As happens every year, the Temple Mount will be open to Jews only in the morning hours, beginning next week, due to the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Visiting hours for Jews at the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem, are to be held from 7:30 am to 11:00 am.
But this year the schedule is a complex one, because Ramadan falls during the Hebrew month of Iyar – during which there are five significant days on the calendar of the State of Israel, two of which are also significant holidays on the Jewish calendar.
Those state holidays include:
Memorial Day, Yom Ha’Atzma’ut (Israel Independence Day), Pesach Sheni (Second Passover), Lag B’Omer, and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day.)
On each of those days, Jews from around the world flock to visit the Temple Mount, but it’s not clear this year how many of those visitors will actually be able to enter the compound, or how long they’ll be able to stay.