(VOVworld) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday restated a pledge to retain intact the custom of not permitting non-Muslim prayer at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the center of recent bloody conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians.
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| Palestinians walk past the Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem before the Friday prayer, on October 23, 2015. (Photo: AFP) |
Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel re-affirms its commitment to upholding unchanged the status quo of Al-Aqsa mosque which Jewish call the Temple Mount, in word and in practice, using the Jewish term for the site, sacred to both faiths.
Accordingly, Israel will continue to enforce its longstanding policy: Muslims pray on the Temple Mount while non-Muslims only visit the Temple Mount.
The same day about 6,000 Israelis gathered at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv for a parade in support of new peaceful talks between Israel and Palestine.
The move took place ahead of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary when later Prime Minsiter Yitzhak Rabin, who at that time was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, was murdered.