(RNS) — Recently, Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a period of fasting, worship and spiritual rejuvenation. This week, Christians are preparing to enter the season leading to Easter, a time of reflection, worship and renewal in the Christian faith.
But instead of the prayer, joy and spiritual connection of this season, Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem are being met with locked gates and armed forces, as Israel has closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a dangerous escalation that has cast a pall over religious observances.
Israeli forces had already barred worshippers access to Al-Aqsa for Taraweeh prayers, the special nightly prayers offered during Ramadan. As the holy month was ending, they extended restrictions through the most sacred days of the month and beyond Eid.
In an unprecedented move, the authorities blocked off the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians worldwide as the place where Jesus was laid after he was crucified. The closure will impact Holy Week and Easter observances.
These aren’t merely political developments amid widening regional instability and conflict. Holding the holy sites of the two largest faith communities in the world hostage is a profound moral catastrophe.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam, deeply embedded in the spiritual consciousness of approximately 2 billion people worldwide. It connects Muslims to our earliest history. Every prayer offered there carries special significance. Israel is violating the irreplaceable continuity of worship there, just as worshippers are denied access to a church that has stood as a center of Christian worship for centuries, through wars and global upheaval. Priests and pilgrims have been blocked entry, and all services have been canceled. The silence imposed on these holy sites echoes far beyond Jerusalem, reverberating through faith communities worldwide.
A locked door and empty stairs leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, closed to visitors amid heightened security during the war with Iran, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
One of the most persistent misconceptions is that Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine is a religious conflict. It is not. For centuries, Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in Jerusalem with a shared sense of coexistence.
What we’re witnessing today isn’t some inevitable outcome of ancient divisions, but the consequence of modern virulent ideologies rooted in domination, dispossession and inequality. It reveals a broader reality that Palestinian identity, regardless of faith, is being systematically subdued and erased by Israel. Restricting worship, militarizing and sealing off sacred spaces, obstructing religious services all point to the systematic erosion of religious freedom and the deliberate suppression of faith under occupation.
Despite this evident and profound injustice, worshippers remain steadfast. Palestinian Muslims continue to gather as close as they can to Al-Aqsa, forming prayer lines in the streets, on sidewalks and at checkpoints. They remain rooted in the knowledge that these spaces are sacred trusts that cannot be erased by weapons, barriers or force. The fact that these gatherings continue to be allowed shows that the closure of Al-Aqsa is not about security. It is about control.
Those who are praying in the street risk arrest, injury, even death, but their prayers are a powerful act of resistance against the erasure of their sacred rights. Under the harsh scrutiny of surveillance, they continue to uphold a trust that they inherited. This resilience, born of both conviction and experience, is a reminder that faith cannot be extinguished by occupation. And the burden to lift this occupation can’t be carried by faith alone.
This moment demands a global unified response. Muslims and Christians worldwide must recognize that this oppression is interconnected. We must speak out not only for our own communities, but also for one another. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes freedom of religion as a basic, fundamental right precisely because it’s tied to other essential freedoms. It affirms the sanctity of human dignity.
Denial of religious freedom threatens foundational rights everywhere. Silence in this moment is a betrayal of these faith communities.
What’s at stake is not only access to sacred spaces. It’s the principle that no government should have the power to decide who may or may not pray, when or where.
Faith leaders, policymakers and advocates must act with urgency to raise awareness and demand religious freedom be protected in Jerusalem, unrestricted access to these holy sites be restored and policies be implemented and enforced that address the root causes of these injustices: occupation, displacement and systemic inequality.
Americans must act swiftly to add our voices to the growing chorus calling on our government to take swift action.
These are urgent demands, and our shared humanity requires that we uplift them together.
(Zainab Chaudry is Maryland director of the Council on American Islamic Relations. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)