The Ministry of Religion has quietly ended a centuries-old practice of the Moslem religious authorities of making non-Moslem pilgrims and visitors to the Old City pay a fee to enter the Mount of the Temple area, site of the Dome of the Rock, and the Al Aksa Mosque and traditionally believed to have been the site of the First Temple.
The holy places in the area are administered by the Waqf, the institution which administers Moslem religious properties. Under the British Mandate, non-Moslem visitors to the area were required to pay an admission charge of four shillings (then one dollar) to enter the area. Since the liberation of the Old City, the charge has been one pound (33 cents).
Many Jewish visitors have complained of having to pay tribute to the Moslems for the right to visit a site the Jews regard as holy. Following their protests, the Ministry of Religion opened another gate, affording free passage into the compound.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
