JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has put off plans to resume contested renovation work near Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound that sparked massive Muslim protests this year, a cabinet minister said on Monday.
Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadle, who is responsible for the Antiquities Authority, wrote to the cabinet asking the government to review a ministerial committee's decision to resume the work.
"There is no doubt that resuming the work as ordered by a committee of five ministers would not create a favourable atmosphere while we are preparing to try and make peace with the Palestinians," Majadle told public radio.
"This decision has been deferred until the entire government decides on the matter. Judaism and Islam tell us to be prudent... We must avoid a political conflict turning into a religious conflict," he added.
Majadle, who is Israel's first Arab Muslim cabinet minister, warned in his letter that restarting the work could be particularly sensitive ahead of a US-sponsored Middle East summit expected next month.
The renovation project seeks to enlarge and bolster a ramp just inside the Old City's Dung Gate that connects the Western Wall prayer plaza -- which is revered by Jews -- to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine.
Israel began archaeological excavations and repair work for a new ramp in early February but they were halted on February 12 after Muslims claimed the project was endangering the foundations of the Al-Aqsa site.
Israel denied the work posed any risk to the holy site, also venerated as the location of the ancient Jewish temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
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