PA ADVISES JOURNALISTS TO USE TERM AL-AQSA MOSQUE COMPOUND INSTEAD OF TEMPLE MOUNT

Bethlehem, 10 Safar 1436/3 December 2014 (MINA) – The Palestinian Authority has called on the international media to desist from using the term Temple Mount, saying its use doesn’t “adhere to international law.”

Acording Press release from Saeb Erakat office and posted in Haaretz,  Temple Mount is the term commonly used in English to describe what in Arabic is known as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) – the compound in the Old City of Jerusalem containing the al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the PLO advised media representatives to use the term The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound instead. The compound, it said, “is not a disputed territory and all other terms, therefore, are null and void,” Palestine News Network (PNN) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The statement says the compound is “an internationally recognized part of the Occupied State of Palestine” and that Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem in the 1980 Basic Law on Jerusalem is not recognized by the international community.

It quotes the United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 to the effect that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular, the recent ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void.” (T/P3/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)