Temple Mount: No-prayer zone

From Religious News On-Line:

"Judaism considers it the holiest place on earth. Muslims say it's the third holiest. Christianity reveres the spot as being of great historic importance. But if someone prays there, if he or she is not Muslim, the worshiper will be immediately arrested. Welcome to the Temple Mount...

The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.

Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.

The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It is still open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Wafq, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount.

During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Temple Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Wafq permission.

Rules are enforced by Wafq agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.

WorldNetDaily was given a tour of the Temple Mount Tuesday along with several Christian archeologists. The small group was warned in advance not to bring Bibles and once on the Mount, not to whisper or make bowing movements for fear the Wafq might think a non-Muslim is praying in the area.

The tour guide, Nachman Kupietsky, an Orthodox Jew who covers his head with a baseball cap while in the area and not his usual yarmulke, for fear of being arrested, said, "These rules are very serious. They were made by the Waqf and agreed to by the Sharon government, which is not very religious and just doesn't want any more clashes on the Temple Mount."

Kupietsky told WND of instances in the past few months in which members of his tour group were arrested for breaking various rules.

He said a Jewish woman was detained last summer for putting her head down while sitting on a bench:

"It was a hot day and she just wanted to rest for a few minutes. The Wafq started screaming and the police arrested her. She told me she was held for six hours and had to sign documents stating she would never again return to the Temple Mount.

"You also can't bring anything with Hebrew letters, even secular Hebrew books. The Wafq confiscated many of my tour books. One time I brought a guy who pulled out the Hebrew edition of the [Jerusalem] Post, and they took that from him."

Kupietsky said Orthodox guests who decide to wear yarmulkes are routinely delayed by Israeli police at the entrance to the Temple Mount for up to 30 minutes while they are interrogated about the purpose of their visit.

Visitors were then brought to the steps of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Christians on the tour tried to enter the mosque, but rejoined the group minutes later saying a Palestinian in worship garb slammed the doors and told them to go away.

Kupietsky took out a picture book to show the disappointed Christians images of the interior sections of the mosque, but a Palestinian cleric who had been watching the tour demanded Israeli police confiscate the book, assuming it contained prayers. A scuffle ensued between the police, the cleric and Kupietsky, but it was finally determined the book contained no Hebrew lettering.

The group was brought further to Solomon's Stables. The Wafq recently excavated the area, and sections were made into a large, new mosque. The excavation and accompanying construction caused major damage to the eastern and southern sections of the Western Wall, which many experts say are now unstable and in need of repair.

Jewish and Christian archeologists charge the Wafq during the excavation disposed truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the Temple period. After the media reported this, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Wafq. The remainder of the dirt now sits in a small garden outside the Al Aqsa Mosque...

Likud minister and leader of Israel's Manhigut Yehudit Party Moshe Feiglin told WorldNetDaily: "We gave away our sovereignty to the holiest place of the Jewish people. I can pray in Manhattan, Damascus, Cairo, but I cannot pray in my holiest place because of an Israeli decision. ... I think it's a disgrace that represents more than anything the deepest conflict that Israel deals with – not peace, not security or the Palestinians. It's the conflict between the Jews and themselves over what is going to be their national identity for the coming generations. This identity is represented more than anything else by the Temple Mount."

Yehuda Etzion, head of the Eternally Alive movement for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount, told reporters, "The worst thing is that there is coordination between the Waqf and the Israeli government."

Abu Mazen, now Palestinian president, called the tours "provocative" and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the Christian and Jewish visits were "an insult to Muslims everywhere."

Read the rest of this article at WorldNetDaily.