DOME OF THE ROCK
At the Dome of the Rock, the pope met the Grand Mufti, the Palestinians' senior Muslim cleric, and recalled the common roots of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
The Dome stands at the spot where all three great monotheistic religions believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son to God, before an angel stayed his hand. King Solomon and his successors built Jewish temples there before the Romans razed the Second Temple in 70 AD and Jews scattered in exile.
In the 7th century, Islamic conquerors built the first Dome on the spot, where Muslims also believe Mohammad ascended to heaven. The area around, including the al-Aqsa mosque and known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, has been a focus of tensions since Israeli forces captured Jerusalem's Old City in 1967.
When Israeli leader Ariel Sharon walked through what is known to Jews as the Temple Mount in 2000, Palestinian anger turned into several years of bloody uprising, or Intifada, against occupation. Sharon went on to become prime minister.
After meeting Israel's chief rabbis, the pope prayed at the site of Jesus' Last Supper before his crucifixion, and Christians believe his resurrection; the focus of the city's importance for them.
The pontiff was to say mass for thousands of worshippers at the Garden of Gethsemane later in the day.
Arriving on Monday after three days in Jordan, Pope Benedict found his efforts to heal differences with Jews and Muslims challenged by both Israeli disappointment and by a fiery anti-Israel address, delivered in his presence by a Palestinian Muslim cleric, which annoyed both the Vatican and Israelis.
(For a graphic on the Pope's trip see
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/MAY/POPE.jpg)
(For more on faith and ethics, see the Reuters religion blog FaithWorld at
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld)
(For more on Israel and the Palestinian territories, see our blog AxisMundi Jerusalem at
http://blogs.reuters.com/axismundi)
Douglas Hamilton and
Jeffrey Heller
