Temple Mount

Temple Mount, site of the Temple of Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Romans on the 9th/10th of Av in 70 ce (see Tisha be-Av). It consists of a raised platform that, since the 7th century, has been home to the Islamic holy sites of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The lower section of the compound’s Western Wall, which dates to the 2nd century bce, is the only remnant of the retaining wall that surrounded the Temple. It has served as a site of pilgrimage for Jews since the Temple’s destruction. Since Israel gained control of East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War (1967)—the first time since the Crusades that Muslims lost control of the area surrounding the compound—the site has become a particular flashpoint in the Arab-Israeli conflict, as Muslims have raised concerns over the fate of the Islamic holy sites that are currently located there.

Site of the Temple of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Temple was first constructed during the reign of Solomon, king of Israel, and completed in 957 bce. It was built as an abode for the Ark of the Covenant, an ornate gold-plated wooden chest that housed the tablets given to Moses by God, according to the Bible, and it served as a place of assembly and sacrifice. During the Babylonian Captivity in the 6th century bce the Temple was looted and eventually destroyed, in 587/586. The Second Temple was built after Cyrus II allowed the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem. Work was completed in 515. Although the Ark had been lost, the Temple remained the center of ritual worship. The Temple suffered some damage after the Romans captured Jerusalem in 63 bce, and Herod, who was appointed ruler of Judaea in 40 bce, ordered a reconstruction on a magnificent scale in 20/19 bce. It took more than a generation to complete. However, in 70 ce the Temple was reduced to ashes after the Roman commander Titus sent his forces to crush a rebellion in the city.

Attachment to the Temple never abated, and historical literature indicates that Jews continued to visit the site throughout the Roman era. In the Midrash, rabbinic tradition asserts that the “divine Presence [Shekhina] never departs from the Western Wall.” A 4th-century description of Jerusalem, written by the anonymous Christian Pilgrim of Bordeaux, mentions a “pierced stone” on the Temple Mount visited by Jews each year in lament, a likely reference to the Foundation Stone, upon which Jews believe the world was created and the Temple was built. The significance of the Temple Mount for contemporary Jews is reflected in early Islamic literature, which relates that the caliph ʿUmar, after conquering Jerusalem in the 7th century, cleaned the compound of Byzantine desecration and restored it as the Jewish qiblah (focal point of prayer).

Under the Umayyad dynasty (661–750), the Dome of the Rock was built over a large stone usually identified with the Foundation Stone. Al-Aqsa Mosque was later built on a nearby section where Muslims believe Muhammad led Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others in prayer after his miraculous Isrāʾ journey. The Temple Mount served briefly as a site of pilgrimage for Christians in the 12th century after the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem was established in 1099, although it returned to Islamic control after the Ayyubids captured the city in 1187. After the Ottomans established control over Jerusalem in the 16th century, Süleyman I ordered the area around the Western Wall to be cleared out to allow for Jewish prayer. Amid the hostilities of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 20th century, Israelis were not allowed access to the Temple Mount or the Western Wall from 1948 to 1967, which constituted the most significant restriction on Jews’ visiting the site in centuries.

Modern status and tensions

On June 7, 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli forces entered Jerusalem’s Old City and took control of the entirety of historic Jerusalem, which Israel formally annexed in 1980. It marked the first time that Jerusalem had come under the control of a Jewish government since before the dawn of Islam. Moshe Dayan, who was Israel’s defense minister during the Six-Day War, recognized the sensitivity over the Temple Mount and arranged for the Islamic waqf (trust) that had long administered the compound to continue to do so. The arrangement was later formalized in Israel’s 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, which recognized the “special role” of the Hashemite dynasty regarding Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.

Nevertheless, the interest of many Israelis in the ancient Temple of Jerusalem, both archaeologically and religiously, has stoked anxiety among Muslims, who have grown increasingly concerned about the potential loss of control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. In September 2000, weeks after talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders broke down over issues that included Jerusalem’s status, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the Temple Mount to press Israel’s sovereignty over the compound. That move was followed by demonstrations by Palestinians the next day and set off the second (“Al-Aqsa”) intifada, a Palestinian uprising that lasted until 2005.

Restrictions on Palestinians’ access to the Muslim holy site have since been a recurring point of tension, perhaps most notably in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clashes between Muslims and Israeli forces during Ramadan that year prompted an escalation of violence and, combined with other concerns over Jerusalem, culminated in an 11-day conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The emergence in late 2022 of a far-right governing coalition in Israel led to further concerns over the Temple Mount’s sensitive status. In January 2023 Itamar Ben-Gvir, the new minister of national security and head of the far-right party Jewish Power, sparked controversy when he became the highest-ranking Israeli official to visit the compound since Ariel Sharon in 2000. The visit prompted little reaction on the ground, but it heightened diplomatic tensions with Jordan. In 2024, amid the Israel-Hamas War, Ben-Gvir sought a restriction on the number of Muslim worshippers allowed to visit during Ramadan, but the government ultimately decided against that restriction in a bid to reduce tension.

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