Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places, published an angry and emotional open letter to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in response to Abbas' recent denial of a Jewish connection to Jerusalem. His letter was also aimed at Ekrima Sa'id Sabri, former Mufti of Jerusalem, who said that the Temple Mount and Western Wall do not belong to the Jews and that the Jews have no rights over them. The venerable rabbi attacked the two figures personally, writing that "midgets are attempting to shake the foundations of the eternal city." Rabbi Rabinovich wrote that the testimony of Jerusalem’s Jewish identity doesn’t stem from a single person, but that the city itself and all its components are tangible testimonials to its thousands of years of rich Jewish history. The connection between the Jews and Jerusalem can be seen on the marks left on the ancient stones made by Jews ascending Jerusalem for the Biblically commanded pilgrimage, he asserted. In addition, the songs written in Diaspora communities such as Spain, Morocco and Ethiopia about Jerusalem and the daily prayers for Jerusalem testify to the fact that the Jews have clung to Jerusalem even in the distant countries of the Diaspora. He concluded his emotional letter by saying: “I condemn the Palestinian leadership for denying the concrete reality of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and thus distancing the chances for peace. We have returned to Jerusalem to stay. Words like those uttered by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas prove that the Jews cannot rely on anyone but themselves to guarantee access to the Jewish holy places.”
