No Public Celebrations or Decorations in Jerusalem This Ramadan

“As we are speaking, people [in Gaza] are dying,” said Muntaser Idkedek, executive director of Burj al-Luqluq in Jerusalem on February 28, 2024, in an informal meeting with the Jerusalem Story team. “We have no heart to celebrate [Ramadan] in light of the gruesome events.”1

Burj al-Luqluq Social Center Society is one of the few Palestinian cultural organizations still functioning in Jerusalem. Among other things, it is known for creating a great atmosphere throughout the month of Ramadan. One of their delightful events, “Fawanees,” the Jerusalem Lantern Lighting, is eagerly anticipated by thousands of Jerusalemites each year. Held in coordination with other organizations, this annual event typically includes performances by established artists and residents eager to demonstrate their skills. Several local clubs, institutions, scout groups, and musicians participate in it.

Last year during Ramadan, Burj al-Luqluq lit up the largest lantern in its courtyards near Bab Hutta inside the Old City of Jerusalem.

This year, however, Burj al-Luqluq, as well as the other organizations and Jerusalem at large, will forgo the celebratory spirit.

The Islamic Waqf also announced that Ramadan decorations should not go up this year in solidarity with Gaza.

“People feel completely demoralized,” Muntaser told Jerusalem Story when asked about Ramadan activities this year. “They lost their spirit, so to speak,” he observed, in response to the gruesome news coming from Gaza but also to the fear that’s gripped Palestinian Jerusalemites since the war began. Muntaser explained that the random Israeli arrests (including of children and women), intimidation policies, harassment practices, and overall emergency laws the state passed against Palestinians have all made people frightened. “Each and every one of us has gotten a taste of discriminatory treatment within a racist state one way or another,” he shared.

Muntaser happened to be saying this as the results of the Israeli municipal elections were announced. The radical far-right and ultra-Orthodox Israeli parties won a majority of municipal seats, portending perhaps even darker days to come for the next several years.

Ramadan this year will be especially grim. “This comes as no surprise; Christmas festivities were also canceled in 2023. There’s no mood for celebrations in light of the circumstances,” he said.

In addition to the public mood, Muntaser said that a huge factor that will dampen and dim the otherwise festive season is the multitiered closures that the state has enforced on Palestinian Jerusalem since the start of the war.

Since October 7, 2023, almost all points of access to East Jerusalem for Palestinians from outside it have been fully or largely blocked during the day, and no permits were granted for Palestinians from outside the city to enter and visit.

For example, the peasant women who traditionally come to East Jerusalem from area villages to sell fresh produce (referred to colloquially as hajjat) have been among the thousands of people prohibited from entering Jerusalem for over four months, leaving sidewalks and Old City alleyways abnormally empty. Palestinians from other parts of the West Bank have lost all access to the city.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Jerusalemites themselves have been monitored, searched, and constantly stopped by police and questioned for months. This includes the densely populated neighborhoods beyond the Separation Wall, where at least 150,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites live behind checkpoints;2 these checkpoints have been open only minimally for a few hours a day, leading to huge backups and preventing Jerusalemites even from reaching their own city.

Israeli police checkpoints at the entrance to the Old City have been set up to prevent even Jerusalemites themselves from entering. Anyone wishing to do so must undergo a humiliating body-and-device search that can result in a detention at any time.

Access to al-Aqsa Mosque has been strictly limited and controlled now for months. Some even report that they might be ticketed or arrested if they merely sit on the steps leading to Bab al-Amud, the main entrance to the Muslim Quarter and a historically important community touchpoint.

Muntaser confirmed that although there will be no Ramadan celebrations in Jerusalem this year, “We will still stand by the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem; we will hold group prayers, and we will manifest our presence on the ground—no matter what.”