UK Front Pages — Fri 10 Jul editions (latest published)
🕰 Context — Al-Aqsa: a compact timeline
- 638 CE Caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb enters Jerusalem; Muslim custodianship of the Haram begins.
- 691–705 Umayyads complete the Dome of the Rock and the Qibli Mosque; the whole 144-dunam compound constitutes al-Masjid al-Aqṣā in the Islamic tradition.
- 1099 / 1187 Crusader conquest; recovered by Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn, who restores Muslim worship.
- 1516–1917 Ottoman era; custodianship formalised through waqf endowments.
- 1924 Hashemite (Jordanian) custodianship of Jerusalem's holy sites begins; the Supreme Muslim Council administers the compound.
- 1967 Israel occupies East Jerusalem. The "Status Quo": the Jordan-administered Islamic Waqf manages the compound; non-Muslims may visit but not pray inside.
- 1969 Arson attack destroys Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn's minbar in the Qibli Mosque.
- 2000 Ariel Sharon's visit to the compound; outbreak of the Second Intifada.
- 2003 Israel resumes non-Muslim visits via the Maghariba Gate without Waqf consent; settler "Temple movement" incursions grow year on year.
- 2017 Metal-detector crisis: mass prayer protests force removal of new gates infrastructure.
- 2021–24 Repeated Ramadan escalations; incursion numbers reach record highs; Israeli ministers publicly visit the compound.
- 2025–26 Unprecedented escalation: longest closure of the mosque since 1967 (Feb–Apr 2026), Torah scrolls and public Talmudic ritual inside the compound, extended incursion hours, open calls for a synagogue within the mosque precincts, and a Knesset bill to restrict the adhān in Jerusalem's mosques.
