Afrasianet - The closure of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli occupation authorities is entering its second month, amid warnings of the repercussions of the occupation authorities' singularity in order to change the status quo and impose new facts, in an attempt to Judaize it and pull the rug from under the Islamic Endowments.
Under the pretext of a "state of emergency" declared since the start of the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, the occupation authorities continue to close the mosque and prevent worshippers from accessing it.
The month-long closure of the holy site – for the first time since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 – was not just a passing measure, but part of a broader context aimed at imposing new realities on the ground, entrenching the equation of access control and worship, and testing the limits of the local and international response.
Why is it not permissible to apply a state of emergency to Jerusalem?
Mounir Nusseibeh, a professor of international law at Al-Quds University, says that the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque, even for one day, carries more than one violation:
Jerusalem is an occupied city under international law and the occupation has no sovereignty over it, and Israel's military and settlement presence is "illegal" and must end as soon as possible, the International Court of Justice affirmed in its July 2024 advisory opinion.
The state of emergency and the instructions of the IDF's home front may not be applied to Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as it is not under the sovereignty of the occupation but under the Jordanian Endowments Department.
The closure violates the law known as "status quo," which classifies international law and was enacted during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and relates to holy places that must "remain intact without any prejudice or breach."
Restricting the number of people who are allowed to be in Al-Aqsa or preventing them from entering it completely is considered a violation of the status quo, as this law stipulates that the mosque with its courtyards, prayer halls, schools, and unroofed monuments is the exclusive property of Muslims, and they have to manage it in everything related to tourism and visiting this holy site, which occupies an area of 144 dunums (a dunum is equal to a thousand square meters).
According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the occupying power must oblige to respect the religious beliefs and rituals of the population under occupation, and to ensure that access to places of worship, disruption of religious rituals, or collective action against the religious right is not blocked, which has been happening for a month and has been repeated repeatedly since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.
According to the academic and former media and public relations officer at Al-Aqsa Mosque Abdullah Maarouf, the issue of closing the Al-Aqsa Mosque for a continuous month should not be taken lightly or considered a normal development in the course of the conflict, especially since there are frequent news about the occupation's decision to extend the closure tentatively until April 15, which he described as "extremely dangerous."
He adds that "this closure was and still is intentional", and its main goal is to conduct what can be called a "practical test" in the most difficult times for the occupation police, as it came in the middle of the month of Ramadan, to make major changes in Al-Aqsa Mosque after the end of the closure, and the matter has nothing to do with the war currently underway in any way.
What is happening under lockdown?
Maarouf reveals that the occupation is making "fundamental adjustments" during the closure for more than a month, to how the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque are managed, considering that the regional tension has nothing to do with what is happening in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Palm Sunday was banned, but it can be said that it is just an Israeli excuse to change the status quo in the mosque. These are some of the occupation's measures:
Limiting the number of employees of the Islamic Endowments Department to 25 people only.
Imposing prior knowledge of every person who enters Al-Aqsa and the reason, how, time and duration of his entry into the mosque.
Immediately dismiss employees after any of them finish their work.
He pointed to developments in the way the occupation police deal with the mosque, pointing to a photo that he said was "intentional" published by a policeman inside Al-Aqsa with history, and in a very provocative manner, putting one foot on top of the other, "while suggesting that the intention was to send a message that the occupation has become the master of the place in Al-Aqsa and not just an emergency."
He added that the occupation's message to the Palestinians is that it has become the sole administrative decision-maker in the mosque, and the real sovereign in the holy place, and that he is the only one who decides how to manage it without any regard for the Islamic presence represented by the Jordanian Islamic Endowments Department, and without any regard for Jerusalemites in the first place.
Silence in the service of the occupation
According to the researcher, the occupation no longer gives weight to the Palestinian popular presence in Jerusalem and believes that the Palestinians are unable to implement their will in Al-Aqsa from today onwards.
He said that the official Arab silence and the timid official responses, even from secular and popular frameworks throughout this month, are what encourage the occupation to do what it wants in the mosque.
He concluded that real popular and official deterrence is what is needed now, no less than "escalating the situation in the region to take advantage of the fact that the occupation lives in a fragile internal situation and a soft side due to the ongoing war, and not as it tries to portray the Palestinian people."
