RAMALLAH, West Bank — Tension is ongoing at Al-Aqsa Mosque, with daily raids by settlers and Israeli police and what is seen as an increasing attempt by Israeli authorities to bring about changes in the mosque and undermine the sovereignty of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (religious endowment). It is also seen as an attempt to undermine the Jordanian guardianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites and impose Israeli sovereignty.

On Sept. 6, Israeli police set up ladders at the entrance and minaret of Bab al-Asbat Gate and mounted them to install huge loudspeakers on the northwestern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The devices were placed on the roof of Al-Aqsa High School adjacent to the Bab al-Asbat minaret and on the roof of the Islamic School for Girls adjacent to Al-Silsila Gate. Two devices were placed on Bab al-Hadid.

Mohammed al-Ashhab, director of public relations and media at the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, told Al-Monitor the Waqf had earlier rejected a request by Israeli police to open the door to the Bab al-Asbat minaret to cross from it to the roof of the northern Al-Aqsa Mosque wall and install loudspeakers. After the refusal, he explained, the police used ladders to reach the roof and forcibly installed them.

Ashhab said four loudspeakers have been installed on the northern and western walls of the mosque, which are supplementary devices for surveillance cameras and sensors that police have installed there over the past years in order to monitor the worshippers, noting that Jordan is now associated with this new violation by virtue of its guardianship over the mosque.