Question

Ascending the Temple Mount is becoming more and more of a trend within Religious Zionism. What is the Rabbi’s position regarding going up to the Temple Mount?
I am not asking about the halakhic permission, because if one examines it carefully, it seems clear that there are parts of it that have the status of the Levite camp, and the main dispute is whether there is any value at all in such an ascent—one that would justify setting aside regulations that arose out of concern for causing people to stumble, the consciousness of reverence for the Temple, and so on.
From a halakhic perspective, is there any significance at all to prayer there, let alone a "tour" of the Temple Mount? Seemingly, its importance is connected to its being the area surrounding the site of the Temple, and if one fulfills a commandment there, that would be when the Temple is built there. Is a special commandment of prayer in the Temple—if there is such a thing—fulfilled on the Mount when there is no Temple? 
Someone claimed that specifically by going up to the Temple Mount one can fulfill the commandment of reverence for the Temple. Does that make sense? Seemingly, this contradicts Maimonides’ statement that included in reverence is not to use it as a shortcut, but rather to go around it.
If we say that there is indeed no independent commandment in this, then nowadays, when there is a political struggle over sovereignty on the Mount, and going up there affects that, is there a commandment involved by virtue of settling the Land of Israel?