The Al-Aqsa Foundation of Waqf and Heritage estimated the number of Muslim worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third Friday of Ramadan at a quarter of a million.
The 250,000 flocked to Jerusalem starting at sunrise, overwhelming checkpoints and thwarting some Israeli security procedures based on the sheer volume of devout worshippers heading to Islam’s third holiest site.
Source say most of the faithful are from East Jerusalem and other villages and cities inside Israel, but numbers from the southern West Bank were enough to prompt Israeli security personnel at the Rachel’s Tomb checkpoint to give up on security checks as busloads of worshipers returned to the West Bank following prayer. A secondary door reserved for military vehicles and high-level delegates, last traversed by Pope Benedict XVI, was opened to let crushing crowds back into Bethlehem.
In Jerusalem, Israeli forces set up police and border guards at all entrances to the Old City and the Haram Ash-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) that houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. Estimates of the number of soldiers was in the thousands.
In his sermon Al-Aqsa Imam Yousef Abu Sneineh denounced Israeli acts carried out in Jerusalem including home demolitions, land confiscations and continued settlement construction. He went on to praise the steadfastness of Palestinians in the face of Israeli actions.
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