*JERUSALEM – The newly-opened US embassy in Jerusalem has said ambassadorDavid Friedman was duped into being pictured receiving a photo of eastJerusalem with the revered Al-Aqsa mosque erased.*
In a picture published Tuesday night by ultra-Orthodox Jewish news siteKikar Hashabbat, the Islamic shrine on a flashpoint site holy to bothMuslims and Jews is replaced by a simulation of a Jewish temple.
The picture could further inflame anger amongst Palestinians, alreadyfurious over last week´s transfer of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Avivto Jerusalem after Washington recognised the disputed city as capital ofIsrael.
A US embassy statement said the doctored image was pushed in front ofFriedman without his consent during a visit to a charitable institution inBnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.
“Ambassador Friedman was not aware of the image thrust in front of him whenthe photo was taken,” it said.
“He was deeply disappointed that anyone would take advantage of his visitto Bnei Brak to create controversy.”
It said it had demanded an apology from the charity Achiya, an official ofwhich had presented the picture to Friedman.
In a statement published in Israeli media, the group said a member of itsstaff had presented the picture on his own initiative without consultingothers.
“We regret that a petty political gesture spoiled this event,” it added.
Friedman, who is Jewish and a longstanding supporter of Jewish settlementin the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in March labelled him a “son of a dog”.
The story of the contentious picture hit the front pages of severalPalestinian newspapers on Wednesday.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat was quoted in Palestinian dailyAl-Quds as saying that the United States is turning the Israeli-Palestiniandispute “into a religious conflict.”
The Al-Aqsa compound, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, is a shrine forMuslims worldwide and a potent symbol of Palestinian national identity.
The second Palestinian intifada broke out in 2000 after right-wing Israeliopposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the site.
Jews also revere the site, known as Temple Mount and believed to be thelocation of the first and second biblical Jewish temples.
A small number of Jews advocate building a third Jewish temple there in thebelief that doing so would hasten the coming of the messiah.
Jews are allowed to visit but not to pray there, to avoid provokingtensions.
It is the scene of recurring clashes.
The US embassy said Wednesday it did not support any change to the statusof Jerusalem´s holy places. – APP/AFP