|
||||||||
Posted on 12/25/2003 11:51:42 AM PST by SJackson
Another new low in the Palestinian struggle: A Muslim gets roughed up when he attempts to pray inside Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque.
This is no ordinary Muslim. He is Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, who visited Israel during the weekend in an attempt to shore up peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. After meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the 68-year-old Maher went to the mosque on Monday and was surrounded right off the bat by a group of men belonging to a group called the Islamic Liberation Party.
They called him a traitor and a collaborator, tossed shoes at him and pushed and shoved him to the point that he cried, “I’m going to choke, I’m going to choke.” According to various news accounts, he appeared to be short of breath, was treated at Hadassah Hospital and left for the airport four hours after the attack. Reuters news agency reported that Israeli police arrested seven Palestinians in connection with the attack.
So much for freedom of worship among Palestinians.
More than 36 years ago, Israeli soldiers put their lives on the line in a war that the Arabs thrust on Israel and seized the Temple Mount, which Muslims call the al-Aqsa Mosque. Then Israel turned over authority to operate the site on a daily basis over to the Palestinians.
On June 7, 1967, when paratroopers hoisted an Israeli flag to fly over the Dome of the Rock, the first order from then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was for said paratroopers to pull the flag down. The Waqf, a Muslim religious trust, was granted administration of and security in the site.
Great security the Waqf provided for Egypt’s foreign minister on Monday.
In the let’s-get-this-straight department, the Arabs wage war against Israel, Israel captures the Temple Mount and Israel swiftly returns it to Muslim control. Obviously, Dayan intended this as a goodwill gesture, but when have the Palestinians who operate the mosque returned this good will?
This did not sound like a good idea. Certainly, Israel should treat any of its inhabitants humanely, but Israel also should have made sure to maintain its authority. After being attacked, Israel was under no obligation to turn the mosque over to the Arabs. I could see Israel allowing Muslims to worship there, but not to run the place.
The Arabs have treated the mosque as a symbol of power and the front line in their effort to retrieve land they believe is theirs.
Besides, what does the mosque have to do with Palestinian poverty, inconveniences and lack of self-determination, which their advocates claim is the source of their frustration? Freedom and prosperity are good enough for most people, but that does not seem to be sufficient for them.
Under current circumstances, considering the delicate nature of the situation, any attempt by Israel to reclaim the Temple Mount site will only set off more chaos, but Israel sure has a right to do just that.
Maher’s assailants desecrated a religious sanctuary and acted like hoodlums. In fact, they are hoodlums. If the mosque’s operators can’t control that, one has to wonder how they can be trusted to run it in the first place
|
||||||||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
