Ramadan Starts on a Hopeful Note

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers converged Friday on one of the most sacred sites in Islam to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a peaceful outpouring made all the more remarkable by weeks of angry wrangling that had preceded it.

Israel and the Palestinians had quarreled over whether it was safe for large crowds to congregate in the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City. Israeli antiquities experts argued that parts of the plateau were dangerously unstable due to the shifting of centuries-old debris. Palestinians alleged a politically motivated effort to prevent worshipers from attending prayers.

But in the days and hours before the start of Ramadan, the two sides did something highly uncharacteristic: They talked. And they compromised.

As a result, and somewhat to the surprise of both parties, about 90,000 Muslims attended prayers at the hilltop complex Friday, the Islamic Sabbath, without incident.

In a region dotted with disputed shrines, few are more hotly contested than the brilliantly tiled compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al Sharif, or noble sanctuary.

And few times of the year are more volatile than Ramadan, which began Friday. It is a month of fasting, prayer and contemplation, but also a season with a long tradition of heightened tension between Jews and Muslims, which at times boils over into bloodshed.

Israeli archeologists say parts of the hilltop site have been weakened by unmonitored excavations and a strong earthquake this year, which left the layers of ancient constructs vulnerable to a collapse.

Citing those warnings, Israel in recent weeks had threatened to limit the number of worshipers allowed into the Al Aqsa compound during Ramadan. The Waqf, the Jerusalem-based Islamic trust that oversees the site, had responded with angry accusations of a Zionist plot to prevent Muslims from visiting a holy place during a holy time.

With the holy season nearing, Israel repeatedly sent emissaries not only to the Waqf, but to other interested parties -- religious authorities in Jordan, the king of Morocco and European envoys -- who examined the evidence of geologic instability submitted by Israeli experts.

Afterward, the Waqf agreed to cordon off danger spots to lessen the possibility of a collapse. On the eve of Ramadan, Israeli National Police Chief Moshe Karadi made a personal visit, inspecting scaffolding, roped-off areas and burlap sheeting. He said he was satisfied with the steps taken.

The Israeli government late Thursday rescinded its threat to limit the number of worshipers. And although Israeli security was heavy, most worshipers reached the compound unimpeded on Friday.

The start of Ramadan was also cited by Israeli military sources as a factor in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to scale back Israel’s biggest offensive in years in the northern Gaza Strip, now in its third week.

More than 110 Palestinians have been killed in the massive incursion, code-named Days of Reckoning. Israel launched the operation after homemade rockets fired by Palestinian militants from near the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza killed two children in the Israeli town of Sderot.

Israeli troops and armor withdrew late Friday from Jabaliya and its outskirts, but some elements remained in place, particularly in the strategic high ground overlooking areas from which Palestinian militants have fired rockets.

In the context of the sometimes violent history surrounding the hilltop site in Jerusalem, the peaceful Friday worship was an unusually harmonious denouement. The Palestinian uprising, now in its fifth year, is widely referred to as the “Al Aqsa intifada,” because it was triggered in part when Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, visited the site accompanied by a huge security contingent.

Throughout the current conflict, Friday prayers at the compound have often served as a prelude to confrontations between worshipers and Israeli security forces. Israel has responded with repeated clampdowns on access to the shrine, including restrictions on visits by men younger than 45 or West Bank residents.

Furious clashes have also been set off by Palestinians on the plateau throwing stones at Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall just below.

The compromise did not entirely dispel mutual mistrust. Waqf director Adnan Husseini said he believed that Israel wanted to assert its own claim to the site “and one day take it over.” Some Israeli antiquities officials said that the measures did not go far enough and that larger crowds expected at the end of Ramadan would pose new dangers. But it seemed likely that repairs would go ahead.

Israeli and Palestinian media reported that Jordanian experts came to Jerusalem this week to designate areas that would need shoring up.

Many appeared to be taking the warnings seriously. As prayers were about to commence, a Palestinian, Abdul Rahman Salem, showed his young son the roped-off area and explained to him that they were not entering it because of the danger.

Special correspondent Maher Abukhater contributed to this report.