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Rabbis Urge Israelis to Overturn Ban on Al-Haram Al-Sharif
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, July 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An influential group of Jewish settler rabbis has called on Israelis to march on al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, in defiance of a ban on entering the site, the sovereignty over which has been one of the most difficult issues in the stalled peace process.
The Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza said it was overturning a religious ban on visits to what Israelis call the Temple Mount, and was calling on rabbis to bring their communities to visit it, while urging the Israeli public to do the same, BBC's online service reported.
The rabbinical appeal for Israelis to encroach on the Muslim holy site could scarcely have come at a worse time for the peace process, with an already wobbly Israeli-Palestinian truce faltering.
Al-Haram al-Sharif (the noble sanctuary) is where the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) ascended to heaven, and where one prayer at the al-Aqsa mosque therein is worth 500 elsewhere.
It was hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's challenging visit to the site last year that created an unprecedented upheaval and lit the spark of the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada.
Israelis claim the site is where Judaism's second temple stood before it was destroyed thousands of years ago.
The Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza represent the most orthodox Jews among settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, and are thought to be able to call upon tens of thousands of followers, according to BBC online.
They are asking followers to ascend the so-called Temple Mount on July 29th, when Jews mark Tisha B'Av, which they say commemorates the destruction of the first and second temples.
The move is expected to cause more friction between Palestinians and Israelis in an already tense situation, potentially rendering any eventual peace settlement more difficult to achieve.
Rabbi Daniel Shilo of the settlers' Rabbinical Council has vehemently denied Muslims' the right to pray in al-Haram al-Sharif freely, news agencies reported.
"The restriction against [Jews] praying on the Temple Mount gives the impression that Jews are not linked with the site and gives Arabs the legitimacy to claim it," Shilo was quoted as saying.
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," news agencies reported.
But, he reportedly added that the ban does not detract from Israel's sovereignty over the hill upon which the sanctuary rests.
Continued Israeli encroachments on the Muslim holy site was one of the main reasons for the collapse of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in September, when Sharon - accompanied by a horde of security guards - marched on the site in a move which was perceived as challenging the rights of Muslims Palestine and the world at large.
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