Israel working to thwart UN vote on declaring Western Wall Muslim site

Jerusalem is working to thwart a Palestinian bid to have the Western Wall declared a Muslim holy site by the UN’s cultural body in a vote on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry calls the proposal “an attempt to distort history and blur the connection between the Jewish people and its holiest place and to create a false reality.”

The Western Wall is one of the only remnants of a retaining wall built around the Second Temple, which was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.

Jews, who are forbidden from praying on the Temple Mount, have made the Western Wall into a shrine and it is considered Judaism’s holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

According to Muslim tradition, the site is also where Mohammed tied the winged animal Buraq he rode on the night he ascended to heaven.

The proposal was submitted by six Muslim countries on behalf of the Palestinians, according to an earlier Ynet report.

The proposal also calls for the international community to condemn Israel for urging “its citizens to bear arms in light of recent terror wave,” as well as for recent actions by the state and the IDF in Jerusalem. The document, a copy of which was obtained by Ynet, refers to Jerusalem as “the occupied capital of Palestine.”

In addition, the Palestinians seek condemnation of ongoing Israeli archaeological excavations near the Temple Mount and the Old City in Jerusalem, as well as for the “aggression and illegal measures taken against the freedom of worship and access of Muslims to Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israel’s attempts to break the status quo since 1967.”

— with Raphael Ahren