Controversial move to limit number of worshippers visiting al-Aqsa Mosque
Muslims decry Israeli warning of possible collapse.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies) Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque has become another bone of contention between Israelis and Muslims. Last Sunday, Israel's Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra warned that the number of Muslim worshippers going to the Temple Mount on Ramadan might be curbed because some sections of the area are in danger of collapsing.
The Minister told Israel Radio: "There will be no other choice but to consolidate the mosque because of the risk of collapse of the roof of Solomon's Stables under the weight of worshippers gathered for Ramadan."
But Wakf director Adnan Husseini, said "that there was no truth to the Israeli rumours and that they were similar to warnings Israeli police put out prior to Ramadan last year".
Jordan's Religious Affairs Minister Ahmad Heleil, who heads a Jordanian committee responsible for the maintenance of the al-Aqsa mosque compound, also stepped into the controversy telling the pro-government al-Rai daily that "there is no base for the Israeli warnings claiming that the Marwani prayer room could collapse during the holy month of Ramadan". He stressed that a team of experts visited the site earlier this year and contrary to the Israeli Minister's claims found that the structure was not unstable.
Israel Radio reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's might be behind Israel's possible intervention. He is said to have ordered that all possible measures be taken to avoid a catastrophe on the mosque compound, which was recently hit by an earthquake.
Some 200,000 worshippers visit the site during Ramadan, Islam's month of fasting, which this year begins in mid-October.
The mosque compound is located in the Old City above the Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem, an area Israel annexed in 1967 and over which both the Jewish state and the Palestinians claim sovereignty.
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