The Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem fis prominently in the news in view of: the Arab-Jewish tension in Palestine which is apparently growing. worse, With strict curfew maintained in Jerusalem and other.parts of the, country, 3,000 Arabs elected to stay' Inside the Mosque in spite of rogulations and Lieut-Gen. Sir Arthur Wauchope, the British High Commissioner, is reported to have appointed Jewish deputy mayors in place of Arab officials in three cities. One of the most beautiful structures in a city saturated with history and tradition, the Mosque of Omar is a focal point of Moslem faith and at tone stage it was intended to develop ithas a rival to Mecca. Asa shrine itis wrongly called the "Mosque of Omar, its correct name being. the Dome of the Rock built by Abdul Melik Tein Murwan but with many of the decorations attributed to Sullan Sulieman the Magnificent. When Titus destroyed Herod's Temple an enormous space was left desolate and even when the Moslems arrived In the seventh century it was still a waste, but owing to disputes in the Islamic faith regarding Mecca as the place of pilgrimage work was started to enclose the rock, Es-Sakhra, and to elevate in Moslem estimation to the Importance of the Kapa at Mecca. This move did not materialize but the Dome on the Rock is still an important Islam shrine. The Dome is nearly 100 feet high with a diameter 78 fect and stands on the rock in the centre of a broad-paved courtyard amid archiieetural relics of several centuries all incorporated in the building of the Dome. In the southwest corner there is a depression Which is said to be a footprint of Mahomet, but in the 12th century the Crusaders, with that wonderful chivalry which transcended everything, believed it to be that of Jesus Christ and enclosed the rock with a French wrought iron grill which is still in existence.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.