Temple Mount or Dome of the Rock?

There are sixteen gates leading to the Temple Mount, fourteen of them in use, and used only by Muslims wishing to worship at the al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in antiquity over the site of the destroyed Second Temple of Solomon, itself built in much earlier antiquity. Islam is notorious for taking for itself sacred symbols and sites originally dedicated to other religions, like Judaism and Christianity, both of which preceded Islam, and of which Islam is an offspring.

Temple Mount
הַר הַבַּיִת, Har haBáyith الحرم الشريف, al-Haram ash-Sharīf,

So the Temple Mount, immeasurably sacred to Jews, but named the Noble Sanctuary by Islam, is off limits to Jews wishing to approach from the Wailing Wall, while the structurally unsafe bridge called the Mughrabim bridge leading to the gate of the same name, or given its Jewish name, the Rambam gate, (after Moses Maimonides the great medieval philosopher and Torah scholar) is being re-built.

Jews are 'guests', 'tourists', in their own land, in their sacred city of Jerusalem, at the site of their holiest of heritage places, unable to have safe access to the Temple Mount, while Muslims may use the other approaches at their leisure, with no access-competition from Jews. Muslims insist that the Temple Mount and the existence of the Temple of Solomon is, in any event, a fiction. And that no Jews should be permitted access to their holy area leading to the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel's 11th Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was accused by the Palestinians of an insult to Islam by desecrating their third-holiest site, the hallowed Dome of the Rock, in his appearance on that very same Temple Mount in 2000, setting off the Second Intifada; providing a usefully palatable excuse for Chairman Arafat to depart the-then peace talks to provoke Palestinians into violent attacks against Israel.

MKs: Let My People Ascend to Temple Mount
by Gil Ronen

Jews are not allowed to ascend to the Temple Mount, ostensibly because the bridge to the Rambam Gate (also known as the Mughrabim Gate) is unsafe and is to undergo renovation. Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Danny Danon (Likud) wants an urgent hearing to be held in the Knesset's Interior Committee to solve the problem posthaste.

Jews who arrived at the Mount Sunday were blocked by police who told them that the Jerusalem municipality deems the bridge unsafe for use and that Jews cannot enter the Mount by any other entrance.

"There is no reason that the state of Israel, whose capital is Jerusalem, will close off the Temple Mount, which is the bastion of Judaism in Israel and the entire world, and is one of the central pillars of the state of Israel," Danon stated.

The decision to close off the Mount to Jews is causing a public storm in Israel and a solution must be found immediately, he said, in a request to the Knesset Presidium to allow the urgent hearing. He noted that when the Rambam Gate was closed in 2007, Jews were temporarily instructed to use the Shalshelet Gate.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said that the dangerous Rambam Bridge needs to be torn down immediately and replaced by a safe walkway. However, he said, "It is unthinkable that during the construction Jews will be delayed from ascending to the Mount for even a single minute." He demanded that the Prime Minister and Minister for Public Security designate an alternate entrance for Jews immediately.

As published online at ArutzSheva, 12 December, 2011