TEL AVIV – The Western Wall should always remain under Muslim control and we will not give a single millimeter to the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority’s supreme Sharia judge and senior adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday, contradicting earlier remarks made by a PA official who acknowledged that the Wall is one of Judaism’s holiest sites and as such should remain in Jewish hands.
“The al-Buraq wall is an integral part of the Islamic faith and religion, and is associated with the Prophet Muhammad,” Mahmoud al-Habash said in a sermon broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV, using the Islamic name for the Western Wall.
“It is an Islamic Waqf (endowment) that can never be for non-Muslims. It cannot be under the sovereignty of non-Muslims. … The al-Buraq wall belongs to us and cannot be conceded,” he added.
“We cannot possibly relinquish a single millimeter, a single stone, a single micromillimeter of the Al-Buraq Wall and of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The Western Wall is the last remaining outer wall of the Temple Mount complex and is the holiest place for Jews to pray. Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad tied al-Buraq, his winged horse, to the wall when he made his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.
Habash’s remarks came days after senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said on Israeli TV that the wall is a Jewish holy site and as such must remain under Jewish sovereignty.
“We understand [the wall is] a holy place to the Jews. In the end, it must remain under Jewish sovereignty. We have no argument about that. This is a Jewish holy place,” Rajoub told Channel 2 TV in Hebrew. READ MORE
