Sacred Religious Sites in the Arab Israeli Conflict

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Sacred Religious Sites in the Arab Israeli
Conflict
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Temple Mount

• The Temple Mount is identified in both Jewish and
  Islamic tradition as the area of Mount Moriah
  where Abraham offered up his son in sacrifice.
  Here King Solomon built the First Temple almost
  3,000 years ago. It was destroyed by the
  Babylonians in 586 BCE, but 70 years later Jews
  returning from exile built the Second Temple on
  the same site.
• In Muslim tradition, the place is also identified
  as the "furthermost sanctuary" (Arabic, al Aqsa)
• Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the
  Romans in the year 70, the area of the Temple was
  left in ruins (first by the Romans, then by the
  Byzantines).
• years later, Caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome
  of the Rock to enshrine the outcrop of bedrock
  believed to be the "place of the sacrifice" on
  Mount Moriah. He also built the large mosque at
  the southern end which came to be called al-Aqsa.

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The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism.
Due to the great holiness of the site, many Jews
will not step foot on the Mount itself.
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Dome of the Rock

• Sacred to Muslims
• It was built in 691 CE. The building encloses a
  huge rock located at its center, from which,
  according to tradition, the Prophet Mohammed
  ascended to heaven at the end of his Night
  Journey

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Al Aqsa Mosque

• Sacred to Muslims
• Non-Muslims were barred from entering the site in
  2000 but the restriction was lifted in 2003
• according to Islamic law the entire complex known
  today as Al-Haram al-Qudsi al-Sharif (The Noble
  Sanctuary) to Muslims, including the Dome of the
  Rock, is considered part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque

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Wailing Wall

• This is the holiest shrine of the Jewish world.
  The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall
  supporting the temple mount. After the
  destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews
  were not allowed to come to Jerusalem until the
  Byzantine period, when they could visit once a
  year on the anniversary of the destruction of the
  Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy
  Temple. Because of this, the wall became known as
  the Wailing Wall.

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Church of the Holy Sepulcher

• Sacred to Christians
• Emperor Constantine the Great had a church
  erected on this site in 325 A.D. The buildings
  were destroyed and rebuilt several times through
  the centuries
• the Church of the Holy Sepulcher commemorates the
  hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ's
  burial.