Occupied Jerusalem- In the 19th century, specifically in 1852, the Ottoman Empire issued a series of decrees for the administration of the Christian holy places in Jerusalem, in order to regulate access to them after repeated disputes. This regulation was enshrined in international law within the Berlin Treaty of 1878, and was officially called the status quo agreement (statico).
Within the Berlin Treaty, the law was also expanded to include Islamic and Jewish religious places in Jerusalem, after which the status quo agreement in Jerusalem became a binding international law.
When the Israeli army occupied East Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in June 1967 (the setback or the Six-Day War), it formally recognized the status quo agreement to avoid escalation and international attack, but its practices on the ground from then until today violated this agreement until only its name remained.
In a few words, Jerusalem studies professor Abdullah Marouf defines the status quo agreement as “the status quo remaining as it was in Jerusalem prior to the occupation.”
This scene is in the heart #Al-Aqsa Mosque The blessed thing happens today and every day..!
And they tell you: The status quo..! pic.twitter.com/L4XagH8Bwl
—Dr. Abdullah Marouf Dr. Abdullah Marouf (@AbdallahMarouf) January 23, 2023
Marouf told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that many changes have occurred in the agreement since the setback, as it is no longer implemented in particular in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
This is evidenced by the fact that a number of settlements were built on the lands of Jerusalem after its occupation, in addition to the complete demolition of the Mughrabi neighborhood, the displacement of its people, and the occupation of the Buraq Wall even though it is an Islamic endowment, in addition to forcefully imposing temporal division, and ensuring the settlers’ prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The same speaker adds, “No one talks about these changes anymore as if they have become a fait accompli and not up for discussion.”
The following are the most prominent violations in Al-Aqsa Mosque since the setback, according to Tel Aviv Tribune Net’s monitoring, based on field events and official Palestinian and Jordanian statements:
– Occupying Al-Aqsa Mosque in June 1967, raising the Israeli flag there, controlling the keys to the Mughrabi Gate – one of the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque – and preventing Palestinians from using it until today.
After the occupation of Al-Aqsa, the Al-Buraq Wall, west of Al-Aqsa Mosque, was occupied and called the “Wailing Wall,” and the Mughrabi Neighborhood was completely demolished and its residents expelled.
– After the occupation of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan assumed custodianship over it, as part of the status quo agreement, but the occupation repeatedly ignored that sovereignty through several violations, the most notable of which was closing it by a unilateral decision for hours or days, as happened during its occupation, and during the rampage of Bab al-Asbat in 2017, in addition to preventing Restoration, obstructing it, controlling the entry of restoration materials into the mosque, attacking Al-Aqsa guards and Endowment employees, arresting them, and obstructing their work.
An annual march through which the occupation seeks to consolidate its sovereignty over Jerusalem, and celebrates the completion of its occupation of the entire city.. What do you know about the flag march? pic.twitter.com/jWKPwaWFr3
– Tel Aviv Tribune Net | Jerusalem (@Aljazeeraquds) June 4, 2024
The occupation conducted many excavations and opened tunnels in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the Old City, and around the Jerusalem Wall, causing damage to the archaeological infrastructure, cracking some of the landmarks of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the homes of the Old City, and landslides in the town of Silwan, south of the mosque.
After 2003, the occupation resumed unilaterally bringing settlers into Al-Aqsa Mosque. Since that year, settlers have been storming the mosque 5 days a week with intense protection from the occupation police and forces.
For more than a decade, settlers have been performing public and silent prayers during the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and have gone beyond the matter to performing other religious rituals related to the alleged structure, such as the priests’ blessing prayer, epic prostration, introducing plant offerings, and blowing the shofar.
During the past decade, settlers raised the Israeli flag inside Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate several national occasions, most notably the anniversary of the “unification of Jerusalem,” that is, the occupation of its eastern part.
Despite its custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque, last January, the occupation police prevented the Jordanian ambassador to Tel Aviv, Ghassan Al-Majali, from entering Al-Aqsa.
During the first months of the start of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, the occupation police closed the mosque almost completely to worshipers, with the exception of some elderly people and residents of the Old City. Even today, the occupation selectively prevents worshipers from entering the mosque, especially during the hours of the morning raid. And noon.
– In an unprecedented manner, since October 7, the police and occupation forces have stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque at times other than settler raids, especially during Friday prayers, and roamed around it to monitor the worshipers and harass them.
In recent years, the occupation police arbitrarily closed the gates of the Jerusalem Wall after every shooting or stabbing, and also closed them completely during “Israeli Independence Day” last May.
Representatives in the Israeli Knesset repeatedly stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the police and occupation forces. Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir also stormed the mosque 4 times since taking office, and declared the full sovereignty of his state inside it, as he declared during his storming on January 25, defying “with With all due respect to Jordan, I did that, and I will continue to climb the Temple Mount. Israel is independent and has no guardianship from another country.”
The occupation police secured the settlers’ storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the blessed month of Ramadan and the last ten days of Ramadan, as happened in 2022, due to the intersection of some Jewish religious occasions with the holy month. It also secured the storming of the mosque during the blessed Eid Al-Adha in 2019.
Since October 7, members of the occupation army have deliberately stormed the mosque in their official military uniform, performing public prayers inside and praying for the prisoners and dead in full view of the occupation police, coinciding with preventing Al-Aqsa guards from accompanying the storming group or approaching it to monitor its violations.