Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Selfies at Jerusalem Holy Site Are Palestinian Trend

Palestinians young and old have jumped on a trend for taking “selfies” at Al Aqsa, the 8th century Muslim shrine in Jerusalem, both as a personal memento and for relatives prevented from visiting the ancient compound.

While selfies are hardly new, Palestinians have embraced the phenomenon during the holy month of Ramadan as a way of showing their presence at Islam’s third holiest site.

“We took it as a memory, because maybe we won’t be able to come again next Ramadan,” said Shorouq, a young woman from the occupied West Bank snapping pictures with her friend Shahira, both dressed in brightly colored headscarves in the sunshine.

“We took a selfie with the Dome of the Rock!” said Shahira, referring to the golden-domed, ornately tiled octagon, from where the Prophet Mohammad is said to have ascended to heaven.

The shrine-selfie is also popular among Jews, who refer to the area as Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism and the site of a Jewish temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Jews are allowed to visit the area in small numbers, but like other non-Muslims they are forbidden to pray, a source of increasing religious tension in Jerusalem.

Israel, which controls access to the ancient stone plaza lined by cypress trees and fountains, initially issued a large number of permits for Palestinians to visit this Ramadan.

But after a series of attacks targeting Israelis during the first week of the holy month, restrictions were reimposed.

Still, hundreds of thousands of Muslims from the West Bank, Gaza, Israel and further afield are expected to visit over the course of Ramadan, which ends around July 17. On the first Friday, 80,000 Muslims prayed at Al Aqsa, Israeli police said.

Many of those taking selfies were holding up hand-written notes addressed to relations who were not able to be there.

“This message is for my relatives and son because they are not allowed to enter Jerusalem,” said Ibtisam Thaher, a mother from the West Bank city of Ramallah.

On a piece of paper she had written: “Al Aqsa’s minarets are calling you and praying for you, Amjad.”

“They wanted to have a presence at Al Aqsa during Ramadan,” she said. “I hope that I achieved their wish and that God considers that they prayed here.”

Ameer Taha, from Jerusalem, held up a note for his mother’s family, who he said were prevented from coming to Jerusalem by Israeli security forces.

“We take these pictures because we really care about them and want them to enter Al Aqsa (through the pictures),” he said.

Mahdi al-Karaki, from Hebron in the West Bank, said he just wanted to capture a piece of personal history.

“I haven’t been to Al Aqsa for 20 years,” he said. “It’s a memory from Al Aqsa that I will post on Facebook.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version