JERUSALEM (RNS) — The stores near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem are filled with holiday sweets, and the butcher shops are overflowing with lamb and beef. Ramadan lamps and extra-large bags of charcoal for nightly iftar break fasts greet customers at the minimarkets.
Despite the bustle of holiday prep, “Ramadan feels different this year, sadder because of the war,” said a shopper named Layla, who, like many East Jerusalem Palestinians, preferred not to share her last name due to caution about publicizing their views.
The Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 more, and Israel’s subsequent military onslaught in Gaza, has gutted Muslims around the world, but none more perhaps than those in the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
“How can we have big festive iftar meals when we know that the people in Gaza don’t have enough food?” said Fadi, a young East Jerusalem resident who works in a sporting goods store. Nearly all of the more than 2 million Palestinians who live in Gaza are displaced, and many are on the edge of starvation, according to relief agencies. RELATED: These US citizens went to fight for Israel. Now they’re hostages in Gaza.
In East Jerusalem, the uncertainty in the days before Ramadan, which begins Monday or Tuesday (March 11 or 12) depending on the lunar calendar, is especially acute this year. Despite Israeli assurances, people fear the government will limit the number of worshippers who can pray at the city’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, out of security concerns, or that Hamas and other Islamic terror groups will use Ramadan as a pretext to escalate attacks against Jews and other non-Muslims.
The revered mosque is just a 10-minute walk from Damascus Gate.
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Dec. 21, 2023. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Ramadan, a time of fasting, intense prayer, internal reflection and charity, has historically been a time when Middle East Muslims have waged or fought war; the 1973 Yom Kippur war against Israel, which started on the Jewish holy day, was launched during Ramadan.
There are reasons for concern, said Michael Barak, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism and a lecturer at Reichman University in Tel Aviv. “Terrorist organizations and state actors like Iran exploit Ramadan because they view it as the month of victories, when God will help Muslims fight against their enemies,” he said. Examples of this go back to the Battle of Badr in 624.
Right now, Hamas “is trying to incite by calling on Islamic nations to gather and fight together against Israel, and for Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and within Israel to defend Al-Aqsa against what it claims are Jewish attempts to destroy the mosque and create a third Jewish Temple,” Barak said.
Hamas, in an attempt to rally support against Israel from the world’s Muslims, dubbed the Oct. 7 massacre the Al-Aqsa Deluge.
Even as urgent negotiations conducted by Middle Eastern leaders have faltered in recent days, the Biden administration is pressuring Hamas and Israel to commit to a cease-fire before Ramadan begins. “If we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan,” President Joe Biden said this week, referring to unchecked violence in Gaza, the situation “could be very, very dangerous.”
Al-Aqsa stands on the ruins of the first and second Jewish temples atop the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism. Muslims remember the spot as Haram al-Sharif, where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. A small number of Jewish extremists have called for the rebuilding of the Jewish temple and are supported by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right-wing minister of national security and a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet.
Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray during Laylat Al Qadr, also known as the Night of Power, in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Defying pressure from Ben-Gvir to severely limit the number of Muslims who can pray at the mosque complex this Ramadan, Netanyahu announced that his government “will do everything to maintain the freedom of worship on the Temple Mount, while appropriately maintaining security and safety needs, and we will allow the Muslim public to celebrate the holiday. Ramadan is holy for Muslims, and the sanctity of the holiday will be preserved this year, as it is every year.”
Netanyahu added, however, that his security forces will reassess the security situation week by week.
Ben-Gvir countered that the decision to allow hundreds of thousands of Muslims to pray at the Al-Aqsa compound this Ramadan “shows that Netanyahu … thinks that nothing occurred on Oct. 7. The decision endangers the citizens of Israel and may allow an image of victory for Hamas.” RELATED: ‘We can no longer be silent’: New York’s Latino faith leaders call for cease-fire in Gaza
A jeweler whose store stands across the street from the Old City and who gave his name as Mohammed said his family’s Ramadan will be much more modest this year, due to the war and the fact that money is scarce.
“People aren’t buying jewelry, not even for weddings or special occasions,” he said, noting that many East Jerusalem residents have postponed their weddings until the security situation improves.
“Maybe things will be better by Eid al-Fitr,” the festival that marks the end of Ramadan, Mohammed said hopefully. “Traditionally, many people buy gifts for Eid.”
Switching between English, Arabic and Hebrew, the 55-year-old emphasized that the war is affecting everyone in the region, Arabs and Jews alike.
“I have many Jewish friends. All of us, Jews and Arabs, are exhausted. Inshallah there will be quiet. Peace.”