Will he or won't he?

Pastor who had planned to burn copies of Quran today says he is seriously considering not burning them if he can meet Ground Zero mosque imam

Pastor who had planned to burn copies of Quran today says he is "seriously considering" not burning them if he can meet Ground Zero mosque imam

The pastor at a Florida church that planned to burn copies of the Quran added to the confusion yesterday over whether he intends to go ahead with the controversial event.

The Rev Terry Jones told The Early Show that "we have called the event off". Soon afterward, however, he told reporters in Florida the burning is still being contemplated.

"We are seriously, seriously, seriously considering not burning the Qurans. That is absolutely right," Jones said.
Challenged by a reporter, Jones then said, "Well, we are hoping that we can come to a conclusion."

"Are you or aren't you?" a reporter asked, to which Jones replied, "We're actually not prepared to answer that right now."

Jones also said he is scheduled to travel to New York on Friday night for a still unscheduled meeting with the imam in charge of the Islamic centre planned near ground zero.
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The meeting, Jones had said, was part of what convinced him to halt the planned burning.

Jones said the meeting was promised Thursday by local Florida imam Mohammad Musri, who also told him the Islamic centre would be moved in exchange for the burning being called off.

Musri said yesterday that he made no such promise, and both Musri and the imam in charge of the center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, said there was no agreement on a meeting or relocation of the centre.

Trump steps in
Real estate mogul Donald Trump has offered to purchase the site of the proposed Islamic community centre and mosque near Ground Zero with a 25 per cent markup.

Trump made the offer with the condition that any community centre must be built at least five blocks away from the site of the World Trade Centre.

He offered Hisham Elzanaty, an Egyptian-born New York businessman, a 25 per cent premium over the $4.8 million (Rs 22.5 crore) price that his investment consortium paid for the site, which is just two blocks from ground zero.