World, Middle East

Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa on last Friday of Ramadan

Israel steps up security around flashpoint mosque compound, deploying soldiers and setting up roadblocks

01.07.2016 - Update : 08.07.2016
Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa on last Friday of Ramadan Muslims perform the last Friday Prayer of Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on July 1, 2016 ( Muammar Awad - Anadolu Agency )

Palestinian Territory

By Anees Bargouthi

JERUSALEM 

Thousands of Muslims have turned out at East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month.

Since dawn, large numbers of Palestinian worshipers from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem -- and from Arab villages inside Israel -- have converged on Al-Aqsa, which for Muslims represents the world’s third holiest site.

Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director-general of religious endowments and Al-Aqsa affairs, told Anadolu Agency that some 280,000 Palestinian worshipers had come to the site to pray on Ramadan’s last Friday.

Al-Khatib added that around 200,000 worshipers were expected to remain in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to commemorate Laylat al-Qadr, one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar.

Only men over 45 and children under 12 -- along with women of all ages -- were allowed by the Israeli authorities to enter occupied East Jerusalem without entry permits.

Israel has stepped up security in and around the flashpoint mosque compound, deploying some 4,000 soldiers and setting up roadblocks at the entrances of Jerusalem's Old City.

At the Qalandia checkpoint, meanwhile, Israeli forces used teargas to disperse Palestinians attempting to enter East Jerusalem.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Tayseer Habash, a 63-year-old Palestinian, died after inhaling excessive amounts of teargas, while another 40 suffered temporary asphyxia.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state in a move never recognized by the international community.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement building on the land to be illegal.

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