‘Al-Aqsa is a detonator’: Six-decade deal on prayers at Jerusalem holy site collapses

Israeli police raided a compound, arrested staff and restricted Muslim access at the start of Ramadan.

A six-decade-old agreement regulating Muslim and Jewish prayers at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site has “collapsed” under pressure from Jewish extremists backed by the Israeli government, experts have warned.

A series of arrests of Muslim officials, access bans for hundreds of Muslims and increasing raids by radical Jewish groups culminated this week in the arrest of an imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and an Israeli police raid during evening prayers on the first night of Ramadan.

The actions of the Jerusalem police and the Shin Bet internal security force, both now under far-right leadership, represent a rupture in the status quo agreement dating back to the 1967 post-war period, which stipulates that only Muslims are allowed to pray in the sacred complex surrounding the mosque, known as Al-Haram al-Sharif by Muslims, which also encompasses the 7th-century Dome of the Rock shrine. For Jews, it is the Temple Mount, site of the first and second temples, from the 10th century BC, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Historically, changes to the status quo have demonstrated the potential to trigger unrest and conflict in Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, with repercussions across the world. A visit by then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon in 2000 triggered the second Palestinian Intifada, which lasted five years, and Hamas named its attack on Israel in October 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the war in Gaza, the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” claiming it was provoked by Israeli violations at the Jerusalem mosque.

“Al-Aqsa is a detonator,” said Daniel Seidemann, a Jerusalem lawyer who regularly advises Israeli, Palestinian and foreign governments on legal and historical issues in the city. “It’s usually all about the same thing: a real or perceived threat to the integrity of the sacred space. And that’s what we’re seeing. There were frequent provocations during Ramadan, but the situation is exponentially more delicate now. The West Bank is a powder keg.”

Israeli security forces prevent Muslim worshipers from praying outside after being banned from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on Wednesday. | John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images

Tensions around the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been rising steadily, with far-right Israelis taking key security positions. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir – who already had eight criminal convictions before taking office, for supporting a terrorist organization and inciting racism, among other charges – stated that he wants to raise the Israeli flag in the complex and build a synagogue there.

Over the past year, Ben-Gvir has made controversial visits to Al-Aqsa and supported a series of unilateral changes to the status quo, allowing Jews to pray and sing in the compound. In January, he appointed an ideological ally, Major General Avshalom Peled, as Jerusalem police chief and, with the declared support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allowed Jews to bring printed prayer sheets there, in increasingly egregious violations.

“The status quo has collapsed because there are daily prayers,” Seidemann said. “In the past, the police have been very strict in preventing any kind of provocation… but these measures are demonstrations of ‘we are in control here, get used to it or get out of the way’.”

Muslim worshipers pass Israeli security forces as they leave the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on Wednesday night. | John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images

In the run-up to this year’s Ramadan, the Jerusalem Waqf, the Jordanian foundation tasked with managing the Al-Aqsa site as part of the status quo agreement, has come under increasing pressure. Waqf sources said five of its employees were placed in administrative detention (detention without charge) this week by the Shin Bet, while 38 employees were banned from entering the premises. Six imams of the mosque were also denied entry, the sources said.

They said six Waqf offices had been ransacked in recent weeks and that staff had been prevented from reinstalling doors or carrying out other repairs. The Waqf was prevented from installing rain and sun shelters or temporary clinics for worshippers. Authorities allege they were even prevented from bringing toilet paper to the site.

The cumulative effect, authorities said, was to overwhelm the Waqf’s capacity to serve the 10,000 Muslims expected to come to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan.

The Palestinian government in Jerusalem presented different figures: 25 Waqf employees were banned and four were detained. Neither the Jerusalem police nor the Shin Bet responded to requests for comment on the allegations.

Palestinian worshipers perform prayers on Wednesday night next to the entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, after being prevented from entering. | Atef Safadi/EPA

In the first week of Ramadan, police extended morning visiting hours for Jews and tourists from three to five o’clock in yet another unilateral change to the status quo. On Monday, Al-Aqsa’s imam, Sheikh Mohammed al-Abbasi, was detained in the mosque’s courtyard, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, and social media posts showed police raiding the compound again on Tuesday night, during the first night prayers of Ramadan.

On Wednesday morning, around 400 settlers entered the complex and, according to witnesses, sang, danced and prayed loudly.

“There are so many ingredients that make this Ramadan especially dangerous,” said Amjad Iraqi, senior Israel/Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group. “Last year was relatively peaceful, but this year there is a confluence of so many factors, on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, that may encourage Temple Mount activists to try to create new changes.”

“If in the past the Israeli government felt compelled to dialogue with regional powers, today it cares much less about what they have to say and think,” Iraqi added.

“There was a spread of impunity… The Israelis managed to achieve far beyond the restrictions they believed existed in the political, military and diplomatic spheres in Gaza and the West Bank. So why would they feel obliged to follow international opinion?”

Originally published by The Guardian on 02/20/2026

By Julian Borger and Emma Graham-Harrison – Jerusalem