First the good news: The AP has continued to correctly identify the Temple Mount’s importance to Jews.
The disputed hilltop site is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam. The compound, built atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples, is also the holiest site in Judaism, and Jews gather to pray near one of its outer retaining walls, known as the Western Wall.
Now the bad news: The ramp construction will be delayed due to pressure from the lies the Muslims are telling.
Jerusalem’s Jewish mayor has ordered a review of construction work near a holy site at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict, a City Hall spokesman said Monday, in an attempt to quell days of Muslim protests and condemnations from throughout the Arab world.
The decision is expected to delay completion of the project, a new walkway leading to the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount. But it will have no effect on preparatory work currently going on, and did little to assuage Muslim concerns that the work will harm Islamic holy sites.
And this means absolutely nothing to the Arabs:
The preparatory work is being carried out by Israeli archaeologists, who began carrying out an exploratory dig last week to ensure that no important remains are damaged when the walkway is built.
[…] The project has drawn fierce protests from Palestinians and Arab countries, who accuse Israel of plotting to damage Muslim holy sites. Israel denies the charge, noting the work is about 50 yards from the compound.
[…] Muslim leaders rejected Lupolianski’s move as insufficient because it didn’t stop the archaeological work.
“The problem is the digging, which hasn’t stopped, and unfortunately the Israeli government has decided to continue the digging,” Mohammed Hussein, Jerusalem’s mufti, or Muslim religious leader, told The Associated Press on Monday.
Liars. The Muslims are lying about the effects of the dig, lying about the placement of the dig, and lying about the results of the dig. They are lying to fan the flames of incitement against Israel.
Lawmaker Arieh Eldad called it “a disgraceful surrender to the threats from the Arabs of Israel and the Arabs and Muslims of the neighboring countries that if we behave as a people behaves in its capital they will ignite the Middle East.”
Speaking to Israel Radio, he said the fight over the walkway is really a fight over sovereignty in Jerusalem.
I will point out once again that when Jordan annexed Jerusalem between 1949 and 1967, Jews were not allowed to go near the our holiest site. Muslims basically control all of their holy sites, and are trying to control the entire site.
Yeah, well, life’s tough when you start a war to eliminate a nation and lose. Five times.