"Waqf property owned by an Algerian-Moroccan Muslim family…and is an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Haram al-Sharif [the Noble Sanctuary]…The new paper claims that the Western Wall, or Al-Buraq Wall as it is known to Muslims, constitutes Waqf property owned by an Algerian-Moroccan Muslim family."
New?This is very old news.As CAMERA researched, Dr. Yitzhak Reiter documented in a 2005 study entitled "From Jerusalem to Mecca and Back: The Islamic Consolidation of Jerusalem," a PA campaign that denies any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. Moreover, Dore Gold also detailed Yassir Arafat''s claims that "The British Mandate administration stated as early as 1929 that the Western Wall is the Al-Buraq Wall and that it is considered a Muslim religious endowment (waqf) to which Palestinians hold historic rights." as MEMRI documented.But, may I introduce to you these three gentlemen:
"Subsequent to the investigation it has made, the Commission herewith declares that the ownership of the Wall, as well as the possession of it and of those parts of its surroundings that are here in question, accrues to the Moslems. The Wall itself as being an integral part of the Haram-esh-Sherif area is Moslem property. From the inquiries conducted by the Commission, partly in the Sharia Court and partly through the hearing of witnesses'' evidence, it has emerged that the Pavement in front of the Wall, where the Jews perform their devotions, is also Moslem property.
The Commission has likewise ascertained that'' the area that is coincident with the said Pavement was constituted a Moslem Waqf by Afdal, the son of Saladin, in about the year 1193 A.D….The mere fact that the Wall forms an exterior part of this large area cannot in itself carry with it that the Wall should be considered as "a Moslem sacred shrine," like the Mosques and other specially sacred places within the Haram-esh-Sherif [and] the Commission does not consider that the Pavement in front of the Wall can be regarded as a sacred place from a Moslem point of view….The Commission is prepared to accept the statement of the Moslem Side, i.e., that the Wall as a whole, by reason of Mohammed''s visit with his steed called Al Buraq, is sacred to the Moslems. But in the opinion of the Commission this fact does not exclude the maintenance of the sanctity of the Wall to the Jews as well. If the venerated memory of the Prophet''s visit--notwithstanding the fact that his steed Al Buraq was tethered at a certain distance from the Wailing-Place of the Jews--has made the Western Wall sacred in its whole extent to the Moslems, why should not respect be attached likewise to the veneration that has for many centuries past been shown by the Jews towards the same Wall which, according to their belief, represents the last remains of the old Temple and which they believe to be filled with the Divine presence?"
All of this, of course, is predicated on the Commission’s fundamental errored approach: that the status quo is to be prefered - as well as their refusal to consider the fact that Jews were the prior rights holder to the Arab occupiers. This, as we know, continues to follow Israel and Zionism until this day in all matters of dispute.Zionist leaders and those of the state of Israel, for the most part, simply cannot bring themselves to stake the claim of primacy for Jews. Arab religious and national claims, as opposed to simple civil rights, are secondary. There is nothing to be ashamed of in this.If only that this regurgitated and mendacious Arab claim will strengthen our resolve to counter the propaganda and historic falsehoods. We have been presented with a unique opportunity: No more sliding down but rather ascending, even unto the Temple Mount.