Religious News - Concurrent holy days strain Jerusalem

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Concurrent holy days strain Jerusalem

The unusual intersection of the Muslim Ramadan and Jewish Slihot holy days is causing tension in the narrow passageways of Jerusalem's Old City, observers say.

As tens of thousands of pious Jews visit the Western Wall and equal numbers of Muslims jam into the Old City to worship and celebrate at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, they jostle past each other along ancient byways as tense groups of Israeli soldiers watch with guns at the ready, The New York Times reported Monday.

Some Palestinian Muslims complain they are losing access to Al-Aqsa because those living in the occupied West Bank are barred from going there without special permission, the newspaper said.

"I don't believe the Jews and Muslims can ever have peace here," Palestinian Said Abed told the Times. "The Jews are trying to control Jerusalem by deciding who can stay here."

"The Muslims shouldn't even be there," countered Haim Ben Dalak, a Jewish seminary student who is getting ready to join the army. "There should be a Jewish temple there. That's what we believe."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

This news arrived on: 09/29/2008

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