JERUSALEM — At a workshop on the edge of the Aqsa Mosque compound, Muhammad Rowdy spends hours hunched over panes of stained glass, painstakingly carving through white plaster to reveal geometric designs. While he works, there is a thought he can’t shake.
“You see this,” he said, pausing and leaning back, “this takes months to finish, and in one minute, in one kick, all this hard work goes.”
Mr. Rowdy and dozens of other Palestinian artisans and workers maintain and restore the historic mosques and other structures in the 35-acre Aqsa Mosque compound revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount. They are bracing for more unrest.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts on Wednesday and overlaps with the Jewish holiday of Passover in early April, raising worries that the larger numbers of worshipers and visitors to the contested site will increase the possibility of clashes.
The artisans there — including a gold-leaf specialist, coppersmiths and wood carvers — fear that their meticulous work will be destroyed, as has happened in years past. Their frustrations have been intensified by the tighter control Israel has exerted over the compound in recent years, making repairs more difficult.
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The workers at the mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, need approval from the Israeli authorities for repairs or replacements, down to every broken window or smashed tile, according to the workers, administrators of the site, and Israeli rights groups.
Jews believe that the compound is the location of two ancient temples and consider it the holiest site in Judaism. In recent years, Jewish worshipers have prayed inside the compound, a violation of an agreement that has been in place since 1967.
With the overlapping holidays this year, there are concerns that increased visits and unauthorized prayers could provoke further clashes between the Israeli police and Palestinians, as has been the case in previous years.
The atmosphere is already tense amid an escalation of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It has been the deadliest start of a year for Palestinians in the territory in more than two decades as settler violence increases and as Israel steps up lethal raids in response to a series of attacks by Palestinian armed groups.
Clashes at the Aqsa compound between baton-wielding riot police shooting tear gas and sponge-tipped bullets and Palestinians throwing stones and fireworks have left a trail of broken windows and other damage in recent years. After the violence, Mr. Rowdy and his colleagues are left to pick up the pieces.
Broken stained-glass windows line the top of the Qibli Mosque, one of two main structures inside the Aqsa compound, along with the Dome of the Rock, a gold-domed prayer hall.
The artisans say it can sometimes take years to secure approvals for repairs.
Hiba Yazbek and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.