The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslim visitors Wednesday, without the explicit approval of the Wakf, which administers the compound.

Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Mickey Levy said that several hundred Jewish and Christian visitors toured the site during the two hours it was open to the public on Wednesday morning without any reports of violence.

However, for reasons that were not immediately clear, journalists invited to a briefing with Levy at the Western Wall plaza were not allowed to ascend the Mount.

Wakf (Muslim religious trust) director Adnan Husseini said Wednesday that "no agreement" had been reached, despite weeks of high-level contacts between the sides.

Fearing renewed Palestinian violence, police barred non-Muslims from entering the Temple Mount since then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon´s controversial visit in September 2000. Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi had said last week that the mount would be reopened this "week with or without" the accord of the Wakf.

Hanegbi said Wednesday that "from now on the Palestinians will not have to right to veto the entry of non-Muslims to a site holy to all religions."

"It was an absolutely amazing and indescribable experience coming after these three years, when the Mount was closed to Jews for no reason," said Rabbi David Elboin, one of the Jewish visitors at the site Wednesday. Elboin stressed that he purified himself in a mikve (ritual bath) according to Jewish law before visiting the site.

Last week, Deputy Internal Security Minister Ya´acov Edri said that he was "almost absolutely certain" that an agreement would be reached with the Wakf to reopen the site this week. But Husseini insisted Wednesday that no accord had been reached with the Israeli authorities, despite earlier suggestions that the reopening might occur at the behest of economically hard-hit Old City Arab merchants.

Levy said that the decision to reopen the Mount to non-Muslim visitors on Wednesday was made before Tuesday night´s bombing of a No. 2 Jerusalem bus. He declined to comment on the Wakf´s involvement in the reopening.

Starting in June, in what police termed the beginning of a process to gradually reopen the Mount, small groups of Jewish and Christian visitors were allowed to enter the site under police escort, in an attempt to revert back to the 33-year-long status quo that had allowed non-Muslim visitors to enter, but not conduct public prayer, at the site.

The selective visits were abruptly ended last month amidst concern over renewed Palestinian violence at the site, after PA Chairman Yasser Arafat warned of "grave consequences" if Jews continued to visit the compound. The initial move toward reopening the site followed the unanimous agreement by Israeli security officials, including the heads of police and the Shin Bet, that Israel was setting a dangerous precedent by keeping the site closed for so long.

Security officers have previously noted that the Wakf was feeling the economic burden of the loss of tourist dollars a large source of their income by the steep admission the Islamic Trust charges to gain entry to the mosque and shrine at the compound.

Officers said Wednesday that the real test of the Mount´s peaceful reopening would likely come on Friday, after Muslim prayers. (© 1995-2003, The Jerusalem Post 08/21/03)