Ramadan prayers held at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa, with Israeli restrictions

Tens of thousands of Muslims flocked to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan, but worshippers were angered by Israeli restrictions that denied access to West Bank Palestinians without COVID-19 vaccination documents.

From early morning Palestinian residents of cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank lined up at Israeli checkpoints to have their entry permits and vaccination status examined before being admitted to Jerusalem.

Other worshippers from East Jerusalem and Arab cities in Israel had easier access, as they are included in Israel’s world-beating vaccination rollout.

The restrictions were criticized by Palestinian officials. Ikrima Sabri, who led Friday prayers, accused Israel of “exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to intervene in the affairs of the blessed Aqsa mosque” and the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israel turned Jerusalem’s Old City into a “military base.”

But they

Israeli officials claimed restricted to 10,000 the number of vaccinated Palestinians entering from the West Bank because of “high morbidity rates” from coronavirus in Palestinian Authority areas.

“The measures are being taken to allow freedom of worship and religion on one hand, and on the other hand, prevent to the extent possible the spread of COVID-19 in the region,” said a statement from COGAT, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East conflict. It sits atop the Old City plateau.

Israel captured and occupied it along with the rest of East Jerusalem in a 1967 war, later annexing it.

Palestinians say East Jerusalem is the capital of a future Palestinian state, and Muslims regard Al-Aqsa as the third holiest site in Islam. The pandemic has added a medical fault line to the religious and political ones: Israel has inoculated more than half its population, but the Palestinians’ program lags far behind.

Palestinians and rights groups accused Israel of ignoring its duties as an occupying power.

AFP A man sprays Palestinians with water to cool them off as they gather outside the Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City.