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Moslems are destroying the Temple Mount
Jewsweek ^ | 3-12-03 | Richard L. Benkin

Posted on 03/12/2003 11:29:19 AM PST by SJackson

 
Moslems are destroying the Temple Mount

The site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem is being systematically looted and destroyed by the Moslem authorities, and no one seems willing to prevent it.
 
by Richard L. Benkin March 12, 2003
 
 

 
   

 
     
   

HANDLE WITH PRAYER: Muslims hold noon prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, with the Dome of the Rock mosque seen in background, in east Jerusalem's Old City.

   
     

 

 

Israel's friends and supporters marvel at how anyone could fail to see the justice of our position. There are 15 Arab states in the Middle East, sitting upon two-thirds of the world's oil reserves-all of them obsessed with ousting the region's one tiny Jewish state. Why are they so focused on that tiny scrap of land, no larger than the state of New Jersey - a land that was little more than swamp and desert before modern Zionists started transforming it; a land with no oil wealth; a land virtually abandoned by Arabs for centuries?

The answer is clear for those who wish to see. The various ideologies motivating the Arab world - from Saudi Arabia's Wahabi Islam to Syria's faux socialism - do not accept any non-Muslim state in the Middle East. We could cite their philosophies, speeches and sermons, official documents, and more. More convincing, is an unvarnished report about Arab actions at Jerusalem's Temple Mount, which have become a metaphor for the entire conflict, and allow us to see the battle in the true light that animates it. This conflict transcends any simplistic land for peace formulae or negotiated giveaway of the territories regained in 1967. The belief that Israel's enemies want a "two-state solution" is a chimera.

 

   
 
 
"... The belief that Israel's enemies want a "two-state solution" is a chimera ..."
 
 

Most people, who follow reports of military exploits, terrorist acts, and so forth, are unaware of activity on and about the Temple Mount, where tradition places Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, Jesus' preaching, and Mohammed's ascent into heaven. Beyond tradition, extensive archeological and other evidence locates both ancient Jewish Temples on the site. Yet, despite that Mount of evidence, and the lateness and ambiguity of any Moslem contention, it has been official Arab policy in recent decades to deny any historical Jewish connection to Jerusalem's Temple Mount. That's Arab policy, not Hamas, Palestinian, or Iraqi. At first glance, the notion sounds absurd; and it is absurd. Not just another piece of Arab propaganda, however, it is part of an ongoing Arab attempt to de-legitimize Judaism.

While many consider Israel's liberation of Jerusalem and Judaism's holiest sites from Arab occupation the crowning achievement of the 1967 Six-Day War; few know that even before the war's end, Moshe Dayan ceded control of the Mount to the Waqf. Secularist Israeli leaders, like Dayan, saw the Mount as merely an "historical curiosity" for Jews, but respected its religious significance for Moslems. Certainly, it is to our everlasting credit as a tolerant people that Israel did this. Could you even imagine any Arab country paying the same homage to Jewish religious sensitivities? While Jewish prayer at the Mount or Western Wall was prohibited during the years of Arab occupation, it is unthinkable that Israel would ban Moslem prayer at al-Aqsa. Since then, successive Israeli governments have maintained a policy of non-interference with Waqf actions, while banning Jewish and Christian prayer there. At the same time, deliberate Arab efforts to destroy any vestige of a Jewish presence on the Mount have proceeded almost unchecked.

In recent years, the Waqf has engaged in extensive and unsupervised "renovation" of the Mount, building a new mosque under its southeast corner and cutting additional exits through the Temple Mount walls. While it did, the Waqf blocked any archeological supervision of the work. Without any oversight, they ripped physical evidence of the Temple from the Mount and secreted it-often mixed with present-day garbage-in various spots around Jerusalem, most notably the Kidron Valley between Jerusalem's eastern wall and the Mount of Olives.

The Arabs, of course, claim that it's all a hoax. In their media and from their pulpits, they repeat their mantra of a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Moslems' claim to the Mount. One Iranian piece quotes the Jerusalem mufti of accusing those who have protested Waqf actions as creating "a big hue and cry to justify [Israel's] interference in [Moslem] affairs." And he emphasized that the Mount is a sacred place "only for the Muslims, around the globe."

Recently, Waqf agents began cleaning one of the giant cisterns under the Mount. This complex of cisterns served as reservoirs for the First and Second Temples, and for the entire population of ancient Jerusalem. Why is this significant? It turns out that this is part of an effort by Moslem religious leaders to fill the cisterns with water from Mecca's Zamzam Spring. This would make our Temple Mount a site for Moslem pilgrims with weight equal to the Great Mosque in Mecca, Islamicize the Mount, and buttress Arab pretexts for denying all Israeli claims to the Old City of Jerusalem.

The destruction continues. The UN, of course, is silent. UNESCO, the body that is supposed to oversee such things, has ignored its mandate on this issue, content to issue anti-Israeli diatribes instead. That leaves another immediate danger. Recent surveys indicate that due to the Moslem construction, the southern wall of the Temple Mount is near collapse. Although Jordanian engineers finally prevailed upon the Waqf to allow them to effect some repairs, few authorities believe their efforts will correct the extensive damage to the Temple Mount. The potential for a collapse remains. When those walls fall, they could kill thousands of Moslem worshippers. With their leaders seeing Jewish plots behind every corner in the Middle East, such a disaster easily could spark a holy war of Moslems against Jews. The events still unfolding at the site of our Temples threaten both our history and our future.

A couple years ago, I stood atop Mt. Nebo, located in the "moderate" Arab state of Jordan. Noting Christian and Moslem elements, I asked my Jordanian guide why this spot, where Moses watched the Israelites cross into Canaan before he died, had not a single sign of a Jewish presence. He replied casually, "Well, there are no Jews in Jordan."

Glimpse the future of Jewish holy sites in Hebron and elsewhere under PA control! Under Arab hegemony, the Jewish residents from Jerusalem's Old City were expelled and all vestiges of its presence there removed. Mosques have been built upon Jewish holy sites, such as Rachael's Tomb near Bethlehem. Glimpse the future of Jewish holy sites in Hevron and elsewhere under PA control! If current actions are left unchecked, the Temple Mount will fare likewise. It happened then, and it's happening now.

We can debate the reasons why this uncommonly common and tiny piece of real estate occupies the world's attention; why the UN passes a never-ending series of resolutions about it while ignoring greater issues, as well as atrocities, elsewhere.

Wherever those arguments may take us, there can be little doubt that publicizing this Arab attempt to erase history can only lay bare the true intentions of the enemies of Israel-as well as enemies of Judaism, Christianity, and the principles of religious freedom.



TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: templemount
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1 posted on 03/12/2003 11:29:19 AM PST by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
2 posted on 03/12/2003 11:30:01 AM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson
------He replied casually, "Well, there are no Jews in Jordan."


That's the whole point of the article, take over the temple, and then Jerusalem, and then Israel. Not surprised that the UN is silent on this.
3 posted on 03/12/2003 11:45:03 AM PST by Pan_Yans Wife (Lurking since 2000.)
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To: SJackson
The author can rest assured. I've read the book and the Jews will have their third temple built on temple mount.
4 posted on 03/12/2003 11:45:11 AM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: SJackson
What is there that the jihadist swine do not endeavor to destroy?
5 posted on 03/12/2003 11:51:53 AM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: John O
From my understanding, they already have all of the pieces of the temple made and stored away... easy for rapid building, when the glorious day arrives.
6 posted on 03/12/2003 11:53:26 AM PST by Pan_Yans Wife (Lurking since 2000.)
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To: SJackson
Since we know this mosque has to be "removed" before the new temple can be built, I have long wondered how this will come about. Seems to me it would be fitting if a Muslim Scud missle destined to kill Jerusalem Jews would instead land on the mosque. Of coourse the way the locals are excavating wrecklessly beneath it, it may collapse without any help form a Scud. Either way would be fine with me.
7 posted on 03/12/2003 11:56:19 AM PST by holyscroller (Why are Liberal female media types always ugly to boot?)
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To: SJackson
I could see the perfect irony of the moslems heedless construction leading to the collapse of the West Wall which would expose remarkable evidence from Solomon's original temple.
8 posted on 03/12/2003 12:09:16 PM PST by Pietro
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To: SJackson
The Dome of the Rock was completed in 691 AD. The Al Aqsa Mosque was completed in 705 AD. Histories of the time say that either replaced anything but debris, the Persians ruled Jerusalem for several years before the Muslims (with the assistance of the Jews of Palestine) captured the city. The Jewish Temple had been gone for nearly 600 years. It was destroyed not by Muslims, but by Romans.

If these were 1400 year old churches or synagogues built under similar circumstances that radical Muslims were proposing to destroy, the outrage on these forums would be intense to say the least. Recall the reaction to the Taliban's destruction of the Buddha statues in Afghanistan. Destruction of these two mosques would be an offense against both belief and history an order of magnitude greater.

Even the Israelis, with the exception of a few groups out on the fringe, respect the Haram-al-Sharif.

-Eric

9 posted on 03/12/2003 12:13:01 PM PST by E Rocc
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To: holyscroller
I'm not certain that it is true the mosque must be removed. The actual site may not be exactly where that mosque stands right now. It's a rather big area up there. The 'traditional' site of the Holies of Holies is some distance away from the Mosque.
I like your scud missle plan.
10 posted on 03/12/2003 12:19:07 PM PST by Boxsford
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To: Boxsford
I've also read that the true location of the temple is far enough away from the muslim structures that a new temple with the same dimensions as the old could be built on the mount.
11 posted on 03/12/2003 12:24:16 PM PST by Lynne
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To: holyscroller; Jeremiah Jr; Thinkin' Gal
Since we know this mosque has to be "removed" before the new temple can be build, I have long wondered how this will come about.

Irony upon irony. If the Muslims undermine Al-Asqa to where it falls in, it will be their fault, but guess who will get blamed? It can't be the Muslims' fault for stupid excavation, it must be da Joos - even though the Israelis have done everything to try and warn about the problem.

12 posted on 03/12/2003 12:25:05 PM PST by xJones
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To: Lynne
I've also read that the true location of the temple is far enough away from the muslim structures that a new temple with the same dimensions as the old could be built on the mount.

Can you imagine the Israelis even trying to build a temple next to Al-Asqa right now? And why would they want to build their temple next door to a Muslim mosque squating on holy ground?

13 posted on 03/12/2003 12:31:43 PM PST by xJones
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To: Boxsford
In the bulge of rock under the Dome mosque, there are 4 notches that are the right size to hold the Ark. I think we've got a pretty good idea of exactly where the Holy of Holies was. Now, the big question is whether the Ark really is in Ethiopia or not.
14 posted on 03/12/2003 12:50:02 PM PST by Question_Assumptions
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To: sheik yerbouty; SJackson; dennisw; veronica
<< What is there that the jihadist swine do not endeavor to destroy? >>

Got me hangin' ...... ?
15 posted on 03/12/2003 1:22:00 PM PST by Brian Allen (This above all -- to thine own self be true)
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To: Boxsford
re: I'm not certain that it is true the mosque must be removed. )))

I have read that there is a passageway though the walls (I don't have a source handy, so this may not be reliable) connecting two streets. I have also read that both Jewish and Christian services have taken place in this "alley". In which case, perhaps the Temple is already there.

16 posted on 03/12/2003 1:23:36 PM PST by Mamzelle
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To: SJackson
Typical Islamic bllsht where everyone must submit to their illogical and wild claims. Idiots!
17 posted on 03/12/2003 2:39:45 PM PST by dennisw ( http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php)
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To: Question_Assumptions
Now, the big question is whether the Ark really is in Ethiopia or not.

Of course it isn't. It's in a giant WW2-era document warehouse somewhere near Washington, DC. Right?

18 posted on 03/12/2003 3:11:22 PM PST by homeagain balkansvet
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To: E Rocc
Memory refresher:
http://www.infoclick.org/nutshell3.html
19 posted on 03/12/2003 5:47:03 PM PST by Darksheare (<===The modern day French all have grandfathers that said "Frauleine" to their grandmothers.)
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To: xJones
I have actually heard that the mosque is slowly caving in and that it will not take much to bring it down because there are so many underground passages beneath its foundation. When that happens watch to see who rebuilds first...
20 posted on 03/12/2003 5:51:40 PM PST by jobedo
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