JERUSALEM: Fearing a violent backlash, Israeli security ban Israeli lawmaker from visiting sacred site in Jerusalem

Record ID: 863315

  • Title: JERUSALEM: Fearing a violent backlash, Israeli security ban Israeli lawmaker from visiting sacred site in Jerusalem
  • Date: 27th March 2013
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (MARCH 27, 2013) (REUTERS) MOSHE FEIGLIN, MEMBER OF ISRAEL'S KNESSET, SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOSHE FEIGLIN, MEMBER OF ISRAEL'S KNESSET, SAYING: "Aiming to make riots because of me, they decided not to let me go to the mountain. Of course this is an illegal and immoral act and I'm going to fight in all the ways that I can." FEIGLIN SPEAKING TO PEOPLE FEIGLIN WAITING NEAR WESTERN WALL, DOME OF ROCK SHRINE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND WITHIN THE SACRED SITE GROUP OF SETTLERS WAITING TO ENTER SACRED COMPOUND MAN HOLDING A BABY GROUP OF SETTLERS WALKING UP TO COMPOUND GROUP OF SETTLERS SETTLERS LOOKING AT HISTORIC SITE MUSLIM PALESTINIAN MEN WATCHING THE SETTLERS GROUP OF SETTLERS WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVACJ4YHERSXFDKHQ40EML2YS583
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Police stopped Israeli lawmaker Moshe Feiglin from entering a holy site in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday (March 27).

    "Of course this is an illegal and immoral act and I'm going to fight in all the ways that I can," Feiglin told journalists after he was barred from entry.
    Known to Arabs as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and also respected by Christians and Jews who believe that the Dome covers a rock where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son to God, the compound has been the cause of bloodshed, from ancient times to today.
    It still lies at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian conflict as sovereignty over holy sites remains a sticking point in international efforts to draft a final peace settlement.
    Islam teaches that Mohammad rose to heaven from the rock under the Dome. Muslim clerics who run the compound have been wary of Jewish encroachment into the site since Israel captured the Old City and the rest of Arab East Jerusalem in a 1967 war.
    Since the Second Temple was destroyed under Roman rule in AD 70, Jews have prayed at the Western Wall, part of the ruins.
    After being denied access to the area, Feiglin went to pray at the Western Wall instead.
    A group of Jewish settlers were allowed into the sacred site, however, and their short visit passed peacefully.
    A visit there in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing Israeli politician who later became prime minister, helped spark a Palestinian uprising that became known as the al-Aqsa Intifada.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register