The Wailing Western Wall

The most sacred site in Judaism, the remnant of the second Temple of Solomon of Biblical fame and ancient historical memory of the Jewish people is a place where Jews remember their past and look forward to their future. Since the 1967 Six-day War when Israel defended itself from a joint Arab-nations attack in yet another foiled attempt to destroy the nation and remove Israel from the map of the Middle East, Jews have entry to their most sacred site. Or they should have.

The fly in the ointment of finally having access to the Western Wall, the sole remaining feature of the fabled Temple of Solomon which was denied Jews when Jordan had taken upon itself the authority to rule East Jerusalem, is that when Islam conquered the Middle East it built an overlaying complex atop the hill that once held the two immensely ancient temple/synagogues. The Temple Mount was renamed The Noble Sanctuary, a place from which the Prophet Mohammed is said to have ascended the heavens, making it the third most sacred place in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

Mecca and Medina are closed to access by any who are not Muslim. No people from any other faith are permitted entry to the sacred precincts. Jews, on the other hand, must restrain themselves from praying on the Temple Mount in an agreement between the State of Israel and the religious Muslim authority that Israel permits to oversee the area, the Islamic Waqf. Muslims take furious umbrage at the very thought that Jews might wish to pray at their most significant religious site, which Islam 'just happened' to build their own religious artifact over.

What other country in the world -- established within their historical-ethnic-religious geography and whose remnants of their ancient religious establishment as reminiscent of the first monotheistic faith -- would agree to respecting the sensibilities of another religion whose adherents are violently opposed to the presence of the original faith and culture? The very presence of Jews, taking care not to appear too intrusive in a huge area that Islamists consecrate to their very own presence  exclusively, sends paroxysms of rage throughout the Muslim community.

Ongoing conflict ranging from anti-Semitic insults shouted across courtyards by Muslims against the presence of Jews cautioned not to attract notice and particularly cautious about the proscription against their appearing to pray at the site occasioning stone-hurtling and physical encounters, have led to countless complaints while Israeli police attempt to intercede and restore peace, and usually tending to support the Palestinians while ushering Jewish visitors away from the site, in an effort to ensure no further 'insults' enrage the Palestinians claiming the site a sacred Muslim monopoly.

When violence occurs, targeting Jews by Arabs, it is held that the Jews have deliberately been provocative and that the Arab violence that results is justified. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has nurtured the slur that Jews are attempting to monopolize the holy Muslim site for themselves, that the Al-Aqsa mosque compound is desecrated by the very presence of Jews. The clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police erupting when Jews visit the complex as is their right, is a result of Palestinians being taught from infancy that Jews are alien interlopers.

"The Palestinian leadership will be taking the necessary legal measures, at the international level, regarding the aggression of settlers on the Al-Aqsa mosque", stated President Abbas in a speech to the Fatah Revolutionary Council. An incendiary slander meant to invoke the vision within his Fatah party that it is the hated 'settlers' who ascend the compound for the deliberate purpose of usurping the site for their own malevolent purposes. "We will not allow settlers to attack the mosque", he insists, more than intimating that this is the purpose of Jewish presence there, not, as they are entitled to do, to step foot upon the site most sacred to Jews.

The PA President went so far as to personally pledge he would take steps to bar settlers from entering the al-Aqsa compound "by any means". There can be little doubt that "any means" would include inciting Palestinians to further violence against the presence of any Jews seeking to approach the Temple Mount. "They have no right to enter it and desecrate it", he reiterated, of Israeli Jews who insult Islam by visiting their own set-apart Holy site.