PNN – Palestine News Network – 14.01.11 – 15:24
Jerusalem – PNN – In a move certain to provoke a strong reaction from the Muslim community, the Jerusalem Municipality has decided to open the “Little Kotel,” a small section of the Western Wall in the Muslim Quarter also known the Rabat al-Kurd alley, for public prayer.
The breach of the sensitive area’s status quo has not yet prompted action from the Muslim Waqf (religious endowment office) in charge of the area, which has in the past promised a “strong response” should the area be opened to the public.
The Jerusalem Municipality’s actions, however, may be more powerful symbolically than practically: the effect of the opening was merely to remove the scaffolding which has been in place for years, and the area has occasionally been open for private events and prayers.
Rabat al-Kurd is used as a passageway for at least 17 local Muslim families, and a three-month-old advisory ruling from the Israeli Tourism Ministry recommended against “making any changes to the status quo,” according to Israeli online newspaper Ha’aretz.
The Haram al-Sharif complex represents an extremely sensitive area of Jerusalem and has been the starting point of at least one violent conflict. When former Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon set foot in the area in September 2000, the incident touched off the Second Intifada, which killed more than 5,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis.
According to Danny Zeidman of the Israeli NGO Ir Amim, quoted by Ha’aretz, “Allowing Jewish extremists to enter into the heart of the Muslim quarter carries the danger of turning a resolvable political conflict into a violent religious one.”

January 14, 2011 
































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