The Not-That-Brave Braverman

Brave?

Not he:-

[Minorities Minister Laborite Avishay] Braverman said that during every holiday period "Jews pray and extremist Muslim elements spread the word that the 'status quo has been violated'. On the other hand, there are extremist Jewish elements that cause provocations, which lead to riots.

"It is important to stress that the Israeli government has not changed its policy of forbidding Jews from praying at the Temple Mount," he said.

According to Braverman, the current dispute may ignite not only the Middle East, but the entire world.

Not-Brave, yes, the Jews do pray, but only at the Kotel, the Western Wall.

Not at the Temple Mount, at least in a congregation prayer.

You can't compare the two.

And it is only a provocation when the other side, the Arabs, consider it such. But why should they do so unless they want to exploit their "hurt" feelings to cause riots, disrupt any peace process and injure or kill a few Jews (and curse out Ethiopian policemen in racial epithets)?

Like this:

The Arab officials [the Members of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee who visited the Temple Mount compound Wednesday] claimed Israel was, indeed, excavating under the compound. Sheikh Kamal Rayan, head of the Islamic al-Aqsa Association told Ynet that the committee "wants to know exactly where the excavations are being conducted and why they are being kept a secret.

I'd like to know, too, because the only digging, as we all know for it's not a secret, is the Arab destruction of Jewish historic artifacts and remains and illegally building additional halls, etc.

And more bovine defecation there:

"The Jews are laying groundwork and building synagogues around the mosque and we are kept in the dark. We are kept from entering al-Aqsa," he added, "Kept from observing out faith and customs.

Of course, we build - outisde. And only when you riot are you restricted.

And if you insist that

"It seems as if the Arabs' (access to the compound) is restricted every Jewish holiday. This is provocation. We are against violence and this is a law-abiding state, but you have to allow Muslim freedom of religion, not issue collective punishment. It's a fundamental right.

then what about our rights as Jews to our holy site, there before yours? No sharing? No coexistence? No peaceful compromise over hours, like in Hebron's Patriarchs' Cave?

I guess not after reading this:

[Islamic Movement head Sheikh Raad] Salah said that the clashes would last as long as Israel's "occupation" of the city and Al-Aqsa Mosque continued. He said the Israeli government must understand that using force does not grant it rights to Al-Aqsa Mosque or anywhere else in East Jerusalem, and that the key to achieving calm in the area is an Israeli "withdrawal."

"No one has rights to the Al-Aqsa Mosque other than the Muslims. The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or East Jerusalem," he said.

And just found this:-

The riots are being directly incited by the PA, whose official media outlets and institutions are stoking Arab flames by claiming right-wing extremist Jews are attempting to threaten Al-Aksa Mosque - a decades-old blood libel that should be easily dismissible in light of heavy Israeli restrictions on Jews and Christians from ascending the Mount during most hours of the day, whereas Muslims are usually free to access the site 24/7.

Indeed, Israeli law prohibits Jews and Christians from praying on the site. If any so-called extremist Jew attempted to enter Al-Aksa, he or she would likely be immediately removed from the Temple Mount by Israeli police, who follow Jewish tour groups very closely and coordinate with the Wakf, the Islamic custodians of the site.

The PA is not just inciting violence; its officials also assist the riots. On Monday Israeli security forces released from custody Jerusalem's senior PA official, Khatem Abed Al-Kadr, who had been detained on suspicion of inciting riots. The PA-aligned Islamic Movement is reportedly even sponsoring buses to transport young, riled-up Israeli Arabs to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from Umm el-Fahm.

In a conversation earlier this week, Dimitri Diliani, the spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party in Jerusalem, did not deny his group's involvement in the riots. "Palestinian political factions, including Fatah, are firm on defending the political, national and religious rights of the Palestinian people," Diliani said, "and it's evident now we will continue defending Al-Aksa Mosque as well as our rights in Jerusalem as a whole."

...the PA, emboldened by Obama's speech, may be using the riots as a pressure tactic to send a clear message to Israel - if negotiations do not create a state in the near future, expect another intifada.

And Gerald Steinberg confirms:

For the Palestinians and their supporters, any Jewish presence in Jerusalem that is not under Arab control is not only unacceptable, but seen as threatening. And every ancient text, archeological find or property claim that validates the 3,000-year Jewish historical and religious heritage in this most sacred of cities, is angrily rejected as "Judaization." These allegations are used to promote and justify violent attacks, from rock-throwing to mass terror...

...the Palestinian and Arab position that erases all Jewish links to Jerusalem leads to escalation of Jewish defensive moves, designed to prevent a return to the 1948-1967 situation of total exclusion and desecration.

For Jews, the total failure to implement the terms of the 1949 armistice agreement guaranteeing, on paper, free access to sacred sites, remains a traumatic memory. Between 1948 and 1967, when the Old City was under Arab occupation, the Jewish Quarter, including synagogues and cemeteries, was systematically desecrated, and the "international community" did nothing to enforce the agreement. Since then, the periodic waves of Arab violence in Jerusalem revive the concerns that agreements based on shared sovereignty or "international control" would lead to the same unacceptable situation. With no sign of movement towards a realistic compromise, Jewish Israelis worry that unless their presence in the city is strengthened, they will eventually be pushed out, yet again.