By: OnIslam & Newspapers
Source: http://www.onislam.net/
A Knesset session to discuss a proposed bill to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds (Occupied East Jerusalem) between Muslim and Jewish visitors has turned into a shouting match between Arab and Jewish lawmakers who exchanged insults and finger pointing.
“There is no Temple Mount. There is only the Aqsa Mosque, I don’t see a Temple Mount, it’s something virtual,” MK Jamal Zehlaqa shouted during the Knesset Committee for the Interior, Jerusalem Post reported.
According to media reports, the session was called to discuss a new bill presented to allow Jewish visitation and prayer rights inside Al-Asqa mosque in Al-Quds.
At the beginning of the meeting, Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben-Dahan said he had asked the country’s chief rabbis to examine the possibility of permitting Jews to pray on Al-Aqsa mosque (calling in Mount Temple)
Ben-Dahan’s comments touched a nerve with the Arab MKs, who shouted at him: “Who do you represent Habayit Hayehudi or the Israeli government?”
Yet, extraordinary scenes unfolded in the Knesset when committee chairwoman Miri Regev (Likud) started to describe the issue, using the words Temple Mount to describe Al-Aqsa which infuriated Arab MKs.
Zehlaqa continued to call out “al-Aqsa” every time anyone in the hearing said the words “Temple Mount.”
Al-Quds represents the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israel occupied the holy city in the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community or UN resolutions.
Al-Quds is home to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which includes Islam’s third holiest shrine Al-Aqsa Mosque, and represents the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Jews claim that their alleged Temple of Solomon exists underneath the Muslim holy place and want to destroy it to build their temple.
Al-Aqsa complex is controlled by the Islamic authority known as the Waqf, which allows Jews’ entry to the site only through one portal, the Mughrabi Gate, where Israeli police monitor visitors.
Over the past few weeks, a growing number of Israeli politicians and rabbis have been leading visits to Muslim controlled Al-Aqsa mosque.
Third Intifada
Arab MPs warned that enabling Jewish prayer on the compound would spark “a third intifada,” or Palestinian uprising.
“You’re playing with fire and you’re starting an inferno,” MK Zehlaqa was quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
“I’m not threatening anything, I’m just saying what will happen.”
Hadash MK Muhammad Barakei averred that “anyone who wants to desecrate al-Aqsa [Mosque] will find us there, not here.”
MK Ahmed Tibi said that the second intifada had broken out “because of al-Aqsa, and because of you it [another intifada] will break out again, also because of al-Aqsa.”
Israel Police statistics show visits by people identified as Jews rose to 8,247 in 2011 from 5,792 in 2010, then dipped slightly last year.
The figure is on track to top 2011’s total this year, with 5,609 Israelis coming through July.
In 2000, a visit by Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, accompanied by 1,000 police officers, set off the second intifada which lasted for years.
Earlier on Monday, Mufti of Jerusalem Mohamed Hussein warned that the bill spark fresh tensions among Muslims and Jews in the region.
“The Israelis want to expel the Muslims from Al-Aqsa Mosque to build their Temple Mount,” Hussein told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
“We will stand against any action that aims to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards,” Hussein said.
“These are Muslim holy sites. Jews have no right to pray there.”
Nasser al-Rayes, a legal researcher for human rights group Al-Haq, said the bill was part of ongoing efforts by Israel to tighten its control over the occupied city of Al-Quds.
“With this draft law, Israel is implementing the final stage of its scheme to control the holy city,” he told AA.
“The [Israeli] occupation divided the West Bank into cantons and cut Al-Quds off from its Arab surroundings,” said al-Rayes.
“Israel has ringed Al-Quds with settlements. Some 1,900 news settlement units will be built in Al-Quds by the end of 2014,” he added.
