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In a new step aimed at extending more control over the blessed Al -Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings, the occupation authorities – with direct approval from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – began the work of “restoration, maintenance and expansion” of what the occupation claims to be “the small museum wall”, which is the Islamic endowment known historically as the “Kurdish Rabat” and popularly as “Hosh Shihabi”.
This area is located at Bab Al -Hadid (one of the doors of the Al -Aqsa Mosque) located between Babi Al -Qattan and Al -Nazer, which is part of the Western Mosque wall, and the date of construction dates back to 7 centuries.
Several Israeli news sites published a news that the launch of work in this place in the Islamic neighborhood came after political approval and informing the Jordanian government, and the participation of both the National Security Council, the police and the internal security apparatus (Shin Bet) in discussions.
Prayers and provocations
In an interview with Al -Jazeera Net, one of the residents of “Hosh Shehabi” – who preferred not to be named – said that the settlers have been praising the “Al -Hosh” square for many years, and performing their prayers in recent years within the clock.
According to this Jerusalem, 10 Palestinian families live in this historical construction, which is considered an atomic stand for the Shehabi family, and these families suffer from the constant inconvenience issued by the prayers of the Jews who are entered into the place, and their provocations, especially after the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023.
The residents now feel – according to this young man – that they are fully trapped due to the establishment of the occupation police as a new headquarters at the entrance to Bab Al -Hadid on the one hand, and with the start of work inside the square leading to their homes in order to expand them to accommodate more settlers who go to the prayers with the power of the occupation on the other hand.
The crews belonging to the municipality of the occupation – in partnership with both the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Ministry of Heritage – started excavation work with the aim of expanding yesterday, and the deputy mayor of the occupation, Ariyah King, published on his Facebook page a set of photos from the site.
I attach these pictures with a text in which he said, “It is our duty to enhance sovereignty and rule in the old town.”
King says that the place last year witnessed a positive development when he was keen to remove the waste containers that the inhabitants used, and today the restoration work began in it, and called the Jews to visit the “small Western wall”, which is located one minute walk from the “Wailing” square, in reference to the Al Bura’a wall.
“Exploitation of the Gaza war”
The researcher in Jerusalem affairs, Nasser Al -Hadmi, said that the restoration work carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities, specifically the municipality of the occupation in the city of Jerusalem, in part of the Western Wall adjacent to the blessed Al -Aqsa Mosque, falls within a general Judaization project targeting Al -Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem as a whole.
Al -Hadmi explained – in his interview with Al -Jazeera Net – that this part of the wall is an integral part of the blessed Al -Aqsa Mosque, as is the wall of Al -Buraq, which was previously seized by the occupation authorities, and turned it into what the “Wailing Wall” calls for the existence of a Jewish historical legacy in it.
He pointed out that the timing of the implementation of the current restoration work did not come in vain, but was carefully chosen in light of the escalation of extremist policies and atmosphere, and the increasing attacks on the Al -Aqsa Mosque and the preoccupation of the media and the world with what is happening in the Gaza Strip and other arenas, which gives the occupation an opportunity to complete its plan to completely control the Western Wall.
He went down for pilgrims 7 centuries ago
To see the historical side related to this site, the researcher in the history of Jerusalem, Ihab Al -Jallad, said at the beginning of his speech to Al -Jazeera Net that more than 700 years ago, and in 1294 specifically the Prince “Saifi headquarters Kurd” – whose rank was like the deputy of the Sultan in Egypt – built a hostel to receive the pilgrims who come to the Al -Aqsa Mosque at the entrance to Bab Al -Hadid, and the Rabat was known in the Mamluk period as “the Kurds” It is separated from Al -Aqsa except the Western Mosque wall.
Rabat is bordered to the east, Al -Aqsa Mosque, and to the west, the essential school, and is considered the closest bond for the mosque, and according to the executioner, he continued to serve visitors of the first two kisses for 7 centuries, and in the 19th century he took care of his care and mandate the “Shihabi” family, and since then it has become the name “Hosh Shihabi” as well, because there is a square in his entrance that leads to homes that were used as Karbat.
After the occupation of the eastern Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli authorities – according to Al -Maqdisi researcher – carried out excavations on the western side of Al -Aqsa, specifically under the wall of Al -Hosh from the side of the Al -Buraq Wall towards Bab Al -Ghwanma, with the aim of linking tunnels and old wells together, and established what is known as the “Western Tunnel” or “Hasmouniam Tunnel”.
Al -Jallad adds that “this tunnel is going exactly below the Shahabi monsters, and the excavations in the 1970s led to a great crack in the walls and floor of this great historical site, and the Israeli authorities tried to support arches and some buildings, although they are not a jurisdiction, because this place is an Islamic stand and responsible for its care and maintenance is the Islamic Endowments Department in the past and the present.”
The Jews are called “Al -Mubaki Al -Sagheer Wall” .. crews affiliated with the municipality of the Israeli occupation in occupied Jerusalem began in addition to crews from the Israeli Antiquities Authority to conduct dug and expansion in “Hosh Shihabi” in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Monday. What is the importance of the place, and what is the risk of Israeli excavations … pic.twitter.com/mgbldmwcx3
Al -Jazeera Net Jerusalem (@Tel Aviv Tribunequds) May 6, 2025
“Little Wailing Wall”
The encroachments did not stop there, according to the executioner, but rather developed to naming the place later with the “small weapon wall”, and a place was taken to pray the Jews next to Al -Aqsa and an extension of the Al -Buraq Wall was taken, and prayers are held continuously and growing.
The Israeli authorities aim from all of this to change the Islamic endowment dye of the square and the wall, which is part of the western wall of Al -Aqsa. Al -Jallad added: “We say that the authority responsible for its care, maintenance and protection when needed is the Islamic Endowments Department, which is part of the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments and under the Jordanian Hashemite Parachis, and the Israeli authorities have no jurisdiction in this ancient Islamic endowment.”
With the start of work on this historic site, the residents are afraid of trying to open the gate leading to the “Western Tunnel”, a tunnel that opened a door in 1996 to show a popular gift at the time.
On September 25, 1996, the Palestinians went out in a popular gift and the confrontations were launched with the opening of the tunnel door, and extended from northern Palestine to its south and rose during the confrontations called “Heba Al -Nabal” 63 martyrs, 32 of them in the West Bank and 31 in the Gaza Strip, while 1,600 others were wounded.
