“legalistically speaking, there are three sites in Israel mentioned in the Torah which were purchased free and clear by the Jews; the Temple Mount itself, the Cave of Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah were laid to rest, and Jacob’s tomb”
Yes, and who controls those now?
Temple Mount -— Jordan
Cave of Machpelah — waqf (most of the time)
True, those sites are among the “occupied territories”, and I hope the current squatters don’t trash the sites like they did the greenhouses in Gaza. I hear they did a lot of damage to Jacob’s Tomb. But someday soon, the rent will be due, and the land will be reclaimed. I do believe it. But first, there will be an unprecedented attack against Israel. Something Big is about to happen. And then the world will see that G-d is bigger than their ill-conceived plans.
I thought Moshe Dayan gave it to the waqf after it was liberated by the IDF in 1967
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Dayan combined a kibbutznik's secular identity and pragmatism with a deep love and appreciation for the Jewish people and the land of Israel --but not a religious identification. In one recollection, having seen rabbis flocking on the Temple Mount shortly after Jerusalem was captured in 1967, he asked "what is this? Vatican?" Dayan later ordered the Israeli flag removed from the Dome of the Rock, and gave administrative control of the Temple Mount over to the Waqf, a Muslim council. Dayan believed that the Temple Mount was more important to Judaism as a historical rather than holy site.