-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: February 9, 2007 12:28:12 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Israelis Toss Grenades into Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple
Mount
RAIDERS OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT
TIME, Friday, Feb. 09, 2007
By TIM MCGIRK/JERUSALEM
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1587679,00.html
[Photo] Palestinian Authority's president Mahmud Abbas (R), and
exiled leader of the ruling Hamas party Khaled Meshaal (C) perform
Umrah, a minor pilgrimage to Mecca. Rival Palestinian factions
signed a historic deal to form a national unity government after
marathon talks.
Amid the old city of Jerusalem and rising above it is the ancient
site of Solomon's Temple and the point from which the Prophet
Mohammed journeyed to Heaven. Holy to Jews and Muslims, it is as
dangerous these days as a ticking atom bomb. Any readjustment of
its ancient stones can detonate outrage among millions of faithful
around the world. On Friday, Muslims in Jerusalem protested against
Israeli excavation work next to al-Aqsa, one of Islam's holiest
shrines, which sits atop the site. Around the world, Muslims
declared a universal "day of anger," Israeli police stormed into
the Muslim compound <sic> and fired stun grenades and rubber
bullets at youths trying to hurl stones at Jewish worshippers at
the Western Wall. Israeli police claim that 17 protesters and 15
police officers were injured in the clashes, but Palestinians say
many more were hurt in skirmishes around the mosque grounds.
The latest crisis began when Israeli authorities started rebuilding
and extending a pedestrian ramp which rises to the Mugrabi Gate, an
entrance that allows tourists to view the gardens of the sacred
Muslim precinct, the silver al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the
Rock, a shrine clad with turquoise mosaics and topped with a
glowing, golden dome. The ramp is a simple piece of construction
that will rest on seven concrete pillars. A 2004 earthquake and a
snowstorm had damaged the old pedestrian bridge. But with tension
running high between Israelis and Palestinians, the repair work has
become a volatile religious issue, one that radical Muslim clerics
are using to whip up more hatred against Israel.
Says Dan Seidemann, a Jerusalem lawyer trying to broker a solution
to the latest religious flare-up, "It's reaching critical mass and
the situation could explode at any time."
Neither Muslims nor Jews are comfortable sharing this holy site,
and religious extremists are trying through bombs, fire, stones and
other provocations to drive the other out. Some Muslim clerics say
that re-building the pedestrian walkway is tipping the balance of
co-existence between the two faiths.
As an editorialist wrote wearily in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz:
"The excavation work and bridge construction...have turned into the
Battle of Armageddon, as happens every time." In 1996, tunneling by
Israeli archeologists underneath the compound led to riots between
protesters and Israeli troops in which 69 Palestinians and 16
Israeli soldiers were killed.
The Mugrabi Gate has always been a thorn in the side of the al-Aqsa
worshippers. It provides the only Israeli access to the Muslim
mosque and shrine, and it was through this gate in 2000 that Ariel
Sharon, then the Israeli opposition leader, strutted into the
Muslim grounds and sparked a bloody Palestinian uprising. It is
also via this pedestrian ramp that Israeli police swarm into the
Muslim precinct whenever trouble erupts — as they did during
Friday's riots — and Muslim leaders are worried that the new,
reinforced ramp will allow more police and extremists to trespass
on their holy shrine.
Some Christians and Jews believe that the building of the Third
Temple by the Jews will herald the Messiah's arrival, and that can
only be accomplished by destroying the Muslim place of worship. But
Israeli authorities insist they are making the ramp stronger only
to make it safer for thousands of daily visitors.
Muslims also say that the excavations will also be destroying
chunks of their religious heritage, but Israeli archeologists and
Palestinian workers on the site are clearing away every stone and
pottery fragment with the precision of surgeons. Not that it
matters. Throughout the Muslim world, the Israeli excavations
adjacent to al-Aqsa are being portrayed as sacrilege, as another
blow by Israel and, indirectly, by its ally America, against Islam.
For the last three days, the story has topped headlines and news
broadcasts throughout the Muslim world.
In Mecca, Palestinian leaders from the rival Fatah and Hamas
movements took a break from their efforts to avert a civil war and
condemned Israel's supposed tampering with the holy place in
Jerusalem. Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad said: "Israel has a clear
scheme to demolish the al-Aqsa mosque through various games and
tricks, and we hope to see a decisive Arab and Islamic position.
The language of condemnation is not enough."
Also in Mecca, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that
further excavation could endanger a November cease-fire in Gaza
between Palestinian militants and Israelis. The crisis will also
complicate Abbas' task of persuading Hamas to moderate its
hostility towards Israel, which it refuses to recognize. Meanwhile,
in Iran, spiritual leader Ali Khamenei warned: "We must make the
Zionists regret their action."
All this hostility could have been avoided, say Israeli experts, if
the authorities had first sought clearance from the Waqf, the
Islamic board which governs the al-Aqsa mosque.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under pressure from his
neighbor, Jordan's King Abdullah, and from his own defense minister
Amir Peretz, to halt the controversial dig. So far, Olmert has
refused their entreaties, saying that the changes would not "harm"
anyone.
Meir Ben-Dov, a leading Israeli archeologist who has worked on the
site for 39 years, criticized the excavation work. He told the
Israeli press that it was "short-sightedness on the part of someone
who wants riots, [something done] by people with no brain."
Already, one Palestinian militant group says it intends to attack
synagogues in revenge for the excavations. The standoff at Temple
Mount/al-Aqsa, over a simple repair, threatens to blow into
something far larger and more dangerous.
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