The streets of Jerusalem have been filled with colorful lanterns and ornate Ramadan decorations on Monday as Palestinians prepared for a holy week.
The Ramadan is expected to start on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, “The mood in the Old City was far more joyful than last year when prayers were suspended at the Dome of Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.
Although, Jerusalem is still without foreign tourists, far more people were roaming the Old City, where shops reported brisk business.
One of the shoppers, Mohammed Abu Sbeih said, “Because of covid-19, the situation has been bad for the merchants and the people, adding that, now with the coronavirus, the situation is better.”
Israel has included Palestinians in East in its swift rollout of vaccines. It annexed the Eastern half of the City after capturing it along the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.
But it is not clear if Palestinians from the occupied West Bank would come to Al-Aqsa during Ramadan as previous years.
An Israel military sources announced that no decision has been made on holiday permits.
The situation may be complicated by the far slower pace of vaccinations carried out by the Palestinian authorities than in Israel which has faced international calls to ensure that Palestinians are inoculated.”
