Jerusalem - Pope Benedict visited a flashpoint East Jerusalem compound holy to both Muslims and Jews Tuesday morning, to meet with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, on the second day of his five-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The pontiff began his visit to the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, by spending around 10 minutes in the Dome of the Rock Mosque, before crossing the compound for his meeting with Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein.
"In a world sadly turned by divisions, this sacred place ... also challenges men and women ... to work to overcome the misunderstandings of the past,"Benedict said inside the mosque.
Muslims and Christians, he said, would further the "respectful dialogue" they had begun.
The Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount compound is holy to Muslims, who believe it marks the site form the where Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven, and to Jews, for whom it marks the site of their biblical temple.
The papal visit to the compound took place amid tight security, with hundreds of Israeli police and army milling around the compound, and deployed in the adjacent Old City of Jerusalem, while helicopters hovered overhead.
One photographer who broke though the media cordon to try and get a close-up photograph of the pontiff was quickly hustled away by security men.
Following his 30-minute meeting with the mufti, Benedict left the compound in a black Audi motor vehicle, for a visit to the adjacent Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.
He is also scheduled Tuesday to meet with Israel's two chief rabbis, to visit the Church of Dormition, where the Last Supper is traditionally believed to have been held,. and, in the late afternoon, to conduct a massoutside the Old City.
Benedict arrived in Israel on Monday. Before leaving on Friday, he is also scheduled to visit Bethlehem and Nazareth.
