Jerusalem, May 4, 2026 (WAFA) – The Jerusalem Governorate warned against the campaign led by the so-called “Temple Mount organizations,” in cooperation with political figures in the occupation government, to impose a storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, May 15, 2026, in a dangerous escalation aimed at changing the historical and legal reality existing in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and imposing unprecedented precedents that affect the sanctity of the place and its religious status .
The governorate confirmed in a statement issued on Monday that the choice of Friday specifically—the day on which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is closed to settler incursions—reflects clear intentions to impose a new reality by force, in a precedent that has not occurred since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967.
She pointed out that these calls coincide with what is called “Jerusalem Day,” which this year falls on Friday, May 15, 2026, and is usually accompanied by large-scale incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning, and provocative marches in the Old City in the evening, most notably the so-called “Flag March,” which witnesses attacks on the city’s residents and the violation of its streets and alleys .
She explained that this occasion coincides with the twenty-eighth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, corresponding to 7-6-1967, which is the day on which the occupation forces occupied the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem, including the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, noting that its coincidence this year with Friday, in addition to its coincidence with the 78th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, doubles the seriousness of the situation and the possibilities of escalation .
The governorate indicated that the campaign includes organized actions, most notably the “Temple Mount in Our Hands (Bedeinu)” organization distributing the personal phone number of the Minister of National Security in the occupation government, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to urge the settler public to contact him directly and demand that the Al-Aqsa Mosque be opened to incursions on Friday, in an attempt to make the decision appear as if it were a response to “popular demands .”
She also pointed to the demand by Likud MK Amit Halevi to open the Al-Aqsa Mosque to settlers on that day, justifying this by what he described as the “right of Jews” to access the “Temple Mount,” and linking this to what he called the “battle of civilizations,” in statements that reflect a dangerous escalation, especially in light of his previous positions that included proposing a project to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque spatially between Muslims and Jews .
She added that the “Bedenu” organization launched a petition platform for settlers, which includes a pledge to raise the Israeli flag inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, May 15, 2026, in an attempt to mobilize as many people as possible to participate in this attack and impose a new reality within the mosque’s courtyards .
The governorate confirmed that settlers had never been able to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque on a Friday since the occupation, but the recent measures, including the long closure that lasted 40 days and included several Fridays during and after Ramadan, encouraged these groups to try to impose new precedents that they consider “achievements .”
In the same context, she recalled the incident of storming Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first day of Eid al-Adha in 2019, which coincided with what is called the “anniversary of the destruction of the Temple,” where the then Prime Minister of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, contributed to facilitating the storming, after his repeated announcement of preventing it, before the police allowed it after the end of the Eid prayer and the departure of most of the worshippers, which led to the outbreak of violent confrontations inside the mosque, in what became known in the memory of Jerusalem as the “Eid wound .”
The Jerusalem Governorate stressed that these moves represent a dangerous and systematic escalation, and confirm the existence of an official policy aimed at imposing a temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque and undermining Islamic custodianship over it, warning of the repercussions of these steps that may ignite the situation in the city and the region .
The governorate called on the sons of our Palestinian people to travel to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and to be present in large numbers there to thwart these plans. It also called on the international community and human rights institutions to assume their responsibilities and to exert pressure to stop these violations, stressing that Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain an exclusive right of Muslims, and that all attempts to impose a fait accompli by force are rejected and condemned .
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S.K.
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