Jerusalem's entire Temple Mount area -- including the Western or "Wailing" Wall -- belongs to the Muslims, according to the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri.

In a recently issued Islamic religious edict, called a "fatwa," Sabri proclaimed that the Western Wall, which is the retaining wall outside what was the second temple -- destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D -- as well as the plaza in front of it are part of the holy Mount and are therefore also the property of the Moslem Waqf. The Waqf is the Islamic religious trust that currently administers the top of the Temple Mount area, comprising the Al Aqsa mosque and surrounding grounds.

The Temple Mount -- site of the second temple -- has been the holiest site of Judiasm for millennia.

The entire area, claims the Mufti -- the area's highest Muslim religious authority, appointed by PA head Yasser Arafat -- is the property of Allah and cannot be transferred to anyone else -- meaning the Jews. During a press conference at his Temple Mount office, the mufti claimed his fatwa compelled one billion Muslims worldwide to act in accordance with its proclamation, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.

Previously, Sabri has called for the complete "liberation" by Palestinians, not only of Jerusalem, but in fact of the entire country of Israel, and has also praised the "sacrifice" and "martyrdom" of Palestinian children in pursuance of the cause of the Palestinian "jihad," or holy war, against Israel.

"The land of Palestine is not only Jerusalem; this land stretches from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. Naturally, the [Palestinian] problem relates to all of this land. We cannot establish a homeland by only liberating Jerusalem," said Sabri, echoing a long-held, though seldom reported, Arab view that the presence of Israel -- regardless of its borders -- is intolerable to the Arab world.

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