Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israeli bulldozers tore up the foundations of a planned mosque next to an important Christian church in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth on Tuesday. The demolition happened after a court said plans to build a town square could proceed.

And in Jerusalem, police confirmed on Tuesday that small groups of Jews and tourists are allowed to visit the Temple Mount once again after a hiatus of nearly three years.

The construction of the mosque in Nazareth, a city that already has at least 10 mosques, upset some Muslims and the Vatican. Christians of many denominations united in an effort to prevent construction so close to the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation, built on the site where Christian tradition says the Angel Gabriel visited the Virgin Mary and told her she would bear a child, the Son of God. Nazareth is the boyhood town of Jesus.

The controversy erupted in 1997, when the city of Nazareth announced plans to build a town square and a piazza for Christian pilgrims near the Basilica of the Annunciation. To make room, the city tore down a small, abandoned Muslim school.

The Islamic Movement protested by erecting a giant tent-mosque on the triangular plot of land, claiming it had a right to build a mosque there because a great Islamic figure (Shihab a-Din, the nephew of the great Islamic conqueror Salah a-Din) was buried nearby.

Fearing a Muslim backlash, the government agreed in 1999 to allow the building of a small mosque in the area, angering the Vatican and local residents and threatening Pope John Paul II's planned to the Holy Land.

But construction began without permit for a much larger mosque in the center of the plot in 2001. The following year, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stopped the construction on the grounds that the Muslims had no permits.

About 500 policemen and security personnel were on hand on Tuesday in Nazareth to forestall any problems with the demolition. But only a handful of protestors showed up.

According to police spokesman Gil Kleiman, seven people were arrested, including the city's deputy mayor Salman Abu Ahmed, who is also the head of the Islamic Movement in the city. But there was no violence, Kleiman said.

"There was a decision by the district court in Nazareth to allow the Ministry of Interior to proceed with construction there [of a plaza]," Kleiman said. The police were there to ensure calm, he added.

'War on Islam'

Israeli Arab Knesset Member Abdel Malik Dahamshe blasted the decision to go ahead with the construction. They're also upset about letting Jewish and Christian groups to once again visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, charging that President Bush's administration and Sharon had conspired together for a "war on Islam."

"The new crusade of the Bush-Sharon axis of evil in the world is against Islam. It's no wonder that on the same day, they demolish the foundations of the mosque in Nazareth, and announce visits on the Noble Sanctuary [the Temple Mount]," Dahamshe was quoted as saying.

Attorney Tawfik Abu Ahmed, the deputy mayor's brother and spokesman for the construction of the Shihab Mosque, said the police presence had created a feeling of "panic" in the city and the move to demolish the foundations was a wrong move.

"It was a big mistake [to demolish the foundations]," said Tawfik Abu Ahmed in a telephone interview. "A compromise was agreed upon. The court can't decide if a place is holy or not holy...These things are only to torpedo the relations between people," he said.

Abu Ahmed predicted that many people would return to the site and pray anyway.

According to Abu Ahmed, Shihab is very important in Muslim tradition and he said Shihab is buried there.

But the Interior Ministry said that the land is government owned, is not a holy place and was never used as a burial ground.

An alternative site on a larger plot of land has been provided 200 meters from the site for the building of a mosque, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Construction will now go forward on the original site according to approved plans for building a town square, the statement said.

Atef Mohammed Al-Fahoum, trustee of the White Mosque a block away from the Basilica, said the problem was a political one. Al-Fahoum, one of the city's patriarchs, was one of the few people to openly oppose the mosque construction several years ago, saying it was a political ploy on the part of extremists to gain power in the city.

He also warned that it would create trouble between the moderate Muslim and Christian residents of the town, who had lived together peacefully for decades.

"Since the problem happened seven years ago, it was a political problem," he said. "The government could decide to build the mosque, [or] forbid the building... It's the end of the play.... Today was the end of the play," he said.

When asked if he thought the current decision would cause further problems, he replied, "What will happen in the future is by orders from above [from God]. [He] wants to end the play."

David Parsons, spokesman for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, welcomed both the move to disallow the building of the mosque and to allow non-Muslims on the Temple Mount.

"These things are long overdue," Parsons said. "[We] understand Israel's sensitive approach. Israel has walked gingerly on these things [because they knew that] the Muslims would look for any pretext to light a fire."

According to Parsons, experts say that Shihab was buried in Damascus. Killed at the Horn of Hitten, where Salah a-Din defeated the Crusaders, a monument was then erected to Shihab in Nazareth, commemorating a massacre of the town's residents in his name.

"That's the sort of spirit behind it," Parsons said. "The guy had nothing to do with the town. It's an obscure shrine to an obscure figure."
Temple Mount visits

Police decided to let small, non-Muslim groups start touring the Temple Mount again after it became clear that the security situation would permit it, said police spokesman Kleiman.

"In the last few weeks, a number of organized Jewish groups and organized tourist groups were escorted by police [to the Temple Mount]," said Kleiman. There were no provocations or violence, he said.

The Temple Mount, where two successive Jewish temples stood before the Romans destroyed them in 70 A.D., now holds two important Muslim shrines - the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa mosque.

Non-Muslims have been forbidden to enter the Temple Mount for nearly three years, since a visit by then-Likud party leader Ariel Sharon touched off rioting there.