The PA Jerusalem Governate issued an official declaration condemning Israel’s Prime Minister, the US Secretary of State and the American Ambassador for praying at the Temple Mount.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report in Palestinian Media Watch, recently, “US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Palestinian Authority was incensed by this visit and publicized a long condemnation by the PA Jerusalem Governorate against what they called a “crime” against Islamic holy places.”
The Palestinian Authority Jerusalem Governate wrote on Facebook: “The participation in these invasions by high-ranking American officials in an official capacity constitutes unacceptable collusion with the occupation’s policy and dangerous willful blindness to the daily crimes committed against the holy city, its residents, and its holy places.”
According to Palestinian Media Watch, “When Jews and Christians pray at the Western Wall or on the Temple Mount, the PA condemns what they call “Talmudic ceremonies.” The visit “offends the feelings of our Palestinian people”.” In the Muslim faith, the Western Wall is Al Buraq Wall and it is the site from where the Prophet Muhammed rode his winged horse into the heavens during the Night of Ascension. According to their belief system, it is the western border of Haram Al Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, a site deeply sacred to Muslims. However, while Jews respect that the same places can be holy for multiple faiths, which is why the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is divided and has both a Jewish and Muslim prayer area, in the eyes of the Palestinian Authority, only the Islamic claim to these holy places has legitimacy.
As the Palestinian Authority Jerusalem Governate declared, “”The Jerusalem Governorate viewed the invasion of the occupation’s Prime Minister—Benjamin Netanyahu, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and American Senator [sic, Ambassador] Mike Huckabee into the Western Wall plaza, and the fact that they held Talmudic ceremonies at this purely Islamic site, as a provocative step that offends the feelings of our Palestinian people and constitutes a blatant violation of the historical and legal status quo in the occupied city of Jerusalem.””
Even though in past generations Muslims recognized that they built the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount because it was the site of King Solomon’s Temple and King Solomon was an ancient Israelite king, the Palestinian Authority today argues that the Western Wall should be an exclusively Muslim holy site: “The governorate emphasized that the Western Wall is an inseparable part of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and that it is part of the Islamic Waqf lands under Palestinian sovereignty. It further stressed that there is no legitimacy for any Israeli or foreign presence within it without the approval of the relevant Palestinian authorities.”
The Palestinian Authority Jerusalem Directorate even threatened: “The governorate warned of this escalation’s consequences on the situation on the ground within the city. It emphasized that the Palestinian people would not agree to any harm to the Arab identity of Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy places, and that they would resist all attempts to impose the occupation’s sovereignty over the land and the people. The governorate called on the international community… to curb the occupation’s violations and stop the American involvement in support for the Judaization projects of the occupied city.”
When the Arabs invaded Jerusalem in the 7th century, their leadership was in shock at the disarray that the Byzantines had left the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and decided to cleanse the area in order to build the Al Aqsa Mosque because they considered the area holy and did not approve of the horrendous state in which the Christians left the area. However, in the 7th century, the Arabs did respect the Jewish claim to the area as well and permitted Jews to enter Jerusalem in order to pray at the Western Wall. Under the Byzantine rule, Jews were barred from the city with the sole exception of Tisha B’Av, but under Arab rule, Jews began to return to Jerusalem.
Since the 7th century, Jews have been praying at the Western Wall and there are many historical accounts from the 10th century that speak about this. Under Arab rule, the Jews even built a synagogue known as “the cave,” which was in use alongside the Western Wall until the Crusaders destroyed it in the 11th century. After the Crusaders destroyed “the cave,” in 1546, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire built a small open area near the Western Wall so the local Jews would be able to pray, as he respected the Jewish claim to the Western Wall. However, the Palestinian Authority today is not as tolerant as their Muslim predecessors were and now want to clamp down on Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, in addition to barring the US Secretary of State and American Ambassador from partaking in Jewish prayer at the Western Wall.
Photo from Associated Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_VLkf-LJU
