Posted on 08/02/2004 5:01:04 PM PDT by SJackson
A year has passed since Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi reopened the Temple Mount compound to visits by Jews. In one fell swoop, his act ended three years of blatant anti-Jewish discrimination, a legal issue Israel's courts have avoided, rectified a human rights concern hypocritically ignored by all those liberal civil society groups who never miss an Arab plaint, and highlighted the lie that the Temple Mount is a tinderbox flash point of messianic violence.
The Israel police decided, following the October 2000 Arab riots, that Ariel Sharon, then an opposition Member of Knesset, was to be the last Jew to set foot in the open-air esplanade built on Mount Moriah. The move was not out of character because since 1967, all Israel's governments have acted with abject inferiority as regards asserting any form of sovereignty over Judaism's most holy site. The extended length of the ban, though, was problematic.
During this past year, however, over 50,000 Jews have visited the Temple Mount, at times, in groups of many dozens. The visitors receive explanations as to the intricacies of the religious and ritual aspects of the Mount, in addition to its history and archeology. Dogged by Waqf provocateurs, seeking to draw the attention of the police to supposed attempts by Jews to pray, the thousands of Jews who have entered have proven that the consciousness of the Temple Mount's primacy has not been thwarted, neither by hostile Muslims nor by indifferent Israeli officials. The Temple Mount spirit endures.
One cannot, though, escape the suspicion that all these years, the police could have allowed visits, if only the state authorities would have acted as if they are the legal sovereign power they theoretically claim to be.
Nevertheless, the Waqf, the dominating arm of the Palestinian Authority, still exerts an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish subversive force. Unfortunately, Israel continues to kowtow to the Waqf while permitting Islamic fundamentalists from Israel to meddle in affairs. Jewish groups are profiled by the police and media as "extremist elements". Furthermore, the state allows foreign engineers from Jordan and Egypt to deal with the dangerous structural problems that have developed on the Temple Mount compound.
In September 2003, one side of a wall of the Temple Mount compound, near the Islamic Museum, collapsed, uncovering an area of some 40 square meters of dirt and fill. Adnan Al-Husseini, Waqf director, brazenly stated that this was the result of "Israeli intervention." The southern wall, too, continued to develop an outwards bulge. While Israeli archeologists believed the bulge and the wall collapse are due to unauthorized Waqf underground construction, the Antiquities Authority cite faulty drainage as the probable cause for the bulge. In either case, however, non-Israeli bodies are dealing with the situation.
Then, in February this year, a wall along the ascent to the Mughrabi Gate, adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza, crumbled after a snowstorm and an earthquake. Dr. Eilat Mazar, an outspoken critic of government policy, said that the lack of professional archaeological treatment of the Mount is symptomatic of a general negligence and apathy in the entire area. To complicate matters more, in April, the Temple Mount's eastern wall developed its own bulge and a classified government report claimed it, too, is in danger of imminent collapse.
It would seem that Tisha B'Av, with its theme of destruction, still has immediate relevance.
The return of the Temple Mount to the national agenda has unnerved certain circles that assert that this more active role that has developed might be seen as an attempt to negate Arab rights. Another of their concerns is that it might bolster "messianic" elements among Jews, who would want to initiate sacrificial services and ultimately target the mosques, as occurred in the early 1980s. For those circles, the specter of a religious-based conflict is their greatest fear.
They must be pleased, then, in the wake of Hanegbi's recent warning that Jewish extremists may attack on the Temple Mount. However, the warning lacked specific details and, as the minister admitted, was not based on concrete intelligence but "sensed". This is certainly no reason to place anyone in administrative detention.
Another form of a "lack of intelligence" was Yasser Arafat's refusal to acknowledge that Jewish Temples existed on Mount Moriah, which shocked and annoyed even US president Bill Clinton at Camp David II. In a Ha'aretz interview in June, asked about the issue of Jewish prayer at the "Haram E-Sharif", on the Temple Mount, Arafat said, "It is clear what I had accepted in Camp David: the Wailing Wall, the Jewish Quarter, with a passage freely under your control." Rejecting, thus, any link between Jews and their sacred site, Arafat adopted an anti-Jewish discriminatory approach of "the Wall below, not the Mount above."
Luckily for Israel, an Egyptian, Ahmed Mahmad Oufa, wrote last August that the Koranic verse mentioning Mohammed's "night journey" has nothing to do with Jerusalem. The entire Moslem claim to Jerusalem and El-Aksa, Oufa asserted, is based on a mistake. Yet Israel's Jewish pro-Palestinians reject that view.
Tisha B'Av, then, this year, with all the positive changes, still remained a day of mourning, one of downtrodden nationalism.
And a ping for those on Alouette's list, while she's away from her computor.
This kills me. Bad enough they won't let the Jews have access without harrassment, but as long as they aren't making a rackett in the mosque during services, SO WHAT if they pray. The Jews can pray in my church anytime. Muslims too. Shouldn't we WANT people to pray?
The Temple Mount is first and foremost, THE CENTRAL Jewish religious site. It's very kind (not to mention patient) of the Israelis to let the muslims run the place.
I think that the Jewish Israelis should get together, and get a group of likeminded persons to walk up the Temple Mount and then tear down that abomination which has stood there on that site for the last several centuries.
Who's country is it anyhow?
Why would any thinking person want to appease their enemies? They won't respect you for it. Au contraire, they will use any and all perceived weaknesses against their foes. They only appreciate strength, and that is what must be demonstrated to those throwbacks. They won't respect Israel, but they will respect the business side of superior firepower.
This appeasement BS is nothing more than a repeat of the problems which caused the 1st and 2nd Diasaporas. Like it or not!
Sure, what if Jews do pray? Are the Muslims afraid that the God of the Jews, will hear their cry? I say to let the Jews pray if they want, and it is a good thing.
the infowarrior
http://templemountfaithful.org/Events/visit2004.htm
SPECIAL SPEAKING TOUR BY THE CHAIRMAN, GERSHON SALOMON, TO THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA IN SUMMER 2004
Exciting News and Messages from Jerusalem About the Soon Complete Redemption of Israel and the Rebuilding of the Temple and Its Significance to the Nations at This Critical Time
Dear Friends,
A warm shalom from Jerusalem. I trust that you are well and that the blessings of G-d are upon you.
We are very excited to advise you that, thanks to G-d and in His mission, the Chairman of our Movement, Gershon Salomon, will be undertaking a special speaking tour of the United States and Canada in June/July 2004. The situation in Israel and all the world makes this trip more important than at any time in the past. In the name of the G-d of Israel He will carry with him from Jerusalem exciting news and messages about the soon complete redemption of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple and its significance to the nations at this critical time.
The critical situation in Israel and all the world makes this trip more important and exciting than at any time in the past. He is coming to share with you that his vision concerning the soon rebuilding of the Temple, the coming of Mashiach ben David, the making of Israel into a Biblical nation with a Biblical mission and to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests and a treasure among the nations (Exodus19:5,6) and its significance to all the nations, is soon to come to pass. He will share with you the Word of G-d from Jerusalem that nothing can prevent these major godly end-time events, not even the end-time war which has actually started already. He will ask you to prepare yourselves for the establishment of the kingdom of G-d from His holy house in Jerusalem to all the world and the major godly end-time events which are soon to take place.
He is coming to share with you the intensive activities and preparations of The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, the end-time Movement of G-d, for these exciting events - the cornerstones in the midst of Jerusalem for the Third Temple and other stones; architectural plans for the Third Temple; intensive learning of Temple worship by priests and Levites and preparing them for worship in the Third Temple; the search for the original Temple Menorah and Vessels in the Vatican; the creation of other vessels and garments for the Temple worship; the intensive campaign for the rebuilding of the Temple and making modern Israel once again a Biblical nation; the marches to the Temple Mount; the search for the Ark of the Covenant and archaeological remains from the First and Second Temples; the joining of many people from all over the world to the Faithful Movement and her campaign which fulfils the exciting end-time prophecy: "My house will be a house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah56:7); the standing of many rabbis in Israel and most of the Israeli nation with the campaign of the Movement; the exciting news of the recent discovery of the lost ten tribes and their regathering to Israel as a precondition for the coming of Mashiach ben David; the bulge and falling of walls on the Temple Mount; the earthquake in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount of which the scientists in Israel recently warned and its significance to Jewish tradition which holds that it will remove the mosques and all the pagan Islamic presence on the Temple Mount; and much other information.
He is also coming to raise support for the Movement which is so important to strengthen and encourage its campaign and activities in Israel more than at any time in the past. Its activities will affect all the world at this special time. Everyone is called on to support and help the Movement which was dedicated by G-d to fulfil His prophetic end-time plans. He is also coming to strengthen Faithful Movement members in the United States and Canada and our common campaign in North America for the holy goals of the movement. He will be bringing visual media with him which will show you the activities of the Movement and the preparations for the Third Temple.
Mr. Salomon is already scheduled for many meetings on this tour but his schedule is open to other invitations. He will be more than glad to speak in your congregation, with your group or in your area.
This is the time to have Gershon speak in a meeting in your congregation or area. For this please contact Laura O'Bryant in the United States on telephone: (407) 678-1653, fax: (407) 699-6399, or e-mail: TMount99@aol.com as soon as possible so that the schedule can be arranged.
Please fulfil the expectations of G-d and give your assistance and stand with the greatest cause of all generations - the building of the Third Temple, the house of G-d, in Jerusalem, the establishment of the kingdom of the G-d of Israel from Jerusalem to all the world and the coming of Mashiach ben David.
May the G-d of Israel bless you from Jerusalem,
The Executive Committee
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement
Jerusalem, Israel
[ Published: 30 January 2004 ]
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