Letters: A religious clash in Jerusalem
Re “Tension grows over Jerusalem holy site,” Oct. 28
Peaceful praying has been practiced for centuries at the Temple Mount and at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; it should not now cause resentment and animosity.
If the truth be known, Arabs and Jews have a common ancestor: Abraham. Both hold the the Old Testament sacred, and many of their customs and prayers come from the Bible.
Arline Mathews
Chatsworth
Attributing the four-year reign of terror by Palestinians that began a dozen years ago to then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount is tantamount to attributing the killing of our ambassador in Libya to backlash over an anti-Islam video.
There’s ample evidence that Yasser Arafat, then the Palestinian Authority president, was planning the intifada before Sharon’s visit and used it as an excuse to start the terrorism. If there was any connection between the Benghazi slaughter and the video, it was incidental.
The sooner we recognize there really is a war of terror, the safer we’ll be.
Allan Kandel
Los Angeles
“I’m not asking to build a temple,” Rabbi Chaim Richman is quoted as saying. He must believe that people are ignorant because he leads an organization whose sole purpose is to build a temple.
The solution is the creation of the sovereign, democratic state of Palestine with Jerusalem as a shared capital, which would administer access to the Temple Mount. Otherwise, as Richman wants, continued expansion of the Jewish presence will result in clashes that would permit Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to expel Muslims from the Temple Mount.
Arch Miller
Arcadia
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