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Responding To Jerusalem Mufti, Rabbi Says Wall Is Jewish
WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (IslamOnline) - A war of words is heating up among top Islamic and Judaic leaders of over the "Western Wall" in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem's chief mufti, Sheikh Ikramah Sabri, last week rejected Jewish claims over the disputed wall and said that it was actually the al-Buraq wall and is a part of al-Aqsa mosque (the third holiest site for Muslims).
Responding to the Mufti, Israel's Chief Rabbi, Meir Lau, said that Mufti Sabri's comments were "foolish," commenting that, "It's the first time he tried to remove us from the Western Wall and determine it's something Muslim."
However, Sabri and several Muslim scholars in the past have often stated that the Western Wall has nothing to do with Jewish history.
More recently, Mufti Nasser Farid Wassel said, "[The] al-Buraq Wall is a part of the western wall of the Aqsa mosque."
Wassel had also stated that the wall is part of an Islamic endowment (waqf) and belongs to the Muslims of the world, "until the end of earth."
He further decreed that Muslims should stop referring to the wall as the "Wailing Wall."
"It is not religiously allowed that the [term] Wailing Wall be used instead of Buraq Wall," Wassel commented.
He also said that no Muslim recognition of Israeli control over the wall is possible. "The de facto ownership by Israeli authorities is an act of occupation that does not give them any legal power."
The wall was captured by Israelis in the 1967 war and has, since then, remained under their control.
Lau, who met Israel's Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon on Sunday for the first time after the elections, applauded Sharon's position on Jerusalem.
"Sharon's position is that Jerusalem has to remain united under Israeli sovereignty," Lau said.
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