wfn.org | Bush Asks Sharon to Halt Work on Nazareth Mosque

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JERUSALEM, March 23, 2001 -- U.S. President George W. Bush has asked Israeli 
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw permission for construction of a 
mosque in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Radio Israel 
reported here this morning.

The request was made Tuesday during a meeting between Bush and Sharon in 
Washington, D.C.  Some American Christian leaders had urged Bush to seek a 
reversal of the decision allowing the mosque.

Israeli Franciscan, Father David Jaeger, a member of the Latin Catholic group 
assigned  "Custody of the Holy Land," told the international agency Fides: "I 
am delighted and very grateful to President Bush, to the American Catholic 
bishops, and American Christian leaders in general.

"Many Protestant church officials I met on several visits to the United 
States had assured me of their backing for the request made by the Franciscan 
Custodians.  The president's support echoes voices raised all over the 
Christian world," he said.

The government of Ehud Barak had ceded to a request by Muslim fundamentalists 
for a mosque on the doorstep of the Nazareth basilica.  

On several occasions, the decision created friction between Christians and 
Muslim fundamentalists in the Holy Land.  As a protest against the laying of 
the foundation stone on Nov. 23, 1999, Christian churches and holy places 
throughout the Holy Land kept their doors closed for two days.

"The mosque is not essential to the spiritual needs of the Muslim community, 
since there are other Muslim places of worship in the area," the Franciscan 
spokesperson said. 

"In 1999, Yasser Arafat himself expressed his opposition to the construction."

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