What has been the Arab policy regarding access by Christians and Jews to sites which Muslims consider holy?
• They have always been much averse to having Christians visit their holy places. Up to this time no one has visited Mecca or Medina unless he was in disguise and passed himself off as a Mohammedan. For a long time Christians were not allowed to visit the “Harem Esh Sheriff,” and still they refuse to all them to enter the mosque at Hebron which stands over the Cave of Macpelah. where Abraham and the patriarchs were buried. But the pressure of the European powers has forced the Turks to give orders to admit visitors, under certain restrictions, to the site of the Temple. We found it necessary to secure permission to make this visit through the U.S. Consul, and to go under the protection of an officer sent from his office, called a Cavass. – by B. W.
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