What does Bin Ghafir plan for Al-Aqsa Mosque in Ramadan? | policy

Jerusalemites are accustomed to the preparations usually made by the occupation authorities before the advent of the holy month of Ramadan every year, as the occupation police announce arrangements related to roads and others for the entry and arrival of worshipers, and are also preparing for this month with precautionary removal campaigns from the mosque, but this year they plan to recycle positions in their apparatus to pass the settlers’ plans with additional smoothness in the first two qiblahs.

It appears that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir intends, before the holy month of Ramadan, to appoint Avshalom Peled as commander of the Jerusalem region instead of Amir Arzani, who is seen as someone who is “obstructing the procedures” in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to what was reported on the Israeli news site Ynet.

Arzani – who was not included in the promotion round – is considered one of the police officers “unloyal” to Itamar Ben Gvir, and he did not intend to complete his term, but rather retire after the next month of Ramadan.

The Ynet website reported that, according to a high-ranking police source, Inspector General of Police Danny Levy promoted in recent days the move to replace Arzani before Ramadan with Police Chief Avshalom Peled, a close aide to Ben Gvir, whom the latter tried to appoint as former police commissioner.

The sensitivity of this position lies in the fact that the person responsible for it is responsible for the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and has powers to issue removal orders from it, and to control the work and behavior of the Israeli police inside it.

The goal of rotating positions

Al Jazeera Net asked writer and academic researcher Saher Ghazawi: What is Bin Ghafir planning in Al-Aqsa during the coming Ramadan that the commander of the Jerusalem region is not keeping up with?

Ghazzawi answered that under the current government – which is considered the most extremist in the history of Israel – National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seeks to tighten his control over the security services by restructuring their leadership on the basis of personal loyalty and ideological harmony, not professionalism.

From this standpoint, his effort to replace the commander of the Jerusalem region is considered a political step aimed at ensuring field leadership that matches his hard-line vision towards Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Ghazawi added that Ben Gvir’s plan revolves around imposing a stricter political security reality in the coming month of Ramadan by tightening restrictions on Palestinian worshipers and enhancing the presence of settlers inside the mosque, in an attempt to establish a gradual change in control over it.

“It seems that the current leader, Amir Arzani, did not respond to these trends, which prompted the minister to push for the appointment of Avshalom Peled, who is close to him, to ensure the implementation of his policies during the blessed month.”

A state of controversy among the corridors of the occupation police after the extremist minister (Ben Gvir) nominated his friend (Pelid); To become directly responsible for the police in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

⬅️Who is the likely candidate?
What does that mean?!https://t.co/RkZVF06aOU#Jerusalem_The_Compass pic.twitter.com/2G3Cbojv9u

– Jerusalem Compass (@alqudsalbawsala) November 12, 2025

In his answer to the same question, the academic and former media and public relations official at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Abdullah Marouf, said that Bin Ghafir, since assuming the portfolio of this ministry in early 2023, has been keen to appoint those close to him to sensitive positions.

Looking at the occupation’s preparations that preceded the month of Ramadan in the past two years, it becomes clear that the most prominent file for it was reducing the number of worshipers arriving to the mosque to the minimum for fear of any friction, and changing the procedure followed for years to prevent settlers from storming Al-Aqsa during the last ten days, in addition to preventing seclusion in the mosque on Friday and Saturday nights, which was implemented last Ramadan, and even trying to prevent it in the last ten days, according to Marouf.

A forward-looking outlook

When academic researcher Ghazawi was asked about the features of the upcoming month of Ramadan in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa in light of what is happening there daily and the unprecedented restrictions imposed on worshipers during Ramadan since the outbreak of war, he said, “In reality, it seems that we are facing a recurring scenario of escalation and violations, but at a higher pace during the coming year, as the upcoming Ramadan in Jerusalem is expected to be one of the most tense seasons compared to recent years in light of the continued escalation in Gaza and the West Bank, even if a ceasefire or official end is announced.” “For war.”

According to Ghazawi, the escalating Israeli measures in the Holy City and the Old City herald a new phase of systematic restrictions on worshipers by tightening age restrictions and reducing the number of people allowed to enter the mosque, in addition to intensifying barriers and checkpoints at its entrances and surroundings.

He added that additional restrictions will likely be imposed on collective prayers on the nights of Ramadan and the last ten nights under the pretext of “security,” while the police and military presence inside the courtyards will increase, turning worship into an experience subject to surveillance and control.

On the other hand, Ghazawi expressed his fear that the holy month would be exploited to expand the Jewish presence inside Al-Aqsa through organized settlers’ incursions in a way that would consolidate the gradual change in the “status quo,” transforming the place from a spiritual space into an arena of security control that reveals a deliberate path to reshaping the religious scene in Jerusalem in line with Ben Gvir’s vision aimed at reducing the Islamic presence and enhancing the symbolism of Israeli sovereignty.

Not far from that, academic Abdullah Maarouf said that we are facing a difficult month of Ramadan for the Holy City, especially if the ceasefire in Gaza continues until then, because the occupation claimed that it had intensified its measures in the past two years due to the war, and therefore it will have no pretexts in the next month of Ramadan, and yet it will continue to desanctify it through arbitrary measures.

Marouf added, “The occupation wants to remove everything related to the Islamic presence in terms of quantity and quality, and to establish a new reality in which Al-Aqsa is considered a shared sanctuary and in which the Jewish presence is superior to the Islamic presence and takes precedence over it, just as it did with the Islamic presence in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.”