Jerusalem's most bitterly contested ancient site was convulsed by rioting today after Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli defense minister and hard-line nationalist, led a small delegation of hawkish legislators into the Noble Sanctuary, revered by Muslims around the world.
The site was captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, but it is managed by a Muslim body known as the Islamic Trust. It contains two celebrated mosques, al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, which sit on an elevated platform known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the most sacred site in Judaism.
The competing religious and ethnic claims to the site lie at the heart of the impasse in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, both of whom insist on sovereignty there. …
Newsweek; October 16, 2000
Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL); September 28, 2000
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; September 28, 2000
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