Sharon: Jews Should Have Access to Temple Mount

JERUSALEM, April 5 -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered Israel's security services to find ways to let Jews visit the Temple Mount, the bitterly disputed Jerusalem holy site where the six-month-old Palestinian uprising broke out, his office said Thursday.

"The prime minister has given instructions to different security services to find an adequate way (to apply) the right to visit the Temple Mount," as Jews call the site, Sharon's office said in a statement. Muslims call the site al-Haram al-Sharif.

Sharon "defends the principle of every religion having the right of access to the Temple Mount," the statement said.

Sharon called on the security apparatus to find ways of enabling Jews to carry out the biblical command of ascending to the Temple Mount on the three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shauvuot (The Feast of Weeks), and Succot (the Feast of Tabernacles).

The Palestinian uprising, or intifada, broke out September 28 when Sharon, then Israel's right-wing opposition leader, made a high-profile visit to the mosque compound, which Muslims consider their third-holiest site.

Ensuing Israeli-Palestinian clashes, mostly in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have since claimed 468 lives: 383 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs, 71 Jews, and other Israelis and a German.

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