"Israel planning to demolish Al Aqsa before Obama visit"

The nutty rumors continue in the Arabic press.

This one, in both Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today and Hamas' Felesteen, says that "the occupation is accelerating efforts to demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque with U.S. blessing" before President Obama's planned visit to Israel on March 20.

Adnan Husseini, head of the Waqf, says that Israel plans to replace the mosque with the Third Temple. Moreover, he charges that there is a seven-step plan to destroy the mosque, and Israel has already implemented six of them, including clearing the Kotel plaza, building synagogues in the Old City and archaeological digs that are presumably meant to weaken the foundations of the mosque.

Of course, the idea that this is being planned is ludicrous.

But now that I had my tour of the area and see that the Al Aqsa Mosque is built completely on part of the Temple Mount that was expanded by Herod, and not near the "Holy of Holies," the idea of  building a synagogue on one of the large open spaces on the southern part of the Mount doesn't bother me at all.

It is a sad fact that the idea of equal rights between Jews and Muslims on the Temple Mount is considered a crazy radical right-wing idea.