What is "murabitat"

Murabitat (defenders of the faith, steadfast, or garrison soldiers) (“Murabitin”, "Mourabitoun" (males) and “Murabitat”, "Mourabitat" (females)) is an illegal Islamist movement of Muslim women funded by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. The group organises classes at Al Aqsa Mosque from learning how to read and write to university level and Islamic tajweed or the musical chanting of Quranic verses.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel left administrative oversight of the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Shariff to Jordan, which delegates authority to the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf. Israel maintains security control. A status quo was declared where Muslims have been allowed to pray atop the compound while non-Muslims were allowed to visit unobstructed but not allowed to pray. In this context, members of Murabitat movement also keep an eye on Jews visiting the compound and who would be "attempting to pray". Women from the organisation disrupted several such attempts by shouting at the groups, cursing, and by physical assault.