JERUSALEM, Friday, March 8, 2019 (WAFA) – Dozens of Palestinians who were recently banned entry into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli police performed Friday prayer today outside the Lions’ Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City.
WAFA correspondent said that dozens of Palestinians who recently received orders banning them from entering the holy site performed Friday prayer outside the Lions’ Gate, also known as Bab al-Asbat, while surrounded by Israeli police reinforcements.
Israeli authorities beefed up police deployments in and around the Old City of Jerusalem and set up barricades at all the alleys leading to the mosque compound amid surging tensions over Bab al-Rahma prayer area.
The reinforcements come after police conducted a fresh detention campaign in the city, resulting in the detention of nine Palestinians.
Three days ago, Israeli police sought a new court order to extend the closure of Bab al-Rahma, but the Council of Islamic Religious Endowments (Waqf) has rejected the court order and stressed that the prayer area would remain open.
The crisis over this section of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound started when Israeli police closed the metal gate leading to Bab al-Rahma with chains and locks, a step that was perceived by Palestinian Muslims as a harbinger to the division of the mosque compound and allocation of the eastern section for Israeli Jewish settlers.
Palestinian Muslim worshippers protested the closure, and eventually opened Bab al-Rahma, which was shuttered by Israeli since 2003, and used it as a prayer area.
K.F.
