Muslims Delay Opening Hall in Jerusalem

Muslim clerics delayed opening a new prayer hall in the Al Aqsa mosque compound Thursday, sidestepping--for now--confrontation over a sensitive spot in the Israeli-Arab conflict.

The decision may provide only a temporary reprieve.

Jewish extremists who want control of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, have asked the Supreme Court to block the opening of the prayer hall altogether. A Muslim religious leader said there would be “massacres” should Israel decide to interfere in plans for the hall.

The site’s potential for sparking violence was demonstrated last month when Israel opened a tunnel there, setting off three days of rioting and Palestinian-Israeli gun battles that claimed at least 75 lives.

The new prayer hall--an underground vault known as “Solomon’s Stables”--is part of the Al Aqsa compound, which is one of Islam’s holiest sites. It is built on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. The last remnant of the temple, the Western Wall, is Judaism’s holiest shrine.

Islamic authorities insist that Israel has no say in running the holy site. But they said Thursday that the new prayer hall, to be called the Marwani mosque, would not open this weekend as first announced and that renovations may take more than a week longer.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said Thursday that this week’s negotiations with Israel have not yielded results and warned that his people “will not be forced to kneel for peace.”

Frustrated by the hard-line policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Arafat said he will not renegotiate the terms of an Israeli troop withdrawal from Hebron, the last West Bank town still under occupation.

Under the agreement negotiated by Netanyahu’s predecessors, Israel was to have pulled troops from Hebron, except from six small enclaves where 450 Jewish settlers live among 100,000 Palestinians.

“We are . . . the people who opted for peace,” Arafat told the Palestinian Legislative Council during its weekly meeting. “But at the same time, we will not be forced to kneel for peace.”

The talks, which began Sunday at the Erez checkpoint on the Israeli-Gaza Strip border, ended Thursday without results.

Negotiations are to resume next week in Taba, Egypt, and continue in neighboring Eilat, Israel, according to Palestinian negotiator Hassan Asfour.

Also Thursday, Israeli President Ezer Weizman, who this week hosted Arafat at his seaside home, announced plans to visit Jordan.