Editing Temple Mount (section)

== Status quo ==

=== Under Muslim control ===
Jews were not allowed to visit for approximately one thousand years.{{When|date=November 2023}}<ref>{{cite report |url=https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PUB_ERODINGSTATUSQUO-2017_eng.pdf |title=The eroding status quo:power struggles on the Temple Mount |author=Reiter |first=Yitzhak |date=2017 |publisher=Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research and Multieducator Inc |pages=15–16}}</ref>

===British Mandate===
In the first ten years of British rule in Palestine, all were allowed entry to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex. Sometimes violence broke out at the entrance between Jews and Muslims. During the [[1929 Palestine riots]], Jews were accused of violating the status quo.<ref name="AmericanJewish1929">{{cite book |title=Judah L. Magnes: An American Jewish Nonconformist |publisher=Syracuse University Press |author=Kotzin, Daniel P. |year=2010 |page=222 |isbn=978-0-8156-5109-3}}</ref><ref name="Jerusalem one city">{{cite book |title=Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths |publisher=Random House Digital, Inc. |author=Armstrong, Karen |year=2011 |page=382 |isbn=978-0-307-79859-6}}</ref> Following the riots, the [[Supreme Muslim Council]] and the [[Jerusalem Islamic Waqf]] prohibited Jews from entering the site's gates. During the mandate period, Jewish leaders celebrated ancient religious practices at the Western Wall. The ban on visitors continued until 1948<ref>{{cite report |url=https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PUB_ERODINGSTATUSQUO-2017_eng.pdf |title=The eroding status quo: power struggles on the Temple Mount |author=Reiter |first=Yitzhak |date=2017 |publisher=Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research and Multieducator Inc |page=10}}</ref>

===Jordanian control===
Although the 1949 Armistice Agreement called for "resumption of the normal functioning of the cultural and humanitarian institutions on Mount Scopus and free access thereto; free access to the Holy Places and cultural institutions and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives", in practice, wire and concrete barriers were the reality. Cultural and religious sites in both sides of the city were destroyed and neglected and the Jewish community barred from its sacred places.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jakubowski |first=Andrzej |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90X9CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT151 |title=State succession in cultural property |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-105800-4 |page=133 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Under Israeli control ===

A few days after the [[Six-Day War]], on June 17, 1967, a meeting was held at the al-Aqsa mosque between [[Moshe Dayan]] and Muslim religious authorities of Jerusalem reformulating the status quo.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–55]}} Jews were given the right to visit the Temple Mount unobstructed and free of charge if they respected Muslims' religious feelings and acted decently, but they were not allowed to pray. The Western Wall was to remain the Jewish place of prayer. 'Religious sovereignty' was to remain with the Muslims while 'overall sovereignty' became Israeli.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–155]}} The Muslims objected to Dayan's offer, as they completely rejected the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Some Jews, led by [[Shlomo Goren]], then the military chief rabbi, had objected as well, claiming the decision handed over the complex to the Muslims, since the Western Wall's holiness is derived from the Mount and symbolizes exile, while praying on the Mount symbolizes freedom and the return of the Jewish people to their homeland.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–55]}} The President of the High Court of Justice, [[Aharon Barak]], in response to an appeal in 1976 against police interference with an individual's putative right to prayer on the site, expressed the view that, while Jews had a right to prayer there, it was not absolute but subject to the public interest and the rights of other groups. Israel's courts have considered the issue as one beyond their remit, and, given the delicacy of the matter, under political jurisdiction.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–55]}} Barak wrote:

{{blockquote|The basic principle is that every Jew has the right to enter the Temple Mount, to pray there, and to have communion with his maker. This is part of the religious freedom of worship, it is part of the freedom of expression. However, as with every human right, it is not absolute, but a relative right... Indeed, in a case where there is near certainty that injury may be caused to the public interest if a person's rights of religious worship and freedom of expression would be realized, it is possible to limit the rights of the person in order to uphold the public interest.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–155]}}}}

Police continued to forbid Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–55]}} Subsequently, several prime ministers also made attempts to change the status quo but failed. In October 1986, an agreement between the [[Temple Mount Faithful]], the Supreme Muslim Council and police, which would allow short visits in small groups, was exercised once and never repeated, after 2,000 Muslims armed with stones and bottles attacked the group and stoned worshipers at the Western Wall. During the 1990s, additional attempts were made for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, which were stopped by Israeli police.{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/contestedholines00rivk/page/149 149–55]}}

Until 2000, non-Muslim visitors could enter the Dome of the Rock, al-Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic Museum by getting a ticket from the {{transliteration|ar|Waqf}}. This procedure ended when the [[Second Intifada]] erupted. Fifteen years later, negotiation between Israel and Jordan might result{{update inline|date=April 2022}} in reopening of those sites once again.<ref>{{cite news|title=Report: Israel, Jordan in Talks to Readmit non-Muslim Visitors to Temple Mount Sites|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.663644|newspaper=Haaretz|date=June 30, 2015}}</ref>

In the 2010s, fear arose among Palestinians that Israel planned to change the status quo and permit Jewish prayers or that al-Aqsa mosque might be damaged or destroyed by Israel. Al-Aqsa was used as a base for attacks on visitors and the police from which stones, firebombs and fireworks were thrown. The Israeli police had never entered al-Aqsa Mosque until November 5, 2014, when dialog with the leaders of the {{transliteration|ar|Waqf}} and the rioters failed. This resulted in imposing strict limitations on entry of visitors to the Temple Mount. Israeli leadership repeatedly stated that the status quo would not change.<ref name="Shragai">{{cite web |author1=Shragai |first=Nadav |author-link=Nadav Shragai |date=November 13, 2014 |title=The 'Status Quo' on the Temple Mount |work=Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs |url=http://jcpa.org/article/status-quo-on-temple-mount/ |publisher=JCPA}}</ref> According to then Jerusalem police commissioner Yohanan Danino, the place is at the center of a "holy war" and "anyone who wants to change the status quo on the Temple Mount should not be allowed up there", citing an "extreme right-wing agenda to change the status quo on the Temple Mount"; Hamas and Islamic Jihad continued to erroneously assert that the Israeli government planned to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque, resulting in chronic terrorist attacks and rioting.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-11-25 |title=It's a mistake to allow right-wing MKs on Temple Mount, Police Chief Danino says |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/its-a-mistake-to-allow-right-wing-mks-on-temple-mount-police-chief-danino-says-382799 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}}</ref>

There have been several changes to the status quo:

# Jewish visits are often prevented or considerably restricted.
# Jews and other non-Islamic visitors can only visit from Sunday to Thursday, for four hours each day.
# Visits inside the mosques are not allowed.
# Jews with religious appearance must visit in groups monitored by {{transliteration|ar|Waqf}} guards and policemen.<ref name=Shragai/>

Many Palestinians believe the status quo is threatened since right-wing Israelis have been challenging it with more force and frequency, asserting a religious right to pray there. Until Israel banned them, members of [[Murabitat]], a group of women, cried 'Allah Akbar' at groups of Jewish visitors to remind them the Temple Mount was still in Muslim hands.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Staton|first1=Bethan|title=The women of al-Aqsa: the compound's self-appointed guardians|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/women-al-aqsa-meet-murabitats-2039073489|website=Middle East Eye}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Israel Bans Two Muslim Activist Groups From Temple Mount|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.675329|newspaper=Haaretz|date=September 9, 2015}}</ref> In October 2021, a Jewish man, Aryeh Lippo, who was banned by Israeli police from the Temple Mount for fifteen days after being caught quietly praying, had his ban overturned by an Israeli court on the grounds that his behavior had not violated police instructions.<ref>{{cite news |title=Judge's approval of Jewish man's 'quiet prayer' on Temple Mount stirs Arab anger |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/judges-approval-of-jewish-mans-quiet-prayer-on-temple-mount-stirs-arab-anger/ |access-date=8 October 2021 |work=www.timesofisrael.com |date=2021}}</ref> Hamas called the ruling "a clear declaration of war".<ref>{{cite news |title=Palestinians outraged over ruling allowing Jewish prayer on Temple Mount |url=https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/palestinians-outraged-over-court-ruling-allowing-jewish-prayer-on-temple-mount-681322 |access-date=8 October 2021 |work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> A higher Israel court quickly reversed the lower court's ruling.<ref>{{cite news |title=Court reinstates police ban on Jewish man who prayed on Temple Mount |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/court-reinstates-police-ban-on-jewish-man-who-prayed-on-temple-mount/ |access-date=9 October 2021 |work=www.timesofisrael.com |date=8 October 2021}}</ref>