Global News Desk:
On Wednesday, the United States
Appeals to Israel to Permit Muslim Worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in
Jerusalem During Ramadan Amid Far-Right Proposal to Restrict West Bank
Palestinians' Access.
"As it pertains to Al-Aqsa,
we continue to urge Israel to facilitate access to Temple Mount for peaceful
worshippers during Ramadan consistent with past practice," State
Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, using the Jewish term for
the site, the holiest in Judaism.
"That's not just the right
thing to do, it's not just a matter of granting people religious freedom that
they deserve and to which they have a right, but it's also a matter that
directly is important to Israel's security," he said.
"It is not in Israel's
security interest to inflame tensions in the West Bank or in the broader
region." Israel has been assessing how to address worship in Jerusalem
during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month that will start on March 10 or 11,
depending on the lunar calendar.
The month of fasting comes as Israel
wages a relentless military campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to a major
attack by Hamas inside Israel on October 7.
Hamas has called for a mass
movement on Al-Aqsa for the start of Ramadan. "We call on our people in
Jerusalem, the West Bank and the occupied interior (Israel) to travel to
Al-Aqsa from the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan, in groups or alone,
to pray there to break the siege on it," Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said
in a televised statement Wednesday.
Last week, Israeli National
Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that Palestinian residents of the West
Bank "should not be allowed" entry to Jerusalem to pray during
Ramadan. "We cannot take risks," he said, adding: "We cannot
have women and children hostage in Gaza and allow celebrations for Hamas on the
Temple Mount."
Ben Gvir leads a hard-right party
advocating Jewish control of the compound. The United States has been pressing
for a deal before Ramadan begins in which Israel would halt strikes in the Gaza
Strip and hostages snatched on October 7 would be freed.
The Israeli military campaign in
Gaza has killed at least 29,954 people, mostly women and children, according to
the latest figures by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. It was
launched in response to Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel which
resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to
an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. (News Source By The Daily Star)