>I haven't heard of a
>Rav who interpreted Halacha in
>the way you describe, so
>if you could find a
>reference, then maybe it would
>help.

It was a specific rabbi, don't remember his name, but I think he was a San Francisco rabbi and it made news in the SF Chronicle, I think.
>
>I wasn't saying that Muslims don't
>revere Jerusalem, I simply said
>that no Palestinian state has
>existed with Jerusalem as its
>capital. That's a separate issue
>from Muslim importance.

On Palestinian statehood: The Palestinians realized a sense of nationalism way back during WWI when much of the rest of the so-called 3rd World was also discovering its yearning to become independent. Nations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East were fighting their imperial colonists. The same happened with the Arabs, including Palestine. The Arabs pledged their support to help Britain dislodge the Ottoman Turks in return for independence. And of course, the British don't keep their promise and Britain takes control of Palestine thanks to a League of Nations conspiracy to keep the colonial world order in place. Eventually most Arabs did gain their independence, and the Palestinians even revolted against Britain from 1936-1939 to try to gain their independence. The British put down the revolt and exiled the Palestinian leadership, throwing the Palestinian independence movement into disarray. This of course made it much easier for the Zionists to dispossess the Palestinians of their land and illegally take over much more territory than the UN gave them in the Partition of Palestine "solution" before one Arab soldier even stepped foot into Israel. This of course contradicts the false facts that the Arabs invaded Israel first in the 1948 War. The Arabs "invaded" in May 1948, but Zionist forces were busy taking over Palestinian land and killing Palestinians before May 1948, such as the infamous Deir Yassin massacre of April 1948. Because the Palestinian leadership was still in exile, the other Arab armies had to "invade" Israel to protect the Palestinians. The Palestinian independence movement did not recover until the formation of the PLO in the mid-1960s. Later, Jordan, who had controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem until Israel illegally captured the WB and E. Jerusalem in 1967, gave up their rights to a future settlement regarding the WB and Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

>The PA/PLO is not the Ottoman
>empire. Mutual access to Jerusalem
>is happening right now.

That may be true, but the Arab residents of Jerusalem who were a majority of East Jerusalem until illegal Jewish settlements were built may have Israeli citizenship, but are they treated equally? The answer is obviously no, just as Israeli-Arabs (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) are not treated equally. Israel neglects the Arab neighborhoods, discriminates against Jerusalem's Arab residents with regards to social and municipal services, while Jewish West Jerusalem gets much of the attention. Religious access is just one element of the Jerusalem debate. By allowing the Palestinians to have sovereignty over East Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods and Muslim and Christian holy sites, the Arabs in Jerusalem will actually have a government that would theoretically
have an interest in improving the everyday lives of Arab East Jerusalem. Israel does not have an interest in improving the lives of non-Jews by definition. Israel is a Jewish state, and thus, cannot be a democracy. It gives preferential treatment and a majority of its attention to Jews. And even then, not all Jews. I was once in a mall in W. Jerusalem and the janitors and people who were sweeping the floors were Ethiopian Jews. Israel pretended it was carrying out a humanitarian mission by transporting the Ethiopian Jews to Israel a few years back. But they were actually bringing in cheap labor. I know it's sad to say, but it's the truth. That is what Zionism/Israel is. It's power base was raised in an atmosphere of European colonialism, racism, and imperialism. It is European Jews who control the institutions, the govt., the state of Israel. What is the state? Dead Prez explains what the state is.
Back to Palestinian control of Jerusalem. If this were to happen, the city WOULD NOT be physically divided. It would serve as the capital of two countries. Since Israel does not treat Arab Jerusalemites with equality compared to Jewish Jerusalemites, let the Palestinians offer their own people the social, civil and municipal services, and let the Palestinians control the relevant religious sites; that is the Muslim and Christian sites.