The Jewish and Muslim Cemeteries in the Kidron Valley

As we descended down the Mount of Olives in the direction of the Old City we left the residential neighborhoods altogether and came to the vast fields of graves which fill the Kidron Valley—Muslim graves on the west bank of the Kidron Brook in the shadow of the walls of the Temple Mount, and Jewish graves on the far side. Max told me that the story is that Muslim graves were placed directly beneath the walls of Temple out of spite for the Jews—that is because while the Messiah is promised to return to the City through the long sealed Golden Gate it is considered forbidden for a Jew to pass through a cemetery of nonbelievers.