The Marwani Mosque is an underground part of Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam and the first direction that Muslims faced when praying before the qibla (prayer direction) changed to Mecca.

After years of problems with Israel, the Waqf was able to open the mosque, allowing an additional capacity of 7,000 worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Compound, which also includes the golden Dome of the Rock mosque.

Many Jews claim that Al-Aqsa is the site of the main Jewish temple, destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. Jewish extremists wish to destroy the mosques and rebuild the temple. They also claim that the underground part of Al-Aqsa, the Marwani Mosque, is the site of Prophet Solomon's stables.

The director of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, Adnan Husseini, said that the only construction that went on was the excavation of a buried second door to the Marwani Mosque. "Last Saturday we opened a second exit to the Marwani Mosque to solve the problem of overcrowding of the mosque on Fridays and to prepare for the large amount of worshippers in Ramadan," he told Islam Online.

When the mosque had only one exit, it constituted a hazard and Waqf officials had to limit the amount of people allowed inside to keep safe.

Waqf officials have repeatedly stated that Israel has no business interfering in Al-Aqsa's affairs.

Israel argued that the Oslo agreements, signed with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993, forbid any changing of the status quo in Jerusalem. Palestinians pointed out that the Israelis do not consider the daily violations by Jews in Al-Aqsa to be a violation of the same accords.

Jews regularly sneak into Al-Aqsa Compound, disguised as tourists, and begin to pray. Several have tried to place bombs in the mosques, and others have burnt Al-Aqsa down (1969) or gone on a shooting spree inside (1982).

[The shooting spree was carried out by Alan Harry Goodman, who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Wearing an Israeli army uniform and carrying an M-16 automatic rifle issued weeks earlier, he fired upon Muslim worshippers at the Haram al-Sharif, killing one and wounding four. Goodman later said he committed the crime to "liberate the Temple Mount for the Jewish people." Goodman - who was a follower of the dead Rabbi Meir Kahane - was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 40 years, but released in 1997, after only 15 years. He returned to the United States.]

Israeli officials said they would not interfere in Al-Aqsa with force. "We must ensure the law is respected but show wisdom in doing so," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. He said he was in touch with Palestinian Authority officials to pressure Waqf leaders to stop any renovations in Al-Aqsa.

The Israeli mayor of the divided city of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, previously provoked major riots on issues regarding Jerusalem. Demonstrations broke out across Palestine when Olmert and then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a tunnel that runs near Al-Aqsa's foundations. More than 80 Palestinians and Israelis died in the clashes, which were the worst in 32 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.