JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Muslims flocked to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramazan, 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 roll-out.

The restrictions were criticised 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 Israeli officials said they 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 known to Muslims worldwide as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2021