JERUSALEM, 14 October 2004 — Israel will limit the number of Muslim worshippers at Islam’s third holiest shrine to 60,000 during the holy month of Ramadan, the police minister said yesterday, citing concerns that part of the compound could collapse under a larger number of visitors.
Backing the police assessment, Israel’s Antiquities Authority said yesterday its engineers have concluded that unless repair work was done immediately, the structure “in danger of collapsing.”
Normally, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians come to Jerusalem during Ramadan to pray at the Haram Al-Sharif, a complex that houses the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques. The ban is sure to infuriate Palestinians.
Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Trust in Jerusalem, disputed the Israeli assessment and said he did not believe the compound was in danger.
No request has been received to limit the area where Muslims can worship, Husseini said, adding that he would not agree to such a demand.
“If they (Israel) want to stop worshippers from coming, this is their policy. ... They will have to be responsible for the reaction of the international community,” Husseini said.
The complex, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, is one of the most sensitive areas in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli officials said the Waqf has been given until Friday to agree to ban worshippers from the southeastern corner of the 36-acre compound.
“We really, really want to prevent harm to the public. If it will collapse thousands of people could be hurt,” Deputy Police Commissioner Yaakov Edri told Israel’s Army Radio.
If the Waqf does not agree to the Israeli demand, “we will view this as a real and immediate threat and we can’t let this happen ... we will have to limit the number of worshippers to 50,000 or 60,000,” said Gideon Ezra, the police minister.
In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, then the opposition leader, visited the complex to underscore Israel’s claim of sovereignty over all Jerusalem, including the eastern sector with its holy sites, which it occupied in 1967.
Sharon’s visit triggered Palestinian uprising that quickly spread across the West Bank and Gaza and escalated into full-fledged Israeli-Palestinian fighting that continues to this day.
