January 19, 2005
Israel's leading
rabbis have issued a ruling forbidding Jews from entering the disputed Temple
Mount in Jerusalem, amid concerns about desecration of the sacred site.
The ruling is a direct challenge to messianic Jews and hardline groups such as
the Temple Mount Faithful, a movement that has been growing in strength but is
considered by many Jews to part of a fanatical fringe.
Such organisations have been trying for years to get a wider circle of rabbis to
endorse the current limited entry of Jews to the holy site in Jerusalem's Old
City.
The mount, known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, is the
biblical Mount Moriah and is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
The al Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site, is purportedly built
over the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples, Judaism's holiest site.
Israeli security officials have expressed fears in recent months that Jewish
extremists might try to attack the mosque compound to derail the government's
plan to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
Shmuel Rabinovitz, chief rabbi of the Western Wall, said the prohibition on
entering the compound was meant to prevent desecration by a growing number of
Jewish visitors. The rabbis believe that Jews may not step on the area of the
temples.
SOURCE: Telegraph