Over 4,200 Israelis Enter Al-Aqsa, Palestinians Barred
On the Jewish day of mourning Tisha B'Av, more than 4,200 Israelis, including minister Itamar Ben Gvir, entered the Al-Aqsa compound while Palestinian worshippers were denied access to prayer.
- More than 4,200 Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem on July 23.
- Among the visitors was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
- Palestinian worshippers were barred from prayer during the settlers' entry.
- The entry coincided with the Jewish day of fasting and mourning, Tisha B'Av.
For Belgrade, which has spent years carefully balancing its relationship with Israel against its formal non-recognition of unilaterally declared Palestinian statehood, every new incident on the Temple Mount is not a distant story but a reminder of how sensitive the status of Jerusalem’s holy sites is for the whole of European diplomacy. More than 4,200 Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa compound on July 23, one of the most sensitive locations in the Middle East, while Palestinian worshippers were simultaneously denied access to prayer.
Among those who passed through the gates of the compound was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a figure of the Israeli government’s far right whose presence at the site is routinely read as a political provocation. The entry coincided with Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of fasting and mourning that marks the destruction of the temples of Jerusalem, when the number of worshippers seeking access to the location traditionally rises.
Why is Al-Aqsa such a sensitive flashpoint?
The compound known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa and to Jews as the Temple Mount is one of the few places in the world where the religious significance of two communities overlaps within the same physical space. Under an arrangement that has held for decades, Muslims are allowed to worship inside the compound, while non-Muslims may visit at limited hours but without conducting religious rites. Any disruption of that fragile understanding has, in recent years, turned into a trigger for wider clashes.
The ban on Palestinian access during a mass entry of settlers is precisely the element that provokes the sharpest reactions. For the Palestinian side, denying worship while thousands of Israelis arrive represents a shift in what is considered acceptable, and the presence of a senior government official adds the weight of the state to that picture. This is why such events are seen not as individual visits but as a signal about the direction of Israeli policy toward Jerusalem.
What consequences can be expected?
The experience of previous years shows that incidents around Al-Aqsa rarely remain isolated. Images of thousands of people entering the compound while Palestinians are left at the gates spread quickly across the region and, as a rule, provoke reactions not only in Ramallah and Gaza but also in the capitals of Arab states that have normalized, or are considering normalizing, relations with Israel. The diplomatic channel linking Jerusalem with Amman and Cairo is especially sensitive to any change in the status of the holy sites.
For European chancelleries, including those that follow Serbian foreign policy, this development opens a familiar dilemma: how to keep the balance between partnership with Israel and obligations under international law that treat the status of Jerusalem as an open question. Belgrade guards that balance cautiously, aware that any alignment carries a cost in relations with both sides. The tension around the Al-Aqsa compound remains one of the few questions on which, despite all the divisions, the interests of almost every actor in the region converge.
Do you believe this latest episode at Al-Aqsa will stay an isolated incident, or does it signal a broader crisis in the Middle East?
