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"Josephus described it [the fortress] as being "erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in height" on a "great precipice," Sams quotes Josephus... With 60-foot walls, four towers (the southeast being 105 feet high), and smooth stones covering the slope on its east side, it dominated the temple to its south, ready to fend off the most formidable attacks." Given this description, according to Sams, tucking Fortress Antonia north of the temple location in the Temple Mount area subscribed to by most scholars would have been impossible. It simply wouldn't fit. Moreover, Sams cites the insufficiency or paucity of archaeological...

False rumors about Israel's designs on a site held sacred by both Jews and Muslims helped trigger the bloody wave of attacks plaguing Jerusalem, but a tangible plan by six Arab nations to purge the Jewish State's claim to its holiest location will be voted on Wednesday by the United Nations' cultural arm. A UN draft decision circulated by Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates reviewed by FoxNews.com “affirms that the Buraq Plaza is an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” – a statement that would specifically fold the Jewish Western Wall into Islamic domain on...

The Paris, France-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is making “an attempt to distort history” in favor of Palestinians by voting to declare Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall, a Muslim holy site. The JTA notes that the proposal seeks to confirm an earlier UNESCO decision that the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb–which are two West Bank sites holy to both Jews and Muslims–are part of a Palestinian state. On Friday, a Palestinian mob set fire to the Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site located in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Fatah still takes direction from the...

Proposal, likely to pass due to Muslim majority, would have Kotel renamed Buraq Plaza and made part of Al-Aqsa Mosque. In an attempt to gain international legitimacy for its rewriting of history, the Palestinian Authority (PA) will submit a resolution to UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) next week claiming the Kotel (Western Wall) as its own. The proposal calls to have the Kotel in Jerusalem - which is an outer wall of the Temple Mount that is the holiest site in Judaism - recognized as part of Al-Aqsa Mosque located on the Mount, reports Yedioth Aharonoth on Friday.

Gov. Scott Walker visited Jerusalem Sunday on the first day of his five-day trip to Israel and was photographed standing near the Western Wall. Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks tweeted a photo of Walker clad in a yarmulke, the traditional Jewish head covering for males, and blue polo shirt near the Western Wall, which is considered the holiest place for Judaism. Also known as the Wailing Wall or Kotel, it's a place many Muslims, Christians and Jews visit in Israel. On Sunday morning Brooks tweeted: "Hitting the day running on first day in #Israel w/ @ScottWalker -visited the...

The Palestinian government has removed a report claiming that Jerusalem's Western Wall isn't holy to Jews from an official website, after it provoked furious reaction. The five-page report has been condemned by the U.S. and Israel as incorrect and provocative. Palestinian officials would not comment on the report Wednesday. But its author, Al-Mutawakil Taha, a civil servant in the Information Ministry, says he stands by it.

The Rolling Stones were taking the stage in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, and were extremely excited to perform in Israel for the very first time. Ahead of the milestone show they decided to travel to Jerusalem where they visited the Western Wall. While Keith Richards skipped the outing, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts were all photographed at the holy spot, also known as the Kotel or Wailing Wall. Mick, 70, was paying his respects at the sacred site, and was spotted placing a hand on the Wall after following the lead of two men in kippah. Ronnie, who...

The Palestinian Authority (P) Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash and the former Chief palestinians want soverignty over western wallJustice of the PA's Religious Court both recently declared that the PA's Islamic belief and political position is that Jews are prohibited from praying at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA denies Israel's history and rights in Jerusalem, but these statements by top religious leaders go even further. The PA claims that the area of the Muslim holy site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, includes not only the mosque itself, but extends over the...

Melding the Hanukkah holiday and foreign affairs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu solemnly vowed to act as a “light unto the nations” and act against Iran’s nuclear program should diplomacy fail Thursday night. Speaking at the Western Wall for a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony, Netanyahu compared Iran’s nuclear program to a darkness that would be forced out by Israel, referencing a popular children’s song for the holiday.

In what is being described as yet another example of Palestinian Authority (PA) denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has claimed the Western Wall as an Arab and Islamic site. Last week, a picture of the Western Wall was posted onto the PA Presidential Guard's official Facebook page with a PA flag superimposed on it, along with the words "The Al Buraq Wall - Public Relations and Information - The Presidential Guard - Palestinian youth know their rights." The Western Wall...

Jewish man was killed on Friday morning at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem after being shot multiple times by a security guard. The guard told police that 46-year-old Doron Ben Shlush was in a public bathroom onsite, and that he shouted “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is greater.” The phrase, though common in Muslim parlance, has historically been shouted by terrorists ahead of perpetrating attacks in Israel. According to the guard, 25, Ben Shlush reached into his pocket while shouting the Arabic phrase. Magen David Adom crews attempted to resuscitate Ben Shlush, who succumbed to his wounds...

The Women of the Wall would have us believe that they are defending the Western Wall for everyone. Considering that after 25 years and massive public relations efforts the group can hardly gather 100 women on a good month, the assertion sounds ludicrous. Can you imagine so small a fringe group demanding to do as it pleases at the Vatican? Westminster Abbey? St.Patrick’s Cathedral in New York? Mecca? At any place of worship in the world? That’s not freedom of religion, that’s anarchy! The Women of the Wall can argue all they want that the Kotel is not a synagogue...

An Israeli Arab group, "The Al-Aqsa Heritage Institute," on Thursday issued a statement demanding that Israel halt its plans to bring more Jews to the Kotel (Western Wall) - which, the group claims, is holy not to Jews, but to Muslims. In fact, the group says, Israel is "defiling the holiness of the site" by conducting Jewish prayers there. In Jewish tradition, the Kotel is the outer retaining wall of the Holy Temple, which stood on the Temple Mount, approximately at the same location as the Al-Aqsa Mosque. When the Holy Temple was destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago, Jews were...

Not a War. Perhaps a Recreational Exercise? By Norma Zager “In the Middle Ages, the Wall received another name—the Wailing Wall—as Jews were observed here lamenting the Temple’s destruction. A legend says that on Ninth of Av, the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, the dew glistening on the stones is the Wall itself shedding tears.” Jewish tradition 
Readers, I now present the riddle for today. When is a war not a war? Answer: When it is the United States attacking Libya. This goes hand in hand with that other great riddle: When is a terrorist attack not a terrorist attack?...

Israel on Sunday approved a plan to develop Jerusalem's Western Wall plaza which will cost 85 million shekels (about 23 million U.S. dollars), citing preservation of archaeological sites and the need to upgrade aging infrastructure as its main goals. (Xinhua/Yin Dongxun) Israel on Sunday approved a plan to develop Jerusalem's Western Wall plaza which will cost 85 million shekels (about 23 million U.S. dollars), citing preservation of archaeological sites and the need to upgrade aging infrastructure as its main goals. The plan, slated to stretch from 2011 to 2015, is a "direct continuation of a plan that was approved in...

Kings of Controversy Was the Kingdom of David and Solomon a glorious empire—or just a little cow town? It depends on which archaeologist you ask. The woman sitting on a bench in the Old City of Jerusalem, round-faced and bundled up against the autumn chill, chews on an apple while studying the building that has brought her both fame and aggravation. It doesn't really look like a building—just some low stone walls abutting an ancient terraced retaining wall 60 feet high. But because the woman is an archaeologist, and because this is her discovery, her eyes see what others might...

‘Muslim tolerance allowed the Jews to stand in front of it and weep,’ says Information Ministry official. The Western Wall belongs to Muslims and is an integral part of Al-Aksa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif (the Islamic term for the Temple Mount complex, meaning the Noble Sanctuary), according to an official paper published on Monday by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information in Ramallah. The paper, which has been presented as a “study,” was prepared by Al-Mutawakel Taha, a senior official with the ministry, to “refute” Jews’ claims to the Western Wall. In the past, PA leaders and officials have also...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Palestinian leadership on Thursday to renounce an official Palestinian report asserting the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites, is not Jewish. Al-Mutawakil Taha, deputy information minister in the Palestinian Authority, published a five-page study on Wednesday disputing Jews' reverence of the shrine as a retaining wall of the compound of Biblical Jewish Temples destroyed centuries ago. The wall is adjacent to a politically sensitive holy complex in a part of Jerusalem that Israel captured in a 1967 war. The area, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as...

JERUSALEM (RNS) The Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, is actually a Muslim shrine, according to an official report published Monday (Nov. 22) by the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Information. The document, which was written by Al-Mutawakei Tahad, a senior ministry official and respected writer, states that the Wall -- long considered the sole surviving piece of the Second Jewish Temple built atop the Temple Mount more than 2,000 years ago-- is actually part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on Haram al-Sharif, the Arabic name for the Temple Mount. Archeologists maintain that Al-Aqsa was built atop the ruins of...