Posted on 09/09/2004 12:54:15 PM PDT by missyme
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Even if Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was willing by some "miracle" to admit that the Jewish people have a connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the rest of the Islamic world would never allow him to turn it over to non-Islamics, an expert here said recently.
The issue of Jerusalem and control over the Temple Mount is probably the most hotly contested issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Temple Mount came under Israeli sovereignty after nearly 1,900 years as a result of the 1967 Six-Day war, when Jerusalem was reunited under Israeli sovereignty.
But Israel allowed the WAKF (Islamic religious authorities) to continue managing the site and running its daily affairs.
The giant plateau - the holiest site in Judaism, which once held two consecutive Jewish Temples in biblical times - the second of which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. - now hosts Islamic shrines, including the Al-Aksa Mosque.
Israel considers the united city of Jerusalem to be its eternal undivided capital. The Palestinians want at least the eastern section of the city, along with the Temple Mount, to become the capital of a future Palestinian state.
But according to Dr. Yitzhak Reiter, director of the Truman Forum for Public Debate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Islamic world has been building a case for the importance of the Al-Aksa Mosque to Muslims in its discourse for decades, enabling it to be used as a political tool.
In a recent study, From Jerusalem to Mecca and Back: The Islamic Consolidation Regarding Jerusalem , Reiter traced the stages of how Jerusalem and the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount became a major focus of consolidation to Arabs and Muslims throughout the world today.
"[Al-Aksa] was upgraded from being the third place holy to Islam to [being] the first location of political interest and in addition became more important in the religious meaning. It is nowadays mentioned in the public discourse of the Arab world together with the other two holy sites, sometimes as even more important or not less important than Mecca and Medina," Reiter told CNSNews.com in a recent interview.
Al-Aksa is no longer used to refer to just the mosque but is also used as an expression interchangeably to refer to the entire Temple Mount, Jerusalem and even all the land that Palestinians consider Palestine that encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Reiter said.
Arafat regularly vows to cheering supporters at rallies that he is willing to expend a million martyrs in the march to reclaim Al-Aksa.
The last four years of Palestinian violence and terrorism was dubbed the Al-Aksa Intifadah (uprising), and the militant wing of Arafat's Fatah faction became known as the Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades.
Although Palestinian violence had already begun several days earlier, Palestinians claim that it was then opposition Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in September 2000 that touched off the intifadah.
PA television has perpetuated the Palestinian version of their attachment to the Mount, denying any biblical connection of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount or Jerusalem.
In a recent PA television broadcast, Dr. Jarir Al-Qidwah, head of the PA Public Library and Arafat's advisor on education, told viewers his version of who built the Jewish King Solomon's Temple.
"Solomon's Temple, I believe, was built by the Canaanites who were the neighbors of the Israelis, the Israelites," said Al-Qidwa, according to a translation provided by the Palestinian Media Watch.
"I want to state several words clearly: the Bible became an archival document, not representing what the Israelis and the first Jews were, but what they thought they were, what they imagined.
"The Temple is the fruit of their imagination. In any case, when our nation or our Canaanite forefathers came to Palestine, they built the Temple... a temple in Jerusalem," Al-Qidwa said.
(According to the Bible, Jewish, Christian and Western history, King Solomon, a Jew, built the first Temple in Jerusalem beginning in 954 B.C.)
A tale of many years The process of rallying support for Al-Aksa began decades ago in 1969 when a non-Jewish Australian set fire to the mosque, Reiter said.
In various ways - other than denying a Jewish historical connection to the Mount and Jerusalem -- the Arab world has raised the status of Al-Aksa in both the religious and political spheres.
"Al-Aksa is a term mentioned in the Koran, whereas the Haram al Sharif - the previous term [for] this compound - is not mentioned in the Koran," Reiter said.
"[By] calling the entire compound Al-Aksa you can reach to the Islamic public awareness because Muslims who read the Koran all over the world, they know exactly what you mean," he said.
"Once you change the status of the Holy Place and whether you diminish it or elevate it...it's a major process in a society, in a religion," he added.
Local Palestinians and Jordanian authorities, some of them of Palestinian origin, have participated in the campaign drawing traditions from early Islam, which put Jerusalem as a focal point in Islam.
"[They] disseminated [the traditions] in the public discourse both in the media and in speeches and activities...in a way that most of the Muslims today are exposed to it - traditions which say as an example that prayer in Al-Aksa is equivalent to 500 prayers in any other mosque in the world," he said.
Many other traditions were neglected for hundreds of years, such as one that says Al-Aksa was the second and not the third place built after Mecca. It was built by the first man Adam and inaugurated 40 years after the holy place in Mecca - the first holy city in Islam, he said. (Medina has traditionally been thought of as the second holy city in Islam.)
Politically, the Islamic movement in Israel launched a campaign in the late 1990s saying that Al-Aksa is in danger, because of events that happened after Israel opened an exit to a tourist tunnel that ran alongside the Temple Mount, Reiter said.
The opening -- a door -- sparked riots as rumors spread that the Israelis were tunneling under the Temple Mount. A number of Palestinian rioters were killed in clashes with Israeli security personnel.
Since then every maneuver or move by a marginal or esoteric Jewish group or even a mad person towards the Temple Mount is used by the Islamic movement as proof that Al-Aksa is indeed in danger and Israel wants to build a third temple there, Reiter said.
According to Reiter, when head of the Islamic Movement in Israel Sheikh Raed Salah was asked what he meant when he says 'Al-Aksa is in danger,' he replied that, "the mere fact that Al-Aksa is under Israeli sovereignty now or under Israeli authority for us as Muslims it means it is in danger. It could only be not in danger if it is under Muslim sovereignty."
"This is the core of this message," Reiter said.Possibility of peace If that is the case then what are the possibilities that an agreement can ever be reached between Israel and the Palestinians?
"First of all it narrows the flexibility of negotiation on the future of Al-Aksa, of the Temple Mount, and Jerusalem. I believe that today Palestinians are unlikely to concede sovereignty over this compound and it might be a deadlock and a non-starter for Jews and might hamper or undermine a possible future solution," said Reiter, who believes the issue is even more explosive than the "right of return" for Palestinians.
"Suppose a miracle happens and Arafat is ready to admit that Jews have some kind...of historical connection to the compound and he's willing to give it on paper in an agreement with Israel.
"He cannot do it without accepting the approval and consent of Arab and Islamic leaders both clerics and politicians because after this campaign was so successful, the Muslim world believes Al-Aksa [doesn't] belong to the Palestinians and not to a particular leader like Arafat.
"This is the property of the entire Muslim nation, and if you want to do something you have to consult us. It is unlikely that someone will support such a decision," said Reiter, who nevertheless believes that Israel and the Palestinians will return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement.
... can't imagine anyone asking them to. Ever!
Blow up the dome. Build new temple. Simple.
Actually I have heard over the last few years that the Dome is becoming structurally unsound, but that when recommendations were made on how to ensure it survived, the temple caretakers rejected everything saying that it was a trick to provide access for sabotage. If things are as bad as I understood I would think 20-25 years and it'll come down on it's own. Course they will probably blame Israel for that too.
ML/NJ
"Course they will probably blame Israel for that too."
You bet. Israeli spies smuggled out top secret CIA equipment in the mid-80's code named "Sub-Sonic-Dome-Cracker-Smack-O-Matic."
;)
Elvis is in Tel Aviv, you know.
When Christ comes back and the temple is rebuilt they WILL concede it or it will be taken from them.
And you are 100% correct!
All Belongs to GOD, they are in for a rude awakening...
It was never theirs to concede. Mr. Arafat, tear down that Dome! In any case it will soon be gone. "Inshallah" in his own tongue!
I agree. The Jews should not destroy the mosque, but rather convert IT into the Third Temple itself, ripping out all Islamic writings and symbols and replacing the tiles with appropriate Jewish/Hebrew ones.
An earthquake could have it down in a matter of minutes. That area is overdue for one and it will happen before too much longer.
bttt
The cockroaches "worship" there today at the sufferance of the Israelis.
What's the issue again?
They don't have to. The Orthodox Jews have it all wrong. The Dome of the Rock is built on the site of the old Roman Praetorium, not the site of Herod's Temple. The current rabbis have placed the temple from the gate openings in the still-standing foundation of the ancient structure that occupied the site before the Dome of the Rock was built.
But remember that Jesus said that "not one stone shall be left upon another" of the Temple? That means that they got the wrong foundation. But the rabbis do not believe the Gospel of Matthew.
A great deal of evidence exists that the Temple was located nearby, but not under a mosque. If I have time tomorrow, and you're interested, I'll try to get you some cites for what I claim.
"That means that they got the wrong foundation."
Allow me to timidly step into Theology, I hope without getting body slammed.
You quote the Gospel. I am also a Christian. Consider Jesus' declaration that he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.
Was Herod's temple destroyed and rebuilt in three days? No.
What was destroyed and rebuilt in three days? Jesus' life itself.
Given this argument, the temple was replaced as the only way to God with the sacrifice Jesus made, his body. All those doves and goats bleeding on the altar were made irrelevant after Jesus shed His blood and life on the cross.
In my opinion, the REAL temple is now Jesus himself. He is in our hearts and our minds and will one day look you and I right in the eye.
How can I square this opinion with Revelations and my anticipation of a third, physical temple? Well, Revelations. I can't imagine the Anti-christ occupying the Christ. I imagine the Anti-christ standing in a physical structure doing all those nasty things described. One such structure, as foretold, is the temple in Israel.
I agree with you. They got the wrong foundation.
(Oh, boy... here it comes!)
I agree with you, that Jesus is the true foundation, and that He was speaking of Himself when He was talking about the temple being destroyed and rebuilt in three days. But, as you observe, the Jews do not acknowledge this.
I do not know if they will discover that the generally accepted physical location of Herod's temple is wrong. But I suspect they will, so that they will succeed in rebuilding it (all to no avail).
But just as soon as I think I've got it figured out, God lets me be proven wrong.
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