Murabitat

The Murabitat were female groups associated with the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel; corresponding male groups were known as Murabitun.[5][3] They became prominent in disputes over access to the Temple Mount during 2013–2015, when women maintained a regular presence near Al-Aqsa Mosque during non-Muslim visiting hours. Sources variously describe that presence as religious study and ribat, counter-mobilization against Jewish visitors, or organized harassment, reflecting the contested political and religious setting in which the groups operated.[6][7]

The Murabitat developed within an organizational structure associated with the Northern Faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel.[2][5] Both the male Murabitun and the female Murabitat were preceded by religious study groups known as Masatib al-'Ilm (“Benches of Learning”), which the Northern Islamic Movement organized and tasked with maintaining a protective presence at Al-Aqsa Mosque.[1][6] The BESA Center reports that the Murabitun were founded in 2010, though no separate founding date is given for the Murabitat specifically.[1]

An N12 investigative report from November 2014 described the Murabitat as the female wing of the Murabitun organization, associated with the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement and its leader, Sheikh Raed Salah.[8] The broader Murabitun organization was estimated at more than 1,000 people overall, though that figure encompassed the organization as a whole rather than the female groups alone.[8] Organized male and female activism at the Temple Mount intensified significantly during 2013–2015, with a Jerusalem Institute report stating that hundreds of men and women received monthly stipends from Hamas and Northern Islamic Movement sources.[6]

The U.S. State Department's 2015 International Religious Freedom Report described the Murabitat as groups of women associated with the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement who reportedly entered the Temple Mount compound as worshippers to “‘defend’ the Al-Aqsa Mosque” from those they perceived as seeking to take control of it. The report presented the payment and organizational relationship as reported claims rather than independently established facts.[5]

The Murabitat's primary arena of activity was the Temple Mount — Judaism's holiest site and home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound — during morning hours when the site was open to non-Muslim tourists and Jewish visitors.[6] The Jerusalem Institute report describes their activities as counter-mobilization against Jewish religious or ideological visitors, with women and men surrounding and harassing Jewish groups and chanting “Allahu Akbar” during morning hours.[6] N12 reported that hundreds of activists were present on a typical day, studying the Quran near the mosque and responding to Jewish presence with chants of “Al-Aqsa is in danger, Allahu Akbar.”[8] The report also said the group transported activists from northern Israel and recruited women in East Jerusalem to sustain a regular presence.[8]

Israeli and security-oriented sources characterize the groups' conduct as going beyond vocal protest. The BESA Center names Hanadi Halawani, Khadija Hawis, and Sahar Natsheh among women who led groups that it says frequently attacked police officers and worshippers.[1] Tour guide Aviya Fraenkel, as reported by The Times of Israel, described Murabitat members lying on the ground to block visitors, throwing water balloons, olives, and stones over police officers, and said police protected visitors with their bodies.[9]

Activists interviewed by The Times of Israel in September 2015 offered a contrasting self-description. One activist identifying herself as Aisha said the women came to pray and take Quran lessons, characterizing their activity as informal: “We teach each other.”[9] Another activist, Um Ismail, said she had studied at Al-Aqsa for five years and feared that access restrictions could evolve into a permanent division of prayer times between Jews and Muslims, analogous to the arrangement at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.[9] A U.S. State Department report said the groups reportedly had no official membership structure.[3]

A peer-reviewed study hosted by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev places women's activism at Al-Aqsa within a longer trajectory. Muslim women began appearing in the public arena around holy sites in the 1990s, using ribat — sustained physical presence in holy places — as a religious method in the Palestinian national struggle and to object to Israeli control over holy sites.[7] The study notes that this activism also involved challenging Israeli authority and seeking greater equality for women in Palestinian society.[7]

Multiple sources report that Murabitat and Murabitun activists received financial payments, though these accounts are attributed claims rather than independently established facts. The Jerusalem Institute report states that hundreds of men and women received monthly stipends from Hamas and Northern Islamic Movement sources.[6] N12 reported monthly payments of 1,500–4,000 shekels depending on activists' level of activity and persistence, and alleged that an Israeli association called Imara al-Aqsa served as a channel for Hamas funds to the organization.[8]

Police said they had compiled prima facie evidence of a network making payments to male and female activists who were banned from the Mount during Jewish visiting hours. Three men were subsequently indicted on charges including property transactions for the purpose of terror and membership in a prohibited organization.[10] The Jerusalem Institute report likewise describes the Northern Islamic Movement as organizing the study groups and states that participants received stipends from Hamas and movement sources.[6] The Washington Institute describes the Islamic Movement's operative slogan as “al-Aqsa is in danger,” situating the groups' presence within Palestinian fears that Israel intended to establish a Jewish foothold or impose divided control over the compound.[11]

Israeli authorities began restricting the groups' activity as early as 2013, when security officials started constricting their access and closing funding sources.[6] At the beginning of 2014, police prevented Murabitat from entering the Temple Mount compound during morning visiting hours — formally until 11 a.m. — after which the women demonstrated in HaGai Street near the site entrances.[6] When some women complained they could not pray at the mosque, police attempted to distinguish those they considered “provocative” from others and issued personalized entry cards to the latter.[6]

In August 2015, Israeli police on several days barred all Muslim women, regardless of age, from visiting the site during non-Muslim visiting hours. Police also issued blacklists barring at least 50 Muslim women whom authorities accused of verbally harassing Jewish visitors; the report does not establish that every woman affected was a Murabitat activist.[3] By early September 2015, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan ordered Murabitat activists removed from the Temple Mount during morning visiting hours, with the Jerusalem Police citing disruption of order and security considerations.[9]

On September 8, 2015 — following a formal request from Erdan to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon — the Murabitat and Murabitun were declared illegal organizations.[12] The defense minister's office stated that their activities were “a central component in the creation of tension and violence on the Temple Mount in particular, and Jerusalem in general,” and described their conduct as dangerous incitement against visitors and worshippers that could lead to violence and endanger lives.[13] The Washington Institute reports that after the ban, the number and severity of clashes with Israeli police declined sharply.[11]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for the groups to be outlawed as early as November 2014.[6] The INSS notes that the defense minister's classification of the groups as illegal, alongside increased Jewish visitation and attempts to bypass the ban on Jewish prayer, was regarded by those it characterizes as “inciters of escalation” as evidence that Israel intended to change the status quo on the Mount.[2]

The Jerusalem Institute report says police allowed the Murabitat back onto the compound before October 30, 2015, subsequently limiting their activity to the mosque area itself.[6] On November 17, 2015, the government declared the Northern Islamic Movement an illegal organization, accusing it of undermining the state and inciting violence. Security services subsequently raided affiliated offices, seized property, and froze suspected organizational bank accounts.[4] This November action concerned the broader movement and was distinct from the September action against the Murabitat and Murabitun groups.[4][3]

The Murabitat became significant beyond their immediate activity because their presence, restriction, and prohibition were incorporated into competing narratives about the Temple Mount status quo. The Washington Institute places the groups within Palestinian fears that Israel intended to establish a Jewish foothold or divide control of the compound, while INSS says restrictions on the groups were portrayed by inciters as evidence of an intended status-quo change.[2][11] The episode also formed part of a broader development in Muslim women's public activism, combining religious presence, Palestinian nationalism, resistance to Israeli authority, and demands for greater social equality.[7]

The legal actions against the Murabitat and the Northern Branch generated political responses. Arab Israeli politicians, including Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi, said the government's November 2015 decision to declare the Northern Branch illegal was motivated more by political considerations than by genuine security concerns.[5] Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with Murabitun representatives in June 2016 and praised their role in defending holy sites, though that meeting concerned the male counterpart specifically.[13]

At a courthouse gathering for Sheikh Raed Salah, members identified as Murabitun and Murabitat chanted: “In blood and fire we will redeem Al-Aqsa!”[1] After being barred during morning visiting hours in September 2015, several dozen activists gathered each morning near the Chain Gate — where tourists exit the Temple Mount — holding signs asserting their right to enter Al-Aqsa and chanting that they were not terrorists.[9] As the 11 a.m. opening of general visiting hours approached, the women prayed in the adjacent alleyway behind three male prayer leaders.[9]

Accounts of the Murabitat's objectives and conduct differ substantially. Israeli security and policy sources characterize the groups as an instrument of the Northern Islamic Movement intended to obstruct Jewish access and provoke disturbances, while the Washington Institute places their presence within Palestinian fears of Israeli encroachment on Al-Aqsa's status.[1][11] A Jerusalem Institute event summary describes the women as provoking Jewish pilgrims, whereas the Ben-Gurion University study frames women's activism in the broader contexts of ribat, Palestinian national struggle, opposition to Israeli control of holy sites, and changing women's social roles.[7][14]

Claims about Hamas funding, payment of individual activists, and the groups' direct organizational relationship to the Northern Faction appear in Israeli institutional, police, and news accounts. The U.S. State Department qualifies the payment and organizational relationship as reported rather than independently established.[5] Activists interviewed at the site instead described their activities as prayer and Quran study and characterized the restrictions as an infringement on their right to worship.[9]

The timing and scope of access restrictions in 2015 are not fully consistent across sources. Reports describe distinct stages involving police removal orders, the September outlawing of the Murabitat and Murabitun, partial returns of access, and the separate November declaration against the Northern Islamic Movement.[6][4] These measures should not be conflated into a single action.