|
Trending Topics
|
Is Israel Changing the Status Quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque?
(Al Jazeera) Amb. Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a former legal adviser to Israel's Foreign Ministry, was asked on Saturday: Q: Wouldn't it be better to let the Muslim Waqf authorities manage the [Temple Mount] site? Baker: "It is difficult for me to think that they will prevent armed gunmen from coming out of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and shooting people....Even if you go according to the laws of occupation, the occupying power has the responsibility to ensure security and this is exactly what Israel is doing - nothing more, nothing less." "Negotiating the issue of Jerusalem...including the issue of the holy places is something that both Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to [in the Oslo accords]. If and when this happens, then we won't see the type of situations that we're seeing today. But in the meantime, there is an absolute necessity to protect people from being shot by terrorists using the mosques as shelters."