Thousands of Palestinians answered a call to action on Arab media by arriving at the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, on Friday morning, purportedly for prayer.  Palestinians who arrived at the site reportedly chanted, “With our blood and souls we will redeem you, al-Aqsa.”

Al Aqsa mosque, literally ‘the further mosque’, is mentioned in the Koran as a place where Mohammad prayed. According to most Islamic scholars, it is located Al-Ju’ranah near Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. Some Muslims believe it is the grey domed mosque located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Palestinian leadership has been using the term ‘Al Aqsa’ to refer to the golden-domed Dome of the Rock, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra in Arabic, as well as the entire Temple Mount in an agenda of disinformation.

The Waqf, the custodial authority which managed the edifices on the Temple Mount, called the ruling a “flagrant violation” of the compound’s sanctity and a “clear provocation” for Muslims worldwide.

“This decision also has no legitimacy because we do not recognize Israeli law on al-Aqsa,” mosque director Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani told AFP.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh called on the United States to intervene to prevent Jews from having the right to pray on the Temple Mount. He also called on Arab countries to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza recognized by many countries around the world as a terrorist organization, called the move a “blatant aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a clear declaration of a war that goes beyond political rights to an aggression against religion and sanctities”. The group said in a statement that the “resistance is ready and prepared to repel aggression and defend rights.”

The Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Yousef Al-Othaimeen, said in a statement that the ruling is a provocation to Muslims globally.

“Such illegal decisions constitute an unprecedented attack on the inalienable religious rights of the Islamic nation and its heritage, a provocation to the feelings of Muslims all over the world, and a violation of freedom of worship and the sanctity of holy places,” he said.

“We warn against Israel’s attempts to impose a new reality at the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Shtayyeh said on Thursday.

Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi said Palestinians are “facing an open war at all aspects of life”.

“No one single day passes without an Israeli decision or violation against the city and its residents, the last was a decision by an Israeli court to allow Jewish extremist groups to perform religious rituals inside Al-Aqsa Mosque complex,” Al-Hadmi said in a statement on Thursday. He described the court decision as a “dangerous and unprecedented development as the Israeli police turns a blind eye on extremist Jews performing Jewish rituals while storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex along with the increase in the numbers of (Israeli settlers) breaking into the Mosque.”

Al-Hadmi called on Arab and Islamic countries to stand against Israeli assaults and violations against Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

I3N correspondent Josh Wander is overlooking the Temple Mount, monitoring developments.

“Tensions are high around the Temple Mount and security is heightened in and around the Mount in an attempt to avoid any friction,” Wander said.

The court ruling on Wednesday lifted a police ban on Jewish to pray at their holiest site. The appeal to Jerusalem’s Magistrate Court was brought by Rabbi Aryeh Lippo.

“His daily Temple Mount attendance shows that this is a matter of principle and meaning for him,” Judge Bilha Yahalom noted in her ruling. “The appellant stood in the corner with a friend or two, there was no crowd around him, his prayer was quiet, whispered.”

The Israeli police appealed the ruling, arguing that Lippo engaged in “improper conduct in the public sphere.”

Journalist Arnon Segal emphasized that despite Yahalom’s sentiment, “the simple truth is that (Jewish) prayer is prohibited on the Temple Mount.”

“There’s no change in policy,” he wrote on Twitter, noting that on Thursday police had detained a Jewish man for silent prayer, and accusing the state of “trampling” the rights of those prevented from praying.

Segal further told AFP that not only was Yahalom’s ruling not a precedent, but it would more likely harm Jewish rights to pray at their holiest site.

“The harsh Palestinian reaction to the very weak ruling will deter the justice system and the state from even enabling quiet prayers,” he said.