Why is Jerusalem’s Temple Mount so disputed?

THE SALT LAKE TIMES
By By LAUREN MARKOE and KIMBERLY WINSTON Religion News Service

A Palestinian youth sells bagels outside Jerusalem's Old City, overlooking the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Israel has begun dismantling metal detectors it installed a week earlier at the gates of a contested Jerusalem shrine, amid widespread Muslim protests. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

JERUSALEM---Jerusalem's Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world for Jews and the third holiest for Muslims — a place where millions of people have prayed for millennia. Yet, often, it is a launching pad for deadly attacks and counterattacks. The most recent violence unfolded July 14, when three Arab residents of Israel fatally shot two Israeli police officers guarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount consists of three main sacred sites — the Al-Aqsa Mosque; the Dome of the Rock, sacred to Muslims for its ties to the life of the Prophet Muhammad; and the site of the Second Jewish Temple. The site is sacred to Christians, too, as Jesus is believed to have walked there. Its most visible feature is the golden-roofed Dome of the Rock, visible from much of the city. [More]