Fierce Israel, Palestine clash at disputed holy site

The Palestinians blamed the violence on the Israeli authorities’ show of force and the "provocative" visit to Temple Mount by right-wing leader Ariel Sharon on Thursday.

The disturbances were a further blow to stumbling peace talks that failed to result in a deal at a Camp David summit in July amid disagreement over the fate of Jerusalem.

Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the independent state they plan to declare.

Called the Temple Mount by Jews and Christians and the Noble Sanctuary by Muslims, the shrine where the clashes occurred with Palestinians on Thursday is one of the world’s most hotly contested holy sites.

A visitor to Jerusalem today would first notice the site by the breathtaking golden roofed Dome of the Rock and silver topped Al-Aqsa mosques, a testament to the golden age of Islamic architecture and one of Islam’s most sacred sites.

Muslims believe the site was the destination of the Prophet Mohammed’s Night Journey to the `Farthest Mosque’ as written in the Koran. It says he flew there on the flying horse Al-Buraq and ascended to heaven to receive instruction from God.

Muslims believe the Prophet tied his horse below the compound to what they call the Al-Buraq wall. Jews call it the Western Wall and it was the retaining wall of the second Jewish temple, which was turned to rubble by the Romans in 70 A.D.

The destruction of the Second Temple, which was built on the ruins of King Solomon’s temple, began 2,000 years of mourning by Jews for the loss of Jerusalem and their holiest shrine.

Jews still mourn the loss in an annual fast on the anniversary of the temple’s destruction.

The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall is not Judaism’s most sacred site. That honour belongs to the Temple Mount, or the Noble Sanctuary, the shrine at the heart of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Western Wall was simply the closest Jews were allowed to the site of their destroyed temples by those who have ruled the shrine during the past 2,000 years.

Jews were also forbidden from entering the site by their sages who ruled it was too holy for them to even tread on. Rabbis said the Messiah would one day rebuild the temple.

Freeing the Noble Sanctuary from Israeli rule became a rallying cry for Palestinians. Many decorate their homes with pictures of the Dome of the Rock as a reminder of the ultimate goal of their cause.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has promised his people to secure the holy site for the Palestinian nation and the Muslim world as part of peace negotiations with Israel which faltered over the fate of Jerusalem and its holy shrines.

Palestinian analyst Khalil Shikaki says this pledge is one on which Arafat cannot afford to compromise as, without the shrine, his people may never agree to painful concessions on other emotive issues such as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says no Israeli leader could give sovereignty over the holy site to the Muslim world or to Palestinians. He has not ruled out the possibility of giving the United Nations sovereignty of the shrine.

The shrine is also holy to Christians due to its connection to Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099, they turned the mosques into two churches.