Close to the very heart of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, any issue that touches upon or interferes with Al Haram Al Sharif is highly contentious, must be treated with utmost sensitivity and needs the gentlest of diplomatic or administrative touches lest it provoke fury and anger with every Muslim. The area that also contains Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock is the third-holiest site in Islam. Given Israel’s illegal and immoral occupation and its annexation of East Jerusalem since 1967, Al Haram Al Sharif remains a flashpoint, one where the occupation forces lack tack, sensitivity, gravitas and any legitimate standing.

After an incident in the occupied city last week in which two occupation forces policemen were killed, Israeli authorities abruptly shut down access to Al Haram Al Sharif, determining the gunmen had allegedly initiated their attack from the site. That’s a claim that has been disputed by Palestinians and it’s one that cannot be verified given that the forces of occupation use any and every means at their disposal to reinforce or justify their illegal presence in occupied East Jerusalem.

It needs to be remembered that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has, over the past five years, taken a series of measures and endorsed the actions of right-wing Jewish radicals to intrude upon long-established Muslim rights at Al Haram Al Sharif. There is nothing Netanyahu and his rabbis would love more than to freeze out every Muslim from the site and impose Jewish exclusivity on the compound — and that certainly includes making an unverifiable claim that the killers of two policemen used the site as cover for their attack.

It’s a claim that stretches good conscience, credulity and credibility considering the larger Zionist agenda at play. To further antagonise Muslims in the occupied city, Israeli occupation forces have now installed cameras, security gates and metal detectors at Muslim entrances to Al Haram Al Sharif — measures that have resulted in the faithful refusing to enter to pray, and the Muslim Waqf Department in occupied East Jerusalem refused to unlock the gates of the shrine in protest.

These are not security measures — they are meant to frustrate the faithful who have agreed and historic rights to unencumbered access to the holy shrine. They are the latest insults against Muslims, a long list that also includes the banning of the call to prayer.

This is Israeli intimidation — and nothing more.