Abbas: We won’t let Israeli extremists ‘contaminate’ Temple Mount; warns of global ‘religious war’

[Mosby]

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday warned that the Palestinians will not allow Israeli extremists to “contaminate” the Temple Mount, and said that allowing Jewish prayer at the site would risk a global religious war.

The PA leader also maintained that the rioters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the disputed holy site had the right to defend themselves, and said Muslims and Christians would never recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Abbas's remarks (Arabic link) came in an address to thousands who gathered in Ramallah in honor of the 10th anniversary of the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, during which he cautioned the Israeli government against changing the status quo at the Temple Mount.

“Keep the settlers and the extremists away from Al-Aqsa and our holy places,” Abbas demanded. “We will not allow our holy places to be contaminated. Keep them away from us and we will stay away from them, but if they enter al-Aqsa, [we] will protect al-Aqsa and the church and the entire country,” he said. It was unclear what church Abbas was referring to.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-israel-sparking-devastating-religious-war/

[shira]

1. Contaminate is a mistranslation according to all the Juan Coles....

Can't have the "moderate" Palestinian PM looking more racist and extreme than his Likud counterparts.

[JDPriestly]

2. Fighting over mythology. That's primitive as far as I am concerned.

Al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic:المسجد الاقصى al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, IPA: [ʔælˈmæsdʒɪd ælˈʔɑqsˤɑ] ( listen), "the Farthest Mosque&quot also known as Al-Aqsa and Bayt al-Muqaddas, is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site on which the silver domed mosque sits, along with the Dome of the Rock, also referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif or "Noble Sanctuary,"[2] is the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, the place where the Temple stood before being destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when God directed him to turn towards the Kaaba.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque

What nonsense!

I'm sure God would be delighted to know that Muslims and Jews are ready to kill each other over a place.

Thou shalt not kill.

Further, fighting over a holy site is the same in effect as sacrificing humans to your idea of God.

Bah! Humbug!