Palestine: Craftsmen in Al-Aqsa Mosque carefully trim pieces of glass and carve out gypsum, creating intricate patterns in window frames. The painstaking work is part of restoring windows damaged during violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in the compound of the mosque in May this year. It takes place in a shed at the foot of the Al-Aqsa Mosque where four workers take turns in molding the frames, carving out the gypsum and then placing the tiny pieces of colored glass into them. The glass pieces are placed at an angle so that sunlight does not directly shine onto the Muslim faithful inside the mosque. "Wherever there are repairs, we do it all for the sake of Al-Aqsa," says Alaa Mokhtaseb, one of the repairmen in the mosque.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is also known as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary.
The site is also holy for Jews, being the location of two ancient temples destroyed in antiquity. To the Jews it is known as the Temple Mount.
Many rounds of deadly fighting in the decades-long conflict in the Middle-East have erupted around the holy site, most recently in May, when violent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters helped precipitate an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip.
During the May violence, Israeli police raided the site and threw stun grenades and tear gas at rock-throwing Palestinians.
At least eight stained glass windows were broken or damaged during the clashes, says Bassam Hallak, head of Al-Aqsa restoration committee which oversees restoration work at the compound.
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Hallak said they run into frequent difficulties with the Israeli authorities blocking access to materials needed for the restoration work.
"We ask for five liters of paint, they give permission for half a liter. This is kind of the pressure on us…to put their hand on everything," he said.
Palestinians have long feared that Israel may change facts on the ground at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and partition the site, similar to the situation at the Hebron holy site revered by Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and by Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Hallak said at least six months are needed to repair one single window and glass is mostly brought in from Italy.
Israel captured the hilltop shrine along with the rest of east Jerusalem and the walled Old City in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, a move unrecognized by most of the international community.
The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.
The flashpoint site is the emotional epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group in May left over 260 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
READ: Israeli Police storm Al-Aqsa Mosque after Friday prayers
It was the fourth war between the bitter enemies since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
Israeli aircraft struck hundreds of targets in Gaza, while Hamas launched over 4,000 rockets at Israel.
In a first, the violence also spilled over into clashes between Jews and Arabs inside Israel as well.
In Gaza, tens of thousands of homes were damaged and more than 2,000 others were destroyed.
(AP)