The announcement by the occupying security forces recommending the restriction of Muslim entry to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during Friday prayers in the month of Ramadan is not merely a trial balloon at this critical time the region is going through; rather, it amounts to a declaration of real war on Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.

The "Israeli" security agencies – specifically the internal security service (Shin Bet) – are considered one of the most important entities that provide their recommendations to the government before the month of Ramadan each year to manage the situation in the most sensitive area in the region, which holds great religious significance for Muslims worldwide, not just in Palestine. Over the past years, during the most intense periods of pressure and unrest in the region, the security agencies have offered recommendations based on the principle of relieving pressure in Al-Aqsa Mosque during the blessed month of Ramadan. This is because the "Israeli" security agencies assess expectations based on a comprehensive vision that takes into account the history of conflict in the region.

The study of this history leads to one clear conclusion: that the Al-Aqsa Mosque has always been a powder keg ready to explode violently at any moment. This fact can be understood with a quick glance at the history of the conflict in Palestine since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Al-Aqsa Mosque has always been the starting point for any violent conflict or comprehensive confrontation in Palestinian territories, beginning with the uprising of the Nabi Musa festival in front of the Mercy Gate near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1920, and culminating in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in 2023, which began on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and witnessed some of the most severe violations carried out by settlers inside the mosque, a process that even bore the name of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For more than a century, the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a central hub for triggering confrontations in the region. Therefore, considering what has been happening for the past year and a half in the violent war taking place in the Palestinian territories since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, logic suggests that the occupying state should seek to avoid involving the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in this confrontation at all costs. This is indeed what the occupation authorities worked toward during the last Ramadan, which was the first Ramadan to occur under the shadow of the violent war against the Palestinians in Gaza.

During last Ramadan, the occupying authorities did the impossible to control the situation inside Al-Aqsa Mosque and to prevent any movement within it. They succeeded in this through various means, due to several considerations, including the preoccupation of Jerusalemites themselves with the war and the violent massacres taking place in Gaza, which were ongoing in the midst of the holy month days.

This time, the blessed month of Ramadan comes amidst a ceasefire agreement in Gaza that is still holding as of the moment of writing these lines. This agreement has sparked the appetite of the extreme right in the occupying state to initiate its military campaign in the West Bank, which they had been threatening to launch as soon as the ceasefire in Gaza was in place. Naturally, Jerusalem is closely linked to what is happening in the West Bank, as the West Bank is the natural cradle of Jerusalem, and both regions are completely interconnected.

Thus, in light of the violent 'Israeli' attack on the northern West Bank, which is likely to expand in the coming period, the 'Israeli' security agencies seem to be pushing to resolve all issues in a relatively short time. Therefore, they have recommended this strange proposal, which could lead to several paths and have multiple possible meanings.

Among the possibilities laid out on the table here is that this announcement might just be a preliminary step to implement what the occupation's security services actually want, which is to reduce the numbers in Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, not to just ten thousand worshippers as recommended, but to higher than that. They demand something significant to get what they want, as is the style of negotiations and bargaining. In doing so, they hit two birds with one stone, relying on one of two possibilities

Either the occupying government comes and raises this recommended number from ten thousand to twenty or thirty thousand or more, leading to voices claiming that the entry of twenty or thirty thousand Muslims into Al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayers in Ramadan is considered an 'achievement' because the basic recommendation was only ten thousand. This would calm the rage of Muslims when they think they have 'achieved' something, while at the same time the occupying state has executed what it wants by significantly reducing the number of Muslims in Al-Aqsa Mosque during the blessed month of Ramadan, after the number of Muslims in past years for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque exceeded at least one hundred thousand, reaching up to a quarter of a million on the last Friday of Ramadan

In addition to that, the occupying state may entertain the possibility—however small—that the state of deterrence and shock it aimed to create within Palestinian society by broadcasting news of its unprecedented and unusual crimes in Gaza during the war could deter Jerusalemites from any reaction to this recommendation, leading to no movement or confrontation with the Jerusalem and Palestinian community concerning its recommendation related to the ten thousand worshippers, and that Jerusalemites would accept what the occupation has permitted for them. In this case, the occupying state would have achieved a significant and unprecedented gain by seeing Muslims refrain from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and settling for this meager number in Friday prayers, even if this possibility is very weak.

So, either the security apparatus actually intends to reduce the number of Muslims to this meager count and succeeds in doing so, or it is trying to maneuver around any movement, confrontation, or reaction from Jerusalem by raising the number to a small percentage as well, but still higher than the previous count, such as twenty, thirty, or even fifty thousand only. This way, it empties the Jerusalemite response of its content and lowers the ceiling of the demands of the Jerusalemites as well.

Both matters are serious, as they put the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under direct siege by the occupation, but this time with the approval and silence of the Muslims. It is known that the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been suffering from this siege for over twenty years. Thus, there are many manifestations of this, not least the silence of Muslims regarding the harassment they face from the occupation in entering and exiting Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as the decisions to expel those who stand firm in the mosque. The occupation intervenes in every small and large matter in the mosque, whether in administration, restoration, or otherwise.

In light of the above, the way to confront this dangerous colonial game is for the Palestinian people to decide to return to their roots, that is, to effectively break the siege of occupation, and for the people to make a decision to break this siege and head to Al-Aqsa Mosque in large numbers at any cost, despite this siege. The density of crowds, especially during Ramadan, is what frightens the occupation the most. The arrival of hundreds of thousands from everywhere at the same time to Al-Aqsa Mosque confuses and terrifies the occupation. The main outcome is that we must realize that the decisions of this occupation are not an inevitable fate that cannot be confronted; rather, they can be broken, and its nose can be rubbed in the dirt, as our people have done several times over the past years, even during the current war.

Read the article in Arabic