By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
October 13, 2003
Jerusalem (www.jnewswire.com) - Jewish
leftists, acting without the knowledge or authorization of the Israeli
government, have "agreed" to surrender the Jewish nation's claim to their
holiest site - the Temple Mount.
And Palestinians, acting with the blessing of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, have
agreed to sign away their highly prized "right of return" in exchange for the
one thing Muslim Arabs cherish more: the site of the biblical Jewish temples.
This is according to reports in the Israeli press Monday, after left wing
former government officials and retired military officers met in Jordan with
senior PLO members at the weekend to finalize "negotiations" on what they dubbed
the Geneva Accords.
The Palestinian leadership of temporary Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has
reportedly indicated it will adopt the understandings, set to be signed at a
ceremony in Geneva as early as November 4.
Jerusalem and the Temple Mount
Israelis describe Jerusalem, the city that was King David's capital more than 3000 years ago, as the heart of the land of Israel.
The Temple Mount, known in the Bible as Mount Moriah and the Hill of the Lord, they call the heart of Jerusalem. It was the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple, which Herod the Great began to refurbish shortly before the birth of Jesus.
It is also the site of the future throne room of the Messiah King, according to the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.
The mount, enclosed by the walls of the Old City, is the most volatile issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Arafat used a visit by Sharon to the site in September 2000 as justification for launching what the Palestinians call the Al-Aqsa intifada, a terror war in which nearly 900 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, have been killed.
Driven out of Jerusalem in AD70, after witnessing the devastation of the city and the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews around the world have prayed daily for nearly 2000 years to be restored to their capital and their mount.
In 1967, after the Arab states massed their armies in order to drive the Jews into the sea, Israel retook control of all Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.
Sharon: Jerusalem is ours, forever
Speaking to thousands of pilgrims at a Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem last night, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stressed that the city was "the united and undivided capital of the State of Israel forever."
According to the International Christian Embassy, which sponsored the event, Sharon reminded his listeners, including the millions who would hear his words via the media, that "Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible 677 times."
"Zion as Jerusalem," he said, "is mentioned another154 times."
"And the name of King David, who made Jerusalem his capital 3000 years ago, was "mentioned 1083 times. "
By contrast, Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Muslims' Koran.
Sharon rammed home the fact that "only after Jerusalem was reunited in 1967 with the Temple Mount at the center, [was] freedom of worship guaranteed at all the holy sites."
Government on the defensive
Despite the strongly expressed convictions, it appeared Sunday as if the Israeli left-wingers who negotiated the "deal" - among them chief Oslo-architect Yossi Beilin and former Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna - had put the Sharon government on the defensive.
Last Wednesday, Sharon had knifed into the plotters for what he called "a cynical political attempt by Labor and the left to topple the government by illegitimate means."
Left wing groups had been "coordinating their actions with the Palestinians behind the government's back," Sharon said, and this at a time when Israel was "engaged in a difficult campaign against terror."
Reacting to the news reports on the deal that flooded the Israeli press Sunday evening, Sharon said the initiative had foiled any chance of advancing serious negotiations on a peace agreement.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom tried to dismiss the deal as "virtual," saying "there is a government in Israel…that deals with such matters," and adding that he would "not have expected much else from those who brought us the Oslo Accords, for which foolishness we are still paying the price today…"
Signing ceremony and mailing blitz
Dismissing what Ha'aretz called the government's "fury," the Beilin-Mitzna cabal is planning a signing ceremony in Switzerland on or near November 4, the anniversary of the assassination of a former Labor Party prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
The Swiss Government will reportedly sponsor the signing event.
Following the ceremony, copies of the agreement will be mailed to Israeli households in an effort to garner widespread public support for it.
The whole process has been slammed in Israel as undemocratic.
In its lead editorial Monday, The Jerusalem Post called on the Israelis involved to seek election if they wished to decide the country's future.
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