Israel blocks Palestinians from first Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa
Al Jazeera
Israel says it will allow only 10,000 Palestinians from the West Bank to enter mosque for holy month tradition.
Israel is severely restricting Palestinians’ access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan, with many hundreds queueing at the Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah, hoping and waiting to get in.
But Israeli authorities say they will allow no more than 10,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into one of Islam’s holiest sites for the day, and only with permits – a fraction of the number who have visited to mark the occasion in previous years.
Only children under the age of 12, men over 55, and women 50 years or older are eligible.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that only about 2,000 Palestinians were able to cross through the Qalandiya checkpoint towards Jerusalem by the morning, amid a state of Israeli military high alert at checkpoints separating the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“There are 3.3 million people in the occupied West Bank … so allowing only 10,000 to pray on this first Friday or Ramadan is a drop in the ocean, and only a trickle have been able to make it in,” Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reported from the Qalandiya checkpoint.
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