In light of the GSS recommendations to re-allow Jewish visitors onto the Temple Mount, Prime Minister Sharon expressed his support today for the idea, and said that he would “open the gates at the first opportunity.” MK Michael Kleiner said, “The first opportunity is today…” Environment Minister Tzachi HaNegbi said, “The time has come to correct the injustice that resulted from the Arab violence.” Arab MK Abdel Malek Dahamshe is against allowing Jews onto the Temple Mount, and warned Sharon and Public Security Minister Uzi Landau “not to play with fire… If they open what you call the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors, it will cause fire, destruction, and terrible bloodshed.” Other Arab MKs expressed similar threats, and Voice of Palestine Radio called repeatedly upon Arab countries and Moslems to “defend the sites that are holy to Islam and Christianity.”

HaTzofeh (affiliated with the National Religious Party) editorialized today that, “The entire state media has been mobilized for the campaign to prevent Jews from going up to the Temple Mount,” and wrote that the Israeli left and the Jerusalem Waqf are working together to this end. “The silence of the religious public and the absence of genuine pressure are what is enabling the Muslim Waqf to systematically and continuously destroy the remains of the Jewish people’s holiest site,” according to HaTzofeh. “The time has come to stop giving the Muslim Waqf a veto over the right of Jews to enter the most sacred site; the time has come to stop giving the ‘Meretz and High Court’ Prize to whomever threatens violence; the time has come to stop the humiliation.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2002 and is filed under ourjerusalem.