Rivlin meets religious leaders, urges calm ahead of Passover

President tells senior Muslim, Christian, Jewish clergy Israel is committed to status quo on Temple Mount

President Reuven Rivlin meets with religious leaders, from the different streams in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to call the people to prevent further escalation of violence and terror, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, at the President's residence in Jerusalem, on April 13, 2016. (Mark Neyman/GPO)
President Reuven Rivlin meets with religious leaders, from the different streams in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to call the people to prevent further escalation of violence and terror, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, at the President's residence in Jerusalem, on April 13, 2016. (Mark Neyman/GPO)

President Reuven Rivlin called on the leaders of Israel’s faith communities to work toward reducing tensions surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and to promote a message of tolerance ahead of the upcoming holidays of Passover, Orthodox Easter and others.

“This is a moment of genuine crisis, and the obligation to avert the outbreak of violence which threatens the innocent rests upon the shoulders of each and every one of us,” Rivlin said during a meeting of the Council of Faith Community Leaders in Israel at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

“Already now, the tension has increased across the whole city, and in particular, in the Holy Basin, and around the Temple Mount itself. Israel is committed to the status quo, is vigilant in its enforcement, and will ensure it is maintained.”

The meeting was attended by Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau, Council of Muslim Religious Leaders chair Sheikh Mohammed Kaiyuan, Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Muwaffak Tarīf and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, among others.

The meeting came hours after Palestinian leaders warned that Jews visiting the Temple Mount compound during the upcoming Passover festival would inflame tensions. In an incident last week first reported on Wednesday, a Jewish couple was secretly married while on a visit to the Temple Mount, leading several Israeli politicians to warn that the move threatened to ignite new violence around the holy site.

On Wednesday, Adnan Gaith, the head of Fatah’s armed Tanzim wing in Jerusalem, told Israel Radio that any calls by Jewish religious and political leaders to visit the flashpoint compound — which today houses the Muslim shrines of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and is known in Arabic as Haram al-Sharif, or the Holy Sanctuary — “will not bring about peace or quiet.”

Jerusalem Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the Muslim cleric in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, also warned against increased Jewish “provocations” at the compound during the Jewish festival, which begins Friday evening, April 22.

Both Gheit and Hussein, who did not appear to be referring to the Temple Mount wedding, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of exacerbating tensions there.

Muslims regard the compound as the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

In Judaism, the Temple Mount, the location of both ancient Jewish temples, is so holy that Jews have traditionally refrained from setting foot there due to ritual purity rules. They congregate instead at the adjacent Western Wall, a retaining wall of the ancient temple complex that is now considered the most revered site for Jewish prayer. During Passover, some religiously observant Jews seek to visit the Mount in homage to the pilgrimages taken by Jews to the site in biblical times.

Under an agreement between the Israeli government and Islamic authorities at the site reached after Israel’s conquest of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, Jews are allowed to visit but not pray on the mount itself.

Jewish visitors suspected of violating the Temple Mount prayer ban are routinely arrested by police.

Clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces erupted at the compound in September 2015 amid fears among Muslims that Israel was planning to change rules governing the site. Israel denied any such plans.

Stuart Winer and Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.

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