https://arab.news/5cwqd
On Eid Al-Adha, as prayers and greetings traveled across communities, a troubling signal rose from West Jerusalem: an Israeli ministerial committee approved a measure that would reach into the soundscape of worship and hand new powers to police at sacred Muslim sites.
The bill — sponsored and advanced by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s party, which is part of Israel’s governing coalition — would require mosques to obtain authorization before using loudspeakers for the adhan (call to prayer) and would empower security forces to intervene more readily.
It would codify a regime where permission is the exception and prohibition the default, setting a threshold that could suspend a core element of Islamic worship the moment a permit is deemed violated. The penalties would be steep, including fines and the confiscation of loudspeakers. The measure suggests fines of 50,000 shekels ($17,400) for operating loudspeakers without a permit and 10,000 shekels for noncompliance.
The legislation goes beyond noise or procedure. It sits at the heart of a protracted dispute over freedom of worship and raises questions about the historic rights of ownership, management and access to Jerusalem’s most sacred sites.
The Hashemite custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy places, anchored in Jordan’s historic role, has long provided a practical framework for protecting sanctity and safeguarding a shared space around Al-Aqsa and its related shrines. Its foundations rest on religious legitimacy, historical memory and a web of legal commitments that bind regional actors to upholding the 19th-century status quo agreement and the broader understandings among the US, Israel and Jordan, along with the related international instruments that aim to prevent flare-ups that could ignite regional tensions.
Reports of behind-the-scenes efforts to alter custodianship have deepened anxieties in Amman and across the region
Daoud Kuttab
Religious legitimacy stems from the Hashemite lineage’s ties to the Prophet Muhammad and from the widely understood duty to guard Al-Aqsa as a sacred obligation. Consolidated in 1924, the custodianship has endured through shifting sovereignty, linking Jordan’s national identity to the city and its governance. Legally, it is reflected in international and bilateral instruments recognizing the shared stewardship of Jerusalem’s holy places — often invoked in diplomacy to avert crises.
Taken together, these strands offer more than ceremonial authority: they provide a framework for the peaceful, lawful administration of spaces sacred to Muslims and Christians alike.
The Islamic-Christian Commission for the Support of Jerusalem and its Holy Sites has warned that measures restricting the Waqf, the Jordanian-administered authority responsible for the upkeep and care of Al-Haram Al-Sharif, threaten the operation of the sacred precinct. When maintenance teams find their duties obstructed or restoration and protection work is delayed or blocked, the effect is more than administrative inconvenience — it is a strategic move that could erode the authority that has safeguarded the status quo and invite broader interference in religious affairs, compromising the safety and trust that have prevented worse clashes.
International voices have urged vigilance. Jordan has emphasized anchoring Jerusalem’s management in a triad of religious legitimacy, historical continuity and formal legal recognition — a posture reinforced by diplomacy and practical stewardship. The broader Arab and Muslim worlds and international organizations have called for restraint and adherence to the agreed frameworks that protect access to worship and the integrity of holy sites.
Reports of behind-the-scenes efforts to alter custodianship have deepened anxieties in Amman and across the region about preserving the city’s sacred character and the risk of a broader political pivot that could destabilize the fragile status quo.
A stark reminder of these risks came on May 14, when Ben-Gvir sparked regional controversy by leading a group into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. During the visit, he raised an Israeli flag, danced, sang religious songs and declared: “The Temple Mount is in our hands.” This incident underscores the immediate, real-world stakes of the policy tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa and the need to prioritize careful stewardship and inclusive dialogue over actions that could escalate conflict.
International bodies have a role in monitoring compliance with commitments that protect sacred spaces
Daoud Kuttab
The path forward should begin with reaffirming the Hashemite custodianship in international forums and in dialogue with regional and local actors. Any regulation of worship spaces must respect freedom of worship and avoid becoming a lever for demographic or political change that would inflame tensions.
A defensible approach would involve transparent, inclusive discussions with Waqf authorities with Jordanian oversight, ensuring public safety and order without obstructing prayer or the transmission of the adhan. International bodies have a role in monitoring compliance with commitments that protect sacred spaces and the rights of worshippers, as well as in discouraging unilateral moves that threaten to erode a delicate peace that has held for years.
The juxtaposition of Eid Al-Adha greetings and Israeli policy moves to curb religious expression in one of the world’s most contested spiritual spaces underscores a simple, urgent truth: Jerusalem’s sanctity is a living test of diplomacy, law and restraint. Al-Aqsa Mosque is not merely a physical relic; it is a living holy site that witnesses faithful prayers from Jerusalem, Palestine and around the world within the limits Israel sets.
Jerusalem’s holy sites are a durable trust that binds faith, history and law in a city whose outcomes matter far beyond its borders. The international community must respond with seriousness and resolve, defending the status quo and ensuring that religious freedom and sacred spaces are protected for all who revere them, even amid disputes over sovereignty, security and the future of Jerusalem.
• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine Now: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab
