US presses Israel on Temple Mount worship, Hamas calls for Al-Aqsa march

US presses Israel on Temple Mount worship, Hamas calls for Al-Aqsa march

TOVAH LAZAROFF

The United States urged Israel to allow “peaceful” Palestinian worship at al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount during the holy month of Ramadan, as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for all Palestinians to march to the site.

“We continue to urge Israel to facilitate access to the Temple Mount for peaceful worship during Ramadan consistent with past practice, and that will continue to be our position,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

He spoke as Israel debated how to best handle security at the religiously-sensitive site, which is the holiest in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. A long-standing status quo agreement allows only Muslim prayer at the site, while members of all other faiths can visit.

Concern is high about the potential for increased violence due to the religious sensitivities of the Ramadan holiday. Israel has in the past allowed only men aged 40 and over to worship at al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan.

Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has proposed that in light of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, it would be best to limit worship to those 60 and over and to ban the entry of worshipers from the West Bank.

To protest those restrictions, Haniyeh called “on our people in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to al-Aqsa on the first day of Ramadan.”

The call, which comes amid hostage negotiations, is also seen as a move to pressure Israel to make additional concessions for a deal before the month-long holiday begins on March 10, to avoid additional outbreaks of violence.

Haniyeh also called on the self-styled Axis of Resistance – allies of Iran including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq – as well as on Arab states, to step up their support for Palestinians in Gaza, particularly in light of the difficulty of food distribution.

“It is the duty of the Arab and Islamic nations to take the initiative to break the starvation conspiracy in Gaza,” Haniyeh said.