Despite historic Israeli “gestures” designed to make travel to the Temple Mount much easier for Arabs from Judea and Samaria during Ramadan, top officials in the Palestinian Authority have been calling for PA Arabs to boycott the Al-Aqsa (Dome of the Rock) Mosque – for fear that Arabs will spend money while they are there, enhancing the Israeli economy.
Mahmoud Abbas's cabinet will meet later Wednesday to make a final decision on whether or not to go through with the boycott, according to Yediot Aharonot.
In recent years, Israel has gone out of its way to make concessions to PA Arabs, enabling as many as possible to visit the Mosque, located on the Temple Mount, the historic site of the Jewish Temple, which predated the Mosque by over 1,000 years. Concessions were suspended last year for Ramadan, when PA Arabs throng to the Mosque, because of the IDF's search for three missing Israeli teens who were murdered by PA Arabs near Hevron – but the concessions are back in full force this year.
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