Muslim Moderate Urges `Shared' Jerusalem Holy Site

JERUSALEM, Jan. 31 (RNS) -- Recent Palestinian Muslim statements denying a Jewish temple ever existed on the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif that now houses the al-Aqsa Mosque is a distortion of traditional Islamic opinions, according to the Muslim head of Italy's Muslim Association.

Moreover, Abdul Hadi Palazzi told an interfaith meeting here Monday, Jews and Muslims could feasibly find ways to ``share'' the hilltop compound religiously if both sides actively sought cooperation rather than conflict.

His comments echoed those of some 100 liberal American rabbis who declared in December that Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount.

Palazzi made his comments during an interfaith meeting seeking to defuse tensions over control of the site, one of the chief sticking points blocking an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement. The al-Aqsa compound has become a flashpoint in the ongoing clashes between Palestinians and Israelis, particularly since Israeli politician Ariel Sharon visited the site in September. Ongoing violence has followed ever since his visit.

``It is shocking to hear a mufti say that there was never a temple there,'' Palazzi said. He was referring to recent comments by Jerusalem Mufti Sheikh Ekrima El Sabri in which he said ``there is not even the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish temple on this place in the past. In the whole city (of Jerusalem) there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history.''

``Saying such a thing doesn't just contradict the Bible, it contradicts the Koran,'' said Palazzi, a lecturer at Italy's University of Velletri and a graduate of Egypt's famed al-Azhar Islamic University.

Palazzi also condemned the conduct of recent underground excavations by Muslims inside the mosque compound, terming it a ``destruction of everyone's patrimony.''

Medieval Islamic commentators openly affirmed that the historic roots of the Islamic attachment to the al-Aqsa site lay in Judaism and Christianity, whose prophets Islam also recognized, Palazzi said.

``Denying the role of Jerusalem in Judaism is also denying its role in Islam,'' Palazzi said. ``If we deny the role Jerusalem played in the stories of the biblical prophets, then we are also denying the role of these prophets in Islamic scripture.''

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