Palestinian minister denies saying he would allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount

The Blaze reports:

The Palestinian Authority’s Religious Affairs Minister says there will be no peace agreement with Israel unless all territories Israel captured in 1967, including the Western Wall – Judaism’s holiest site – are moved under the sovereignty of a future Palestinian state.

“Every centimeter that was occupied in 1967 is part of the Palestinian state, including the blessed Al Aqsa mosque, including the Buraq Wall,” Minister Mahmoud al-Habash told Israel’s Channel 10 News on Monday night, using the Muslim name for the Western Wall.

“There will not be peace without Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. There will not be peace without an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967. Every piece of land that Israel occupied in 1967 is Palestinian land that belongs to the state of Palestine,” Habash said.

Asked what about Jews who wish to pray at their holiest site, Habash said, “Welcome. Welcome. Without any problem, welcome. There will not be any limitations on freedom of worship. Worship is one thing, and politics are another.”

The Hebrew makes it clear that the question was about the Kotel, and not Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount.

Hamas seized on Habash's words, and harshly criticized him as saying that he would allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. The Mufti of Jerusalem also condemned the statement, calling it a "major crime."

So Habash had to clarify, He says he was only referring to the Kotel, which he stressed is Palestinian, but in which Jews would be allowed to worship just like Christians are allowed to worship in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. However, the Temple Mount is obviously off limits from his "Welcome!" quote - Jews aren't allowed up there.

Obviously, this is all a sham. Muslim Arabs will not allow any Jew to get near any holy site that Muslims stole. Either Jews will be banned outright, for example on the Temple Mount, or they would be banned when Muslims stage violent demonstrations against Jews visiting, which would cause "Palestine" to ban Jews "for their own safety" or "to keep public order."

I am reminded of a claim made once by Ray Hanania claiming that Jordan respected Jews' rights to visit the Old City between 1949 and 1967, and that they only restricted Israelis but not Jews. In fact, Jordan required visitors to the Old City to present baptismal certificates before they would allow them in!

The idea that a Palestinian Arab state, whose constitution says that Islam is the main source for its laws and that that it is the official religion, would offer full access by Jews to holy sites is fantasy. There would be restrictions and outright bans, as there has been under Islamic rule since Islam began.

But Westerners just cannot believe that these nice people wearing suits and ties could ever lie to their faces.

Oh, by the way - the entire Land of Israel is a holy site to Jews.