Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
The land of the Haram al-Sharif complex is holy to both Muslims and Jews.....The Old City is in East Jerusalem, and, for the moment, a Jordanian-funded Waqf exercises nominal control of Al-Aqsa. But the real control belongs to the occupying power, with predictable results: Israelis regularly tour Al-Aqsa, while Palestinians are barred from the Western Wall. We stood at the Lion’s Gate for the next forty-five minutes or so, talking amongst ourselves, unsure of what was happening or why we had been stopped. Was it that we had cameras? Was it that our guide was Jordanian? No justifications were given, no questions asked, no instructions offered. The soldiers just stood there with their enormous guns, blocking the way. I leaned against a nearby wall and watched as groups of tourists streamed in and out of the Gate, unmolested and unquestioned. But no one visibly Muslim passed through the Lion’s Gate in all the time we were made to wait. I could not quite put words to what I was seeing, but watching those soldiers stand there and steal our time, the sun glinting off their shades like Georgia sheriffs, I could feel the lens of my mind curving to refract the blur of new and strange events.
None of this makes any sense - until you realize that Coates is not describing Lion's Gate but the Mughrabi (Moroccan) Gate. The Mughrabi Gate is the only gate to the Temple Mount that the Waqf allows non-Muslims to use for visiting the Temple Mount complex. (They hold the keys to all other gates.)
There are about half a dozen accessible gates to the Temple Mount. For all of them but this one, Muslims enter and exit pretty freely. There are no lines to enter using those gates except during major holidays and perhaps Fridays when tens of thousands go there to pray.
That's the reason Coates saw no Muslims entering. Those heavily armed guards were not there to prevent Muslim worshippers, who can stroll in through the other gates. Here's a Google Street View image of the entrance from the Cotton Merchants' Gate - no barriers, no turnstiles, no obvious metal detectors.
The guards at Mughrabi Gate are there to protect the tourists who have very limited hours that they can visit. They are there to block Jews and Christians from bringing in religious or political objects like prayerbooks or flags. They protect the Mount itself from fanatics like Denis Michael Rohan, the Christian who set part of the mosque on fire in 1969.
Those scary guards are there to make it difficult for non-Muslims, not Muslims.
