Palestinians Accuse Israel of Planning Jewish Prayer Times on Temple Mount

Israel is limiting Arab access to Jerusalem’s Haram Al-Sharif, the Temple Mount, in order to establish set prayer times for right-wing Jews according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Endowment. When Israel obtained control of east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, it allowed the Muslim Trust or Wakf to have administrative control of Islamic holy sites. First and foremost, the Muslim overseers banned all non-Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount. For many years, visits by non-Muslims and especially Jews to the area were few, but more recently it has become commonplace for Jews to ascend for a visit — albeit with no overt prayer – while it has become more frequent to hear non-Muslims complain that the freedom of religion the Israeli government claims means no religion should be excluded from praying on the site that is holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. On Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Jordan’s King Abdallah II in Amman and reportedly discussed allegations of Israeli plans to upset the status quo on Haram Al-Sharif, the Temple Mount. Israel made Jordan the custodian of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, a designation affirmed in an agreement between King Abdallah and the Palestinian Authority.