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967.

The most prominent difference is that what took decades to implement at the Ibrahimi Mosque is being carried out at Al-Aqsa within just a few years, thanks to the rising political power of the Religious Zionism movement and the on-the-ground support from Temple groups seeking to build what they call the 'Third Temple' on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque. This speed makes the danger of replicating the experience greater and closer, and makes the need for a real reaction more urgent.

Repeating the Ibrahimi Mosque scenario at Al-Aqsa doesn't just mean changing the status quo in the holiest Islamic site in Jerusalem; it could open the door to a widespread religious and political confrontation that would alter the entire course of the conflict. Any harm to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, due to its place in the Islamic conscience, would be a red line and could lead to repercussions that extend beyond the borders of Palestine.

Experience shows that the occupation is proceeding according to calculated steps: it starts by creating on-the-ground facts, then seeks to normalize them, then moves to temporal division, followed by spatial division, and finally ends with complete administrative control. This is what happened in Hebron, and this is what we see being repeated in Jerusalem at an accelerated pace.

Palestinians and Muslims must transition from verbal reactions to initiatives that escalate the situation in Jerusalem.

And if the tools of international law that consider Jerusalem and 'Al-Aqsa' occupied territories are not activated, and if political and economic pressure is not exerted on the occupation, and if the occupation does not feel that its actions in these holy places have a huge price that it cannot bear, then the path will be completed without obstacles.

And here comes the role of Palestinians specifically, on both the popular and official levels, along with Arabs and Muslims, in transitioning from verbal reactions to practical initiatives that stop the deterioration. This should lead matters in Jerusalem to a stage of crisis, which is indispensable for creating a reality that makes the occupation think twice before undertaking new foolish steps in Al-Aqsa Mosque, before we find ourselves facing a new reality that is impossible to reverse, God forbid.

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Read more :

The Final Struggle for Al-Aqsa: Has It Begun?

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Read the article in Arabic