Sacred and significant to Jews and Palestinians alike, the Temple Mount has a long and tumultuous history, serving today as a focal point and symbol of the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the Jewish People, the Temple Mount is known to be its holiest site. It is the site of the Foundation Stone, the center of the universe and where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac, as well as the place where King Solomon built the holy First Temple. For Palestinians and other Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound is considered the third holiest site in Islam, the place to where Muhammad travelled from Mecca and ascended to heaven in a single night. Since the formation of Zionism and the founding of the State of Israel, the Temple Mount has once again become a site of tension between competing peoples and religions, sparking conflict over antiquities claims, Jewish prayer, and security presence. At the center of the violence is the fear that recognizing the claim of the Other’s connection to the site will mean that the Other rightfully owns the Temple Mount to the exclusion of all other peoples and faiths. From its origins as a symbol of legitimacy for various empires and groups to its current role as a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Temple Mount continues to represent the complexities and tensions of the region.
