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Source: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=198601
We Are Brothers, Are We Not?
(Jerusalem Post) Shmuel Rabinowitz - Last week, the Palestinian Authority came out with an official declaration claiming the Western Wall - the most sacred site for the Jewish people since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE - is not a holy site for Jews. Jews and Muslims have one God and one father. This common basis can and should be the bedding upon which peace will sprout between the two nations. But for over a century, people who do not have the belief of God in their hearts undermine the Jewish nation's affinity for its sacred sites - the Western Wall, the Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel's Tomb, and others. History does not need me to describe the deep and inextricable tie between the Jewish people and the Western Wall. It is proven through thousands of letters sent by Jewish pilgrims who came to the Land of Israel during our 2,000-year exile from our land. It is proven by illustrations, etches, and drawings of the Western Wall created by Jews from all corners of the globe. It is proven by the millions of Jews annually who cling to the ancient stones; that contain within them the memory of the ancient Jewish Temple that stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Believers of Islam - if you are indeed seekers of peace, do not be tempted by the slippery and destructive slope of denouncing the Jewish faith and our heritage in the land of our fathers. We share one father and one land on which we must live in peace and brotherhood before God. The writer is the rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites.