Jerusalem Muslims were promised freedom to worship this Ramadan – I watched them being turned away

It should be one of the great moments in the Islamic calendar. When a month of prayer, fasting and ultimately celebration begins. But Ramadan has started this year in an atmosphere of resentment, fear and anger for Palestinian Muslims, thanks to the war in Gaza.

Outside Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third most holy shrine, there was tension during Tarawih prayers that launch the holy month. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised freedom of worship opposed by his far-right extremist national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who had wanted restrictions imposed on worshippers.

We witnessed police pick and choose who was allowed in through Lion’s Gate. There were scuffles as men were turned away, some of them with physical force. Elsewhere, police drew batons and beat others.

The rejected, all of them men, lined up to pray on the pavement outside the Old City walls. Masked and armed Israeli border police loomed over them, watching from positions in the Muslim cemetery.

One man, Khaled, told Sky News: “You feel bad when you see such a kind of thing, they should ease up on people they should open the gates in order for people to enter without any restrictions.”

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When the month of Ramadan starts the gates of heaven are opened, says the Koran, the gates of Hell closed and the devils are chained.

There has been plenty of talk of violence erupting in Jerusalem and the West Bank this Ramadan. There have been sporadic clashes but the mood is more one of depression.

In Jerusalem’s Old City alleys, the shops are closed, there are no tourists, many Palestinians have been unable to travel and shop there. Business has never been worse say shopkeepers.

Muhammed Salhab owns the Levantine Gallery and sells art to tourists and diplomats and says he’s never seen anything like it. “It’s so unfortunate, you know. I’m nearly 60 years old. I’ve never in my life witnessed Jerusalem’s economic situation get as bad as it is today and I cannot explain how. But I would say in the Old City, almost 95% of incomes rely on tourism and it’s completely gone.”

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We went to Bethlehem to gauge the mood there. The markets were bustling as people bought their Ramadan supplies but life is extremely hard there now. The city depends even more on tourists and there’ve been hardly any since 7 October.

Bishara, a tour guide, told Sky News: “There are no tourists at all and people are upset because of what’s happening in Gaza.”

Another woman nearby agreed: “It’s very bad, very bad, because of Gaza.”

We travelled deeper into the West Bank to Palestinian villages near the Jewish settlement of Efrat where plans for hundreds more homes have been approved in the last week, in the teeth of opposition from Israel’s European and American allies. The announcement has increased a sense of resentment among the Palestinians. Settlements on occupied land are illegal under most interpretations of international law.

Anti-settlement campaigner Sohail Khalelieh showed us the hillside where white caravans marked the settlers’ latest land grab. “What we’re seeing there are a bunch of Israeli caravans put there by Israeli settlers,” he said.

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Palestinian villagers were reluctant to go on camera, worried about reprisals by settlers or Israeli authorities. Fear has been rising since the start of the war and ahead of Ramadan.

One man, who did not want his face shown on camera told us: “Well, you know, after what’s happening now in Gaza, I think everybody’s worried because we’ve never seen them really go to that much horrific extent before.”

As we returned to Jerusalem a blood red sunset hung as a fitting backdrop to the city. Too many devils remain at large this Ramadan not least war, destruction and economic crisis. It will be a holy month like few before.

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