New dates for Temple ceremony

Gershon Salomon of the

Temple Mount Faithful says he was not discouraged when Jerusalem police blocked his plans to anoint and lay a cornerstone for the Third Temple during an annual Succot march -- and will renew his efforts in December.

Citing reasons of public safety earlier this month, the police allowed the group to hold a gathering only at the Western Wall plaza.

In years past, police had also rejected members' requests to ascend the Mount as a group, allowing them to go up to Judaism's holiest site only as individuals. This year, however, with tensions running high, no member of the group was allowed on the Temple Mount.

The group plans to bring a four-and-a-half-ton marble "Temple cornerstone" on a flatbed truck to the Mount during the upcoming holiday of Chanukah, which runs from Dec. 22 through Dec. 29.

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The police earlier said they will not allow the group to move the stone from its location at the American Consulate in east Jerusalem.

PLO Jerusalem official Faisal Husseini had called on Arabs to prevent the group from entering the Temple Mount, while the mufti of Jerusalem said that the group wanted to cause fresh bloodshed.

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