Free Republic

Jews who ascended to the Temple Mount in the last few days discovered that the Muslim Waqf has been planting trash cans throughout the plaza atop the Mount. Two weeks ago, as LIBA project coordinator Yehuda Glick visited the Mount, he saw drilling being carried out into the paved floor of the Mount plaza. Muslims refused to say what they were doing and were assisted by police in pushing Glick away. The mystery of the drilling has now been solved: the holes were used for planting dozens of trash cans, and dozens more await their turn. Temple activists said Monday...

Israeli Ambassador: (Despite Obama’s Requests) Israel Will Not Turn Over Christian Holy Sites to Radical Islam [ Full title ]. In May 2011 Barack Obama urged Israel to hand over half of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem, and the tomb of Jesus Christ to the Hamas-Fatah terrorist organizations. ... In December 2013, Barack Obama again urged Israel to hand over ancient Christian and Jewish holy sites to Islamist terrorists. ... On Friday – Palestinian terrorists set fire to Joseph’s Tomb – a Jewish holy site. ... Israeli Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer ... warned America...

Sacred Precincts: A Tartessian Sanctuary in Ancient Spain Sebastián Celestino and Carolina López-Ruiz When the Phoenicians arrived on the Iberian peninsula, probably at the end of the ninth century B.C., they came into contact with an indigenous people called the Tartessians. The two cultures soon fused. The hybrid culture produced by this fusion of peoples is evident in a mysterious structure at Cancho Roano, deep in the heart of south-central Spain. The structure at Cancho Roano is sometimes called a “palace-sanctuary” because of its monumentality. But it was not a palace at all; it was simply a Tartessian sanctuary, which...

Bush Taking New Approach With North Korea BANGKOK, Thailand - President Bush said Sunday for the first time that the United States, China and other nations may try to defuse a crisis with North Korea by offering Pyongyang written security assurances in exchange for a commitment to scrap its nuclear weapons program. Bush rejected North Korea's demand for a formal no-invasion treaty, saying, "That's off the table." But he left the door open for a security pledge, agreed to by several countries, that would fall short of an actual treaty. Nuclear tensions hung over Monday's opening of a 21-nation...

Amid the chaos of the budget crisis and the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis, the Legislature is about to set up a powerful new regulatory agency in an effort to protect Indian sacred sites. While the sacred places of American Indians should be protected, the imperious method chosen by lawmakers and the haste with which this new bureaucracy is being formed would scare Californians — if they knew about it. By rushing the sacred sites bill through in the last days of the legislative session, lawmakers are severely restricting public debate on the measure. The law of unintended consequences...

August 26, 2003 Amid the chaos of the budget crisis and the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis, the Legislature is about to set up a powerful new regulatory agency in an effort to protect Indian sacred sites. While the sacred places of Native Americans should be protected, the imperious method chosen by lawmakers and the haste with which this new bureaucracy is being formed would scare Californians – if they knew about it. By rushing the sacred sites bill through in the last days of the legislative session, lawmakers are severely restricting public debate on the measure. The law...

Sacred sites bill could create a monster August 26, 2003 Amid the chaos of the budget crisis and the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis, the Legislature is about to set up a powerful new regulatory agency in an effort to protect Indian sacred sites. While the sacred places of Native Americans should be protected, the imperious method chosen by lawmakers and the haste with which this new bureaucracy is being formed would scare Californians – if they knew about it. By rushing the sacred sites bill through in the last days of the legislative session, lawmakers are severely restricting...

Ancient Samarra Stands Largely Untouched By BORZOU DARAGAHI .c The Associated Press SAMARRA, Iraq (AP) - Amid the destruction of this war - the bombing, the fighting, the looting - this elegant city was left largely untouched. One of the world's architectural wonders, its golden domed mosques and its graceful minaret stand unscathed. Though its residents were mostly pro-Saddam Hussein, the city's elders capitulated to American forces before any real fighting took place. ``Maybe they didn't want their beautiful city destroyed,'' said Tahseen Taha, a Kurdish Iraqi visitor to Samarra, 70 miles north of Baghdad on the east bank of...

<p>BABYLON, Iraq -- The roots of Western law and writing sprang from the Mesopotamian cradle of civilization here, the site of the resplendent Hanging Gardens of Babylon -- one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The palace of Hammurabi and King Nebuchadnezzar -- like antiquities throughout this country -- has met a fate that has devastated Iraqis and archeologists throughout the world.</p>

American soldiers retreated warily from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf yesterday after a furious crowd gathered around them to stop foreign soldiers from approaching one of the holiest shrines of Shia Islam. "Everybody smile!" shouted the platoon commander as he told his baffled men to kneel down and point their weapons at the ground, in a surreal act of submission.The mightiest army in the world is learning the hard way the awkward art of trying to "win the hearts and minds" of suspicious civilians.In other cities civilians have largely been bystanders in the military drama, neither rising up to...

Tehran, 8 April: A prominent Shi'i cleric on Tuesday [8 April] denied reports that coalition forces had struck holy sites in the cities of Najaf and Karbala in central Iraq. "This claim that holy sites have been damaged is not true at all," opposition figure, Sayyid Abd al-Majid al-Kho'i, told IRNA from Najaf by telephone. "Believe me, not a single bullet has hit the wall of the shrine," he said when asked to comment on the speculation that some of the Shi'i holy sites, including the mausoleum of Imam Ali (AS) [peace be upon him] - the first infallible imam...

06 Apr 2003 10:11:36 GMT U.S. troops in Kerbala centre after fierce fight By Kieran Murray KERBALA, Iraq, April 6 (Reuters) - Moving block by block, U.S. troops pushed into the centre of the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Kerbala on Sunday after vicious battles with Iraqi paramilitaries threatening U.S supply lines north to Baghdad. In blistering heat, U.S. Army tanks rumbled through the dusty streets and armed reconnaissance helicopters passed low over rooftops, identifying sniper positions for artillery units to target. On the ground, army troops took cover in doorways and against walls as they moved past Iraqi corpses,...

Iraqi Forces Take Cover in Ancient Mosque By KIMBERLY HEFLING .c The Associated Press NEAR NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi forces are firing on coalition troops from inside a mosque that is one of the world's most important Shiite Muslim shrines, U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks called the Iraqi fire from inside the gold-domed Ali Mosque in Najaf ``a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger'' and said U.S.-led forces refused to return fire. Allied troops operating south of Baghdad are trying to root out Iraqi fighters in the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and...

Allied commanders said Iraqi forces fired at US troops from the golden-domed Ali mosque in Najaf, one of the most important shrines of Shia Islam. The accusation, which could not be independently verified, came as US troops fought fierce battles in and around the cities of Karbala and Najaf. To Muslims the names of these cities carry the same emotional, mystical charge as Jerusalem and Mecca. Allied commanders said their troops had strict instructions not to fire on the shrines and the US troops did not return the fire, said Brig-Gen Vincent Brooks in Qatar. "The Iraqi regime's use of...