Israel's security cabinet ordered a halt Wednesday to construction of a controversial mosque near the Basilica of the Annunciation church in Nazareth. The town's Christians lauded Israel's decision, but Muslim residents protested in anger, calling the decision "persecution."

Minister of Construction and Housing Natan Sharansky and Interior Minister Eli Yishai were charged by the cabinet with finding a solution to the dispute, one that has caused friction between Christians and Muslims and resulted in international pressure on Israel. The two have been requested to suggest an alternative site for the mosque and report back to the cabinet in two weeks.

The Nazareth Waqf (Muslim religious trust) began

Government decision - part of "miserable persecution of Muslims" - Nazareth Deputy Mayor Salman Abu Ahmed

construction of the mosque several weeks ago, at a site Muslims believe marks the grave of Shahib al-Din - a nephew of Saladin, the Muslim commander who led the army that defeated the Crusaders in 1187. The gravesite had been used in the past as a place for Muslim prayers, a Muslim school and Muslim-owned shops.

But the construction site is adjacent to the church, the largest in the Middle East, where Christian tradition says the Angel Gabriel foretold the birth of Jesus. The Nazareth municipality in 1998 approved a plan to build a paved plaza near the church for the tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims who were expected to accompany the Pope on his Holy Land visit in 2000.

The decision led to clashes between residents of Nazareth, a Galilee town of 70,000. The Islamic Movement protested the plan and set up a mosque tent at the site. The High Court of Justice ruled in October 1999 that a third of the plaza did belong to the Waqf and the government approved the construction, conditional on starting the building after the Pope's pilgrimage.

The Vatican condemned Israel's decision to allow the mosque to be built, and Pope John Paul II threatened to cancel his millennium visit to the Holy Land over the issue. The Pope's visit passed without incident, but Christian leaders continued to protest the mosque. The Pope reportedly discussed the Nazareth dispute with U.S. President George W. Bush, who urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to stop construction on the mosque project during talks between the two in Washington last year, media sources reported.

Media analysts suggested that approval for the mosque's construction was due to political gestures by the Labor-led government to the country's Muslim citizens. Protests over the mosque's construction were also seen as being part of a sparring between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for the title of protector of Christian holy sites in the Holy Land. The mosque became a symbol of the growing political aspirations of the country's Muslim residents, and the rise in power of the local Islamic Movement.

Muslim leaders expected to continue with mosque's construction
"We don't expect the Islamic Movement to cooperate," said David Parsons, spokesman for the International Coalition for Nazareth, noting that the movement already had ignored a three-week-old court order to stop construction. "They are working at breakneck speed; the foundation has already been poured and is almost at ground level. I don't know if the cabinet decision will stop anything," he said in a statement.

Muslim leaders said they regard the government decision to halt the mosque's construction as "persecution of Muslims and Arabs in Israel," and vowed to continue their "holy struggle for Shahib al-Din," after whom the mosque is named. Nazareth Deputy Mayor Salman Abu Ahmed said the decision was part of the "miserable persecution of Muslims, and the government and church leaders will pay the consequences for what could happen. We know how to struggle."

World reaction to the decision was generally positive. In New York, the American Jewish Committee said the decision would help bolster Christian-Jewish relations.

"Prime Minister Sharon's government made the right decision, under difficult circumstances, to halt the construction of the controversial mosque and to find another location for it elsewhere in Nazareth," said David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. "This Israeli government action will serve to further enhance Christian-Jewish relations and relations between Israel and the Vatican."

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