Monday August 7 7:22 AM ET
Israeli Rabbis Sidestep Temple Mount Issue

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Chief Rabbinical Council avoided detailed debate Monday on a controversial proposal to build a synagogue in Jerusalem near Islam's third holiest shrine.

A spokesman said the council, which had been scheduled to
discuss the politically and religiously charged issue, decided to
set up a committee ``to examine all the ways to realize our rights and sovereignty over the Temple Mount.''

No deadline was set for the committee to complete its work. Its general terms of reference, which made no mention of a synagogue, suggested the matter could be put on the back burner.

The Temple Mount is where Jews believe the first and second biblical temples stood. It is also, as al-Haram al-Sharif, the Muslim ``Noble Sanctuary'' which includes the al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.

Israel Radio reported that a senior cabinet minister, whom it did not identify, asked the council not to discuss the proposed synagogue at Monday's regular meeting to avoid angering Palestinians at a critical juncture in Middle East peacemaking.

The possibility of building a synagogue at the holy site was raised by Rabbi Sha'ar-Yashuv Cohen, chief rabbi of Haifa in northern Israel.

But a spokesman for the Chief Rabbinate said Sunday most council members believed in an interpretation of Jewish law that viewed the Temple Mount complex as too holy for Jews to pray on until the messiah arrives.

The shrine is in Arab East Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as capital of a future Palestinian state. Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, regards all of the city as its ``eternal and indivisible'' capital.

Israelis and Palestinians discussed the emotive issue of Jerusalem and its religious sites, holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, during 15 days of U.S.-backed talks at Camp David last month that ended in disagreement.