Palestinian officials have condemned the decision by the Israeli government to renovate the Western Wall plaza.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that the Wall is part of occupied eastern Jerusalem and that its historic, cultural, and religious characteristics must not be changed.
PA Deputy Information Minister Al-Mutawakkil Taha stated in a study he published that the Wall is Islamic Waqf and an integral part of Al-Aqsa mosque, that the Jews have no historical religious ties to it, and that not a single stone or grain of soil from it or from the other holy sites can be relinquished.
Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Muhammad Hussein said that Al-Aqsa mosque belongs to the Muslims alone and that the occupation will not manage to plunder the Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem.
