Israel is building “the alleged Temple” under the Al-Aqsa Mosque, says official PA TV reporter Official PA TV reporter: "There is construction work taking place under the Al-Aqsa Mosque to build the alleged Temple of Solomon."
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Rabi said: "Regarding this [Western] wall that the Jews claim is the remains of the Temple of Solomon – it must be understood that UNESCO has said that this wall has no connection to Jews, but is rather an Islamic heritage. In other words, it is subject to Palestinian rule and the Jews have no right to it."
Muslims believe Muhammad took a night flight from Mecca to the "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a "stone" or a "rock" (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424).
In the 1920's, Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that "rock" or "stone," and since then Muslims refer to the Western Wall as the "Al-Buraq Wall."
The PA regularly claims that Israel excavates under the Temple Mount, thereby endangering the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Regarding this claim, the Israeli daily Haaretz has reported that the excavations do not reach beneath the mosque: "Despite complaints from the Islamic Movement and Palestinian groups, not a single dig penetrates beneath the [Temple] Mount."
