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full screen The core of the conflict: the Dome of the Rock atop the Temple Mount, the center of the holy area in Jerusalem that neither side can imagine giving up. Photo: Mahmoud Illean/AP/TT
With just days to go before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins on March 10 or 11, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises that anyone who wants to visit the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount to pray will be allowed to do so.
– Israel’s policy has always been and always will be to maintain religious freedom and allow anyone who wants to pray, regardless of religion, to do so. We have acted according to that principle during Ramadan in previous years and we will do so now as well, Netanyahu said at a press conference.
No new restrictions will be imposed on the Temple Mount during the first week of Ramadan, says a written statement from the government. Then comes “the situation is evaluated week by week”.