Rabbis Urge Jews to Visit Holy Site
JERUSALEM (AP) - Rabbis linked to Jewish settlers urged their followers Thursday to march on the Temple Mount in defiance of a ban on Jews entering the site, a flashpoint in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Islamic authorities closed the plaza to all non-Muslims after violence erupted last Sept. 28 following a visit by Ariel Sharon, who declared that the site, which is holy to Jews and Muslims, belongs to Israel.
The hilltop in the walled Old City of Jerusalem was the location of the biblical Jewish Temples and is Judaism's holiest site. Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from the plaza, which they call Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and where the Al Aqsa mosque and golden-topped Dome of the Rock shrine are located.
The settler rabbis called for a march on the Temple Mount on July 29, when Jews mark Tisha B'Av, the date when tradition says both Temples were destroyed. Up to now, only a small group of extremist Jewish nationalists has tried to pray at the site in defiance of the ban.
Palestinians have warned that any attempt to allow Jewish prayer at the site would be met with a violent reaction.
Rabbi Daniel Shilo of the settlers' Rabbinical Council said that agreeing to a ban against Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, while Muslims pray there freely, amounts to ``surrendering to terror.''
``The restriction against praying on the Temple Mount gives the impression that Jews are not linked with the site and gives Arabs the legitimacy to claim it,'' he said.
Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau rejected the settler rabbis' initiative, saying Thursday that the ban against entering the site remains in force because ``the Jewish people are not yet deserving of their holiest site.'' He added that the ban does not detract from Israel's sovereignty over the hill.
Rabbis have ruled that Jews are not allowed to set foot on the Temple Mount for reasons of ritual purity. When the Temples stood, only priests could enter the holiest section, and ordinary Jews who came to pray there had to undergo ritual purification procedures that are not done today.
However, in recent years measurements have been made that some believe have clarified where the Temples stood. Some rabbis say that clears the way for Jews to pray in other parts of the compound.
The dispute over the site was one of the main reasons for the collapse of Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations last fall. Both sides claimed sovereignty.
Jewish settlers opposed Israeli compromise proposals offering the Palestinians most of the West Bank, a measure that would have uprooted many settlements.
Originally published July 19, 2001.
