[lbo-talk] Police prepare to open Mount to Jews next week

[Bryan Atinsky]

Police prepare to open Mount to Jews next week

By Gideon Alon, Arnon Regular, Jonathan Lis and Nadav Shragai

Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi's statement yesterday that the
Temple Mount would open "to Jews tourists and non-Muslim pilgrims next week,
even if there is no agreement with the Waqf," prompted an angry response
from the Islamic trust.

Waqf manager Adnan Al Husseini said the minister's statement was "an
unnecessary provocation." He denied there was any agreement between the Waqf
and the police about allowing "Christian or Jewish" tourists onto the plaza.
He said "the Waqf is the only authority on the mount and it will ultimately
decide who can enter and who can leave."

Nonetheless, Hanegbi's statement, made at the Knesset House Committee in
response to questions by Yuli Edelstein, MK (Likud), drew relatively
moderate responses by Waqf and Palestinian Authority officials, considering
the PA's organized campaign against such visits only last week.

Waqf officials confirmed there are contacts with the police to address the
problem and one said there was a "commonality of interests" between Israel,
the PA, and Jordan to reach an agreement. "The Waqf is under pressure from
both the PA and Jordan" to find an accommodation that would allow tourists
onto the plaza, he said.

The Prime Minister's Office said it knows nothing about plans to reopen the
mount to non-Muslim visitors. Just before the hudna (cease-fire) took
effect, Jerusalem police began allowing small groups of tourists, Jewish and
Christian, onto the plaza, which had been closed to non-Muslims by the Waqf
since the day after then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the mount in
the fall of 2000 as part of his campaign against Ehud Barak's readiness at
Camp David to consider alternatives to Israeli sovereignty on the mount.
Sharon's visit sparked Palestinian rioting that evolved into the intifada.

But shortly before Tisha B'Av, police said they were halting the visits, out
of security concerns, particularly since several MKs from the right
announced plans to visit the mount on the fast day commemorating the
destruction of the two Temples of the first two Jewish commonwealths.

Yesterday, Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy said the decision to keep the
mount closed to non-Muslims on Tisha B'Av was out of concern that
disturbances could break out that would affect the thousands of people
gathered at the Western Wall below for Tisha B'Av religious services.

Hanegbi said he is optimistic about reaching an agreement with the Waqf but
"the coming week will be a test and the last week of waiting for an
agreement ... We can't wait more than a week and we will have to renew the
visits to the mount unilaterally, if necessary." He added Israel wants to
restore the status quo ante that existed before the start of the intifada,
"which lasted for 33 years," with the waqf having control over access to the
mount but keeping it open to tourists of all faiths.

The waqf and Muslims worldwide are fearful of various Israeli lobbying
groups interested in building a Third Temple that would supplant the Al Aqsa
and Dome of the Rock mosques. Indeed, the Palestinians named their uprising
the Al Aqsa Intifada, signifying that it aimed to guarantee Islamic control
over the plaza, after Sharon declared during his visit it was under Israeli
sovereignty that would never be given up.