Worship in Jerusalem has been overshadowed by oppression and fear
Palestinian Muslims pray outside the Old City of Jerusalem as Al-Aqsa Mosque remains closed by Israeli forces during Ramadan on 6 March 2026
Dania Abul Haj writes in Middle East Eye on 17 March 2026:
My friend and I were standing near Damascus Gate, observing how empty the Old City of Jerusalem was during the last stretch of Ramadan, when we noticed that we had become surrounded by more than a dozen fully armed Israeli police officers.
In a climate designed to intimidate, my friend proposed that we leave for the sake of our safety. As we walked away, we acknowledged the new status quo enforced by Israel: a general atmosphere of looming fear, more entrenched than ever before.
For the rest of the night, we walked the streets of Jerusalem, discussing how much our city has changed over the past few years. From a city that would normally be filled with worshippers going to pray, it is now heavily militarised.
Our minds wandered back a decade to when Jerusalemites flooded the streets to protest Israel’s installation of security barriers at Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, rejecting any sort of Israeli control over our religious sites. Today, such scenes would be met with brutal military repression and vindictive repercussions.
As we continued to walk, we saw Israeli forces randomly stopping young Palestinian men and subjecting them to degrading physical searches, unwarranted and unjustified – a provocative practice that has now been normalised in Jerusalem.
During my visit to the Old City, I was only able to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque once. Even then, most gates were closed by Israeli authorities, with a designated route drawn through metal barriers and an intensified police presence.