These days, Jerusalem has returned to the headlines in the
Middle East because of the plan to build a pedestrian bridge to
the "Mughrabi" Gate of the Temple Mount. Many bridges have been
built in Israel without arousing even one word of criticism in
the Arab or Islamic world, but if Israel comes anywhere near the
Temple Mount - whether it be for the tunnels or archaeological
digs - the speakers of the Arab and Islamic world immediately
jump to their feet and scream bitterly. In this article we will
attempt to explain why this is so. Jerusalem, at least the Old
City and the Temple Mount, appears as a Palestinian political
demand ever since it was liberated from the Jordanian occupation
in June 1967, despite the fact that it was never the capital of
anything in Islam and wasn't even the regional Palestinian
capital after the Muslim Conquest in the seventh century. The
capital was Ramle, 30 kilometers to the west from Jerusalem. And
so, we ask: Why is Jerusalem holy to a religion that was
established and develop