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THE CREEPING NEW JEWISH TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
And the Creeping New U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem
MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 7/29:
In 1967, as the Israeli army took control of all of Jerusalem, the Israeli Flag
flew on what the Jews call "the Temple Mount" for the first time since Christ and
Mohamed walked the area. Sensing what this could lead to General Moshe Dayan quickly
ordered the flag lowered, turned the area that the Muslims call "the Noble Sanctuary",
al Haram al Sharif, back over to the Islamic authorities, and though Israel claims
sovereignty it's flag has never flown again over the area of the Temple Mount.
In the early 1980s, just a slow 10-minute walk from the Temple Mount in an area
known as "the Jewish Quarter", the Israelis built and displayed a scale model of the
third Jewish Temple which the fanatically religious among them aspire to build one day
where the ancient Jewish temple once stood and without the two revered Mosques that
today dominate the same area.
In 1991 the Israeli army massacred Palestinians on the Temple Mount as they
demonstrated against Israel's military occupation and their ongoing subjugation and
dispossession which has become far worse since.
Last September, the Prime Minister of Israel to be, much hated by the Palestinians
for his bloodthirsty and war criminal past, pushed his own way onto part of the Temple
Mount with hundreds of armed soldiers. In this way Ariel Sharon purposefully helped
spark what is being called Intifada II and demonstrated, so he said, Israeli
sovereignty and the right of Jews to visit the Temple Mount. Even so, the Muslim
authorities, the Waqf, have since then restricted the area to Muslims only and
escalated a somewhat mysterious excavation and building effort.
Today, on the special Jewish fastday holiday commemorating the destruction of the
ancient Temple, a group calling itself the Temple Mount Faithful bought a massive
cornerstore for the Third Jewish Temple within shouting distance of the Temple Mount,
then removed it. Thousands of enraged Muslims gathered to "defend the mosque" and
the Israeli army charged the Noble Sanctuary area injuring a number of journalists and
many Palestinians.
Oh yes, then there is the matter of the Israeli Embassy in Israel -- still
formally in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. Congress, dominated as it is by the Israeli/Jewish lobby, has mandated
and funded moving the Embassy to Jerusalem. A plot of land has been designated and
this cornerstone has in a sense actually been laid -- land previously owned and still
contested by Palestinians actually. The American Ambassador has occassionally taken
up residence in a nearby hotel, de facto demonstrating American recognition of
Israel's reality that Jerusalem is the capital as well as American intentions. The
U.S. President must by law every year now report to Congress on why the Embassy is not
moved to Jerusalem. And this particular American President publicly promised during
the campaign to do just that..
ISRAELI COPS STORM JERUSALEM MOSQUE
By Jason Keyser
JERUSALEM (AP - 7/29) - Israeli police stormed the mosque compound that is Jerusalem's
most contested religious site, tossing stun grenades Sunday at Muslims who threw
stones at Jews worshipping at the nearby Western Wall.
At least 15 policemen and 10 Palestinians were injured inside the hilltop compound,
the sensitive site where Israeli-Palestinian violence erupted 10 months ago during a
similar confrontation.
About 400 police with helmets and shields clashed with hundreds of young Palestinians
heaving stones near the two mosques on the compound. Palestinian medical workers said
Israeli forces also fired rubber bullets, but the Israeli police denied the charge.
The compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is the third holiest site in
Islam. It is built atop the ruins of the two biblical Jewish temples, the holiest site
in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
On a tense day in Jerusalem's Old City, the first confrontation took place when the
large police contingent blocked about 30 members of an ultranationalist Jewish group
from marching on the mosque compound.
Shortly afterward, Muslims inside the compound began throwing stones, bricks and
bottles at hundreds of Jews praying down below at the Western Wall, which forms an
exterior wall of the compound.
Many of the Jews, both men and women, fled the barrage, with some holding plastic
chairs or prayer shawls over their heads for protection. The stone-throwing prompted
police to rush inside.
``We're here to prevent the throwing of stones on Jewish worshippers,'' Jerusalem
police chief Mickey Levy, who joined the operation, told Army radio. ``The
Palestinians were just looking for an excuse for a party. I really hope the
Palestinians will not try to ignite things again.''
The initial police action took only minutes and drove most of the Palestinians back
inside the mosques.
However, a tense standoff ensued. Palestinian medical workers, clad in white, formed a
human buffer between the police and the stone-throwers in a bid to prevent additional
clashes.
Some elderly Muslim worshippers also urged the youths to stop throwing stones.
However, the Palestinians periodically tossed rocks at the police, who charged the
youths to disperse them. The police remained inside the compound for hours, though
they did not enter either of the two mosques.
``The Jews are bullying us and no one is able to make them stop,'' said Abdullah
Mohammed Abdullah, 53, one of the Muslim worshippers. ``They are not going to quit
until they take everything.''
Because the compound is so sensitive, incidents can spark a much larger conflagration
between Israelis and Palestinians.
Sunday's confrontation prompted several Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank.
Near the city of Ramallah, three Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were injured in
an exchange of fire. The Israeli army said Palestinian gunmen opened fire, and the
troops shot back.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the mosque compound last Sept. 28 - he was
the main opposition leader at the time - and provoked outrage among Muslims.
Violence broke out the next day when police clashed with Muslims inside the compound.
Since then, more than 500 Palestinians and 100 Israelis have been killed.
Sunday was the Jewish holy day of Tisha B'Av, when observant Jews mark the destruction
of Jewish temples at the site in the years 586 B.C. and 70 A.D.
Police were deployed by the hundreds to block the ultranationalist Jews, the Temple
Mount Faithful, from reaching the compound and planting a cornerstone for a future
Jewish temple.
In a compromise, police permitted the group to hold a short ceremony in a nearby
parking lot outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City.
After the ceremony, the huge cornerstone, weighing several tons, was taken from the
area in a bid to calm tensions. The Temple Mount Faithful demonstrated near a gate
leading to the mosques, but the much larger police force easily turned them back.
Muslim groups had called for worshippers to come to the mosques in large numbers, and
several thousand turned out to prevent any attempt by Jews to enter the compound.
Israel claims sovereignty over the site, though the Waqf, an Islamic trust, has
day-to-day control of the compound. Since the violence broke out, only Muslims have
been allowed inside the compound.
The compound was one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian peace
negotiations that broke down in January amid the current fighting.
ARAB LEAGUE'S MOUSSA CONDEMNS ISRAEL OVER
CLASHES
CAIRO, July 29 (Reuters) - Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Israel's
storming on Sunday of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound showed its "bad intentions"
and could have serious consequences.
Israeli police stormed the site, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, after
Palestinians threw stones at Jewish worshippers below.
Israeli police were on heightened alert because of a plan by an extreme right-wing
Jewish group to lay a 4.5-tonne marble cornerstone at the site, which Palestinians
said would lead to violence.
"The developments which the al-Aqsa mosque compound is witnessing are serious and
indicate the extent of (Israeli) bad intentions," Moussa told reporters. "Bad
intentions will have serious consequences." The head of the 22-member Arab League
did not elaborate.
At least 15 policemen were wounded by the stone-throwing Palestinians, an Israeli
police spokesman said. A Reuters television cameraman at the compound said at least
one Palestinian was hurt when police fired teargas and stun grenades at the
worshippers.
Clashes at the site, Judaism's holiest and one of the most sacred to Muslims, could
further inflame passions in the uprising against Israeli occupation in which more than
600 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed.
Asked about Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's call for an emergency Arab summit to
deal with the bloodshed, Moussa said: "This subject is being discussed and there are
contacts between the Palestinian president and Arab leaders."
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