Like this photo showing lots of overgrown weeds around the Dome of the Rock in 1901:
And I found video and photos from the 1954 showing the same thing:
I also made a video comparing how the ground of the Temple Mount was filled with weeds when it was Judenrein, compared to the floor of the Kotel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Now, reader Irene found more recent photos from 1960 showing the same weeds and neglect by Jordan for the holy site, both outside the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque:
No one willing to sacrifice their lives for "Al Aqsa" then. In fact, few Muslims seemed very interested in visiting it to begin with.
And this is when it was under Muslim rule, when there were no restrictions whatsoever on access by the devout West Bank Jordanians, or the East Bankers for that matter. Saudis and Yemenis could visit if they wanted. The only people who couldn't visit were Jews.
But the Muslims treated this holy site with contempt. King Hussein did fix up the Dome of the Rock and he re-gilded it, but that wasn't because of huge crowds that were coming - it was to attract more Muslim tourists who otherwise couldn't be bothered to visit.
Only when Jews arrived on the scene did this become one of the most important issues in the world. Only when Jews want to quietly visit the site do many Muslims decide that they must go into a murderous rage. Only when Jews tell the world that this was a Jewish site that was usurped by Muslims do the Muslims decide that perhaps they care about it after all.
Funny how that happens.