Who can pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem?
At the moment, only Muslims.
In October for one day, no one could pray there. Access was closed, a step that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called nearly a "declaration of war."
In the future, maybe both Muslims and Jews will pray there--at least that is the hope of some Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem.
But Muslims view Jewish prayer outside their mosque as an encroachment, a step toward total Jewish control of their holy site.
Currently Jews can pray only at the Western Wall--and women are not welcome there, according to the Ultra-Orthodox.
Women rabbis are especially unwelcome. They have to smuggle in a scroll of the Torah to pray.
For an explanation of this complicated struggle for power and prayer, see this article by Laura King, "An ominous Mideast shift":
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-religious-war-20141122-story.html#page=1
At the moment, only Muslims.
In October for one day, no one could pray there. Access was closed, a step that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called nearly a "declaration of war."
In the future, maybe both Muslims and Jews will pray there--at least that is the hope of some Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem.
But Muslims view Jewish prayer outside their mosque as an encroachment, a step toward total Jewish control of their holy site.
Currently Jews can pray only at the Western Wall--and women are not welcome there, according to the Ultra-Orthodox.
Women rabbis are especially unwelcome. They have to smuggle in a scroll of the Torah to pray.
For an explanation of this complicated struggle for power and prayer, see this article by Laura King, "An ominous Mideast shift":
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-religious-war-20141122-story.html#page=1
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