Right now, even as we speak, frum (pious) Jews are trying to gain access to pray on the Temple Mount. These Jews were forbidden by Israeli courts to pray on the Temple Mount. In the last year, they have started defying those courts and asserting a right to their patrimony.

The Muslim claim on the Temple Mount is the biggest fraud in history. No one dares say it, but unless someone does, another world war will erupt.

When Israel conquered the eastern side of Jerusalem in 1967, the victory included the sacred precincts of the city where the Temple Mount was. The Temple Mount itself was a contested zone of about 35 acres. Muslims had built Islamic shrines on it in the past: the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. These two structures are the epicenter of the Muslim religious claim to Jerusalem.

Moshe Dayan, after taking the Mount in 1967, unwisely gave the administration of the area back to the Jordanian-controlled local Waqf, who had been in charge of the area before the Israelis captured it and have been in charge ever since. A Waqf is an irrevocable endowment of property to an Islamic religious or charitable trust. It may never be sold to infidels. Lest one think this is unique to Islam, the Jewish National Fund set was set up to purchase land in Mandatory Palestine that was covenantally to remain in Jewish hands forever, never to be sold – or even leased, initially – to Arabs.

Now you know why every house or acre is fought over; both sides see land as an eternal trust.

The Waqf is hyper-vigilant about protecting Islamic claims on the Temple Mount, which they call the Haram al Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary). Even the appearance of a Jew praying – the smallest of religious connections – is forbidden by the Waqf. They want to crush any Jewish claim, and they have gone so far as to publicly deny any historical connection of Jews to the area, an idiocy that flies in the face of thousands of years of history.

Israel has indulged the Waqf, and, for decades it was illegal for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. Any Jew caught praying could be arrested by the Waqf guards, who then turned the Jew over to the Israeli police, who amazingly would sometimes prosecute the offender.

Any time Jews make even the slightest pretense of a religious or political claim to the area, full-scale riots will occur. When Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in September 2000, it was the pretext for starting the Second Intifada – actually, it started the day before, when an IDF soldier was killed in anticipation of Sharon's visit. The Palestinians blamed Sharon for the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

However, in the past year, as Israel is moving strongly to the right, more and more mainstream Jews are starting to assert their claim to the Mount. They are taking visits to the Mount, often under armed guard. Riots are occurring quite often.

In response, the Israeli government has made the ridiculously obsequious request to the Jordanians – who run the local Waqf – that Jews be allowed to pray on the site.

The matter reached the highest of official levels this month when Israel asked Jordan, which administers Muslim religious affairs at the site, to consider allowing limited Jewish worship there, according to a Jordanian official.

Of course, the Jordanians said no. The deceased Arafat once threatened to ignite a world war if the Haram al-Sharif was touched. Blustering though he was, given the volatile nature of the Muslim street, this was no idle threat. It may have been more of an observation than a threat.

Muslims who worship death would gladly fight if they felt they would lose control of the area. Yet during the past year, Jews keep on ascending to pray – whenever possible – in defiance of Israeli policy and the Waqf.

There is no possibility of any compromise here. The Arabs will not concede an inch. Neither will the Jews refuse to stop coming to pray. So it behooves us to see who really has a religious claim on the area.

We will not address political claims to the city, but only religious claims to the Mount.

According to the Koran, Mohammed took a trip to the Farthest (al-Aqsa means The Farthest) Mosque. The first problem with the story is that it is incredibly vague, and it never mentions Jerusalem by name.

Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing. (Surah 17:1)

The story of the flying horse, Al-Buraq, with face of a woman is found in traditions and commentary.

Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koranic account. It is merely assumed that al-Aqsa is in Jerusalem.

But even ignoring that, from the account we can see that whenever this ride occurred, it had to have been before Mohammed died in June 632 AD. On this fact, no one – not Christian, Jew, or Muslim – can debate. Whenever, wherever, and if ever Mohammed made this supposed journey, it was before June 632 AD.

History informs us that the Muslims did not start a war against Byzantine Rome – the possessor of Jerusalem – until after Mohammed's death. And Muslims did not enter into Jerusalem until the city surrendered in 637 AD, almost five years after Mohammed's death. On this fact, no one can debate.

Islam did not reach Jerusalem until five years after Mohammed's death. Therefore, there was no mosque in Jerusalem during Mohammed's lifetime that he could have visited. Hence, whatever farthest mosque Mohammed supposedly visited could not possibly have been in Jerusalem.

The supposed al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is a historical fraud. Even by Muslim claims, the site of Mohammed's Night Journey could not have been in Jerusalem. Worse yet, Muslim scholars have to know this. They cannot possibly be ignorant of this history. There is no way they can reconcile the five-year gap.

The Israeli scholar Dr. Mordecai Kedar has even shown that according to Muslim documents, the Farthest Mosque was in the Saudi village of al-Gi'irranah (al-Juranah), a suburb of Mecca. But even Dr. Kedar's information is not necessary. Mohammed could not have visited a mosque that did not exist in his lifetime.

Once the Muslim claim to al-Aqsa falls, then other Muslim claims fall.

No one but the Jews has a genuine religious claim to the 35 acres of the Temple Mount, and anyone who has studied the history knows this. Even Christians – who do have legitimate claims to other sites in the area – do not contest the Mount. This is not arcane knowledge. It can be gleaned in a few minutes of relatively light reading.

Yet our media deceptively hides this from the public. We are being lied to whenever the media tells us that the area is sacred to Muslims, rather than apprising us that the claim is an Islamic fraud, so obvious that even the imams have to know that they are lying. That five-year gap does not go away.

The present immediate crisis could be defused if the Jews would stop visiting and praying on the Mount – which they do not seem inclined to do – or if the Muslims would stop rioting and allow Jewish entrance and prayer – which the Muslims do not seem inclined to do.

Since a clash is inevitable, the least our media can do is tell us the truth about the crisis. If our media would only expose the fraud, an iota of reason might enter some Muslim minds, and they might back off an indefensible position – albeit highly unlikely.

The Muslim will probably fight over this, if they remain convinced of the al-Aqsa lie. It is about time someone confronted the Muslims, and disabused them of lies perpetrated by their own clerics.

At the very least, the media should stop referring to it as al-Aqsa and refer to it as the Southern (in reference to the location on the Mount) Mosque. Our media will be culpable if they do not point out this out.

Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who is not Jewish, Latin, or Arab. He runs a website, http://latinarabia.com, where he discusses the subculture of Arabs in Latin America. He wishes his Spanish were better.