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JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Palestinians on Thursday rejected reported U.S. proposals to divide sites holy to Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem's Old City in a bid to overcome the main obstacle in peace talks with Israel. "Our position is very clear: complete Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem and Muslim and Christian religious sites," international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath said. "We can review any formula that does not go beyond this red line." The Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday that the U.S. had proposed dividing control over the al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam also known as al-Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary. The place is known to Jews as Temple Mount, the site of the Jewish temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD and whose last standing remnant is the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism. Control over east Jerusalem and its holy places, which Israel captured in war 33 years ago, is the biggest stumbling block to efforts to forge a comprehensive peace accord by a September 13 deadline. Haaretz said there were complex proposals to divide the area into four-the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, the esplanade, the Western or Wailing Wall and the underground sites. Negotiators are also reportedly considering putting the area under shared sovereignty or what has been termed "divine sovereignty." But Shaath told Voice of Palestine radio that proposals for Israeli sovereignty over al-Haram al-Sharif were responsible for obstructing the peace talks. "It is impossible to divide anything other than the Wailing Wall, which has a unique status although we could differ over its holiness. We do not see any possibility to divide al-Haram al-Sharif,” he added. Israel annexed east Jerusalem as part of its "united, eternal" capital in 1967, a move that is not internationally recognized, while the Palestinians want the sector as the capital of a future independent state. |
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