PA endorses 'study' claiming Jews have no claim to Kotel
PM spokesman calls on Palestinian leadership to publicly distance itself, says "this not sort of statement expected from peace partner."
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, HERB KEINON, GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANBoys at Kotel 311(photo credit: Michael Freund)
The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday officially endorsed a "study" that claims that Jews have no claims to the Western Wall.The PA's Ministry of Information posted the findings of the "study" on its official Web site and the findings of the "study" were first published in The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.RELATED:PA slams NIS 85 million Kotel development projectKotel Plaza renovations plan gets initial okayPM’s associates: He’ll never give up Western WallPrime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev called on the Palestinian leadership to publicly disassociate itself from the PA "study," saying "this is not the sort of statement to be expected from a partner in peace.""Denying the Jewish connection to the Western Wall is to deny reality. If you deny the Jewish connection to the Western Wall you are in fact denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the land of Israel itself," Regev said. "When they deny the Jewish connection, they are unfortunately raising very serious questions as to their true commitment to reconciliation."Regev said this type of statement was to be expected from "Ahmadinejad's Iran, Hizbullah or Hamas, but to deny the Jewish connection to the Western Wall is something that we wouldn't expect from a partner in peace, and I call upon the Palestinian leadership, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, to publicly disassociate themselves from it."Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely said the government must fight to prevent the world from adopting the libels spread by the PA against the Jewish people. She warned that Taha's study could be endorsed by UNESCO, which recently declared that Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem was a Muslim holy site and not a Jewish one."We must declare war on the culture of lies circulated by the Palestinians before the world starts believing them," she said. "One can only hope that the more the Palestinians talk about the lack of a connection between the Jewish people to their land, the less people will take seriously whatever claims they make."
