TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Here's an odd story involving Jewish-Temple denial. The article has appeared only in two Chinese media outlets, the People's Daily and Xinhua. (The latter is listed in Google but seems to have gone dead.)

Turkish PM says Aqsa Masque belongs to Moslems only

Visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed Monday that al Aqsa Masque in East Jerusalem only belongs to the Moslems and not to anybody else.

Erdogan, who arrived in Israel on Sunday, made the statements after he visited al Aqsa Mosque and prayed there with his wife and the delegation that accompanied him.

Al Aqsa Mosque is considered for all the world's Moslems as their first shrine and their third mosque. It is located at al Haram al Sharif area, a place that Jews are calling "the Temple Mount."

Moslems, mainly Palestinians are afraid that some Jewish extremists, who believe that the Jewish temple is built under the al Aqsa Mosque, would carry out an action to demolish the mosque.

"Al Masjed (mosque) al Aqsa is belonging to the Moslems only, and [no] one has the right to interfere into its affairs or try to administrate it," said Erdogan.

Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, Mufti of Jerusalem and the holy land, and Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, director of the mosque, received Erdogan and accompanied him in the tour of the mosque.

[...]

I have put the most interesting bits in italics. Two things to note. First, the Jewish-Temple denial: it's not just only Jews, but some Jewish extremists who think there was a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.

Second, there is the italicized quotation in rather poor English attributed to Prime Minister Erdogan. (In fact, the whole article is in rather poor English and the quote has an obvious mistake in it which I have corrected.) The story of the Turkish PM's visit, including his visit to the Temple Mount, has been widely reported in an A.P. article and elsewhere (e.g., Ha'aretz, Kavkaz Center, the Turkish Weekly, and Zaman). This particular quote, however, is not found in any other report, with one exception: an article by the Palestine Media Center. It's not the same article as the People's Daily, but some of the material overlaps, including this quotation, which is given correctly (i.e., including the "no" that is missing in the other article).

Did the Turkish Prime Minister really make this statement? I'm skeptical. It doesn't seem very likely to me that the A.P. and the other sources would not have thought it newsworthy if he had. Let's see who else, if anyone, picks up the report.

UPDATE (4 May): Reader Menachem Brody e-mails:

There is a problem here that keeps repeating, and you should be aware of it.

This should be publicized, since it is used to intentionally destabilize things here.

Briefly and simply:

The Temple Mount described in the Mishna and Talmud is 500 Amot (cubits?) square.

The present day compound is much larger, including a large section added to the Southern edge by Herod, divided by a clearly visible seam seen in the Eastern wall (photo on request). On this addition is built the Al-Aksa Mosque.

Almost all responsible historians and archaeologists place the site of the Temple over the Even Shtia, under the Dome of the Rock, in the center of the compound (far from Al-Aksa).

In other words:

The Islamic demand is for control of Al-Aksa, built on a site adjacent to the location of the Temple. The Jewish demand is for the rebuilding of the Temple on it's location in the center of the Mount. THERE IS NO INHERENT CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THESE TWO DEMANDS.

If something here is unclear, I will be glad to explain further.

Thanks for that point. But even if we read the article that way, the intention still seems to be Jewish-Temple denial, since it refers to the Mount as "a place that Jews are calling 'the Temple Mount'" (that is, others would not call it such). This seems to be a comment about the nature of the site, not just the name, although, granted, the English is not very clear.

As for the rebuilding of the Temple, I doubt very much that Muslims would see no problem with the project, even if it could be fitted around the Dome of the Rock. I would oppose it too: I want no more digging on the Mount apart from scientific archaeological excavation.

I still would like to know whether the Turkish PM really said the quote attributed to him. It hasn't been mentioned anywhere else.