Should Israeli Police Enter the Haram A-Sharif?

Why not?

Their task is to uphold the peace and protect public order, to prevent riots and harm/injury being caused by miscreants.

The Ottomans did it.

So did the British, as the explained in 1939:

The Quran and Jewish Rights on the Temple Mount

Do Jews have rights to the Temple Mount, upon which today is the Haram E-Sharif esplanade with the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque?

Is the Temple Mount a Jewish holy place? Does it possess sanctity within Judaism? Should it be revered and respected?

The Waqf, the Islamic religious trust which administers the Temple Mount under Jordanian custodial supervision, with a new council whose members identify with Fatah, Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Turkey, denies that and seeks to subvert any Jewish expression of identity with the iste.

Now, consider this from Omer Salem’s “Missing Peace” on page 63:-


Then Allah clarified to Prophet Muhammad unequivocally in the Holy Qur’an that Allah wishes Ahlul Qur’an (Muslims, i.e. People of the Quran) to have a one qibla [direction of prayer]– Masjid Haram in Mecca - and that Ahlul Kitab (Jews, i.e., People of the Book) have a separate qibla  – The Temple Mount, Jerusalem. 

Here is the prooftext for the two different qiblas

“And even if you bring to those who have been given the Book/Scripture every sign, they would not follow your qibla, nor can you be a follower of their qibla, neither are they the followers of each other’s qibla, and if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, then you shall most surely be among the unjust/wrongdoers.” (Quran 2:145)

If there was one verse in the Holy Quran that gives God-fearingJews the right to pray on the Temple Mount, or to share the Temple Mount with their Muslim neighbors, this verse is it.

Salem further explains there

Allah ordered prophet Muhammad to change the qibla from Masjid Aqsa (the al-Aska Mosque located on the Temple Mount) to Masjid Haram (the shrine in Mecca). The Qur’an records the change in qibla, and refers those who object to such change as “the fools”; here is the Quranic text: 

“The fools among the people will say: “What hath turned them from the Qibla to which they were used?” Say: To Allah belong both east and West: Allah guides whom Allah wills to a Way that is straight” (Quran 2:142)

To be sure, Salem is a moderate. He asks for patience is golden. He believes 

there will rise a group of Muslim and Jewish scholars (Imams and Rabbis) who will agree on how and when the Jews are to pray in peace on the Temple Mount. Jews have waited two millennium for such an honor, no harm will befall the Jewish people if they reach out to Muslim scholars and wait a little.

Salem is a Yale University alumnus and holds a PhD from the Al Azhar University in Cairo. 

Unfortunately, those Muslims who possess control thinking quite differently and for Jews, no rights on and within the Temple Mount nor to discover what is under.

At least we now know that Muslims, according to their own religious texts, should allow Jews to at least visit without interference or harrassment.

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What is a 'Historical Connection'?

Great Britain's Ambassador to Jordan, Edward Oakden, was told two years ago by Jordan's Lower House Speaker, Atif Tarawneh, that Jordan attaches great importance to the Palestinian cause and believes that the Hashemite custodianship is the legitimate guardianship of Jerusalem's holy shrines. And he added:

"Jordan's custodianship is firm and historically entrenched and any attempt to circumvent that is bound to inflame the sensibilities of Arabs and Muslims around the world"

On that background, consider the statement of Jordan's King Abdullah II who is vowing to keep protecting Islamic and Christian holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem. He called it

a “red line” for his country

and admitted during a visit to the Zarqa governorate last week 

that he’s under pressure to alter his country’s historic role as custodian of the Jerusalem holy sites but that he wouldn’t. Abdullah says: “I will never change my position toward Jerusalem in my life.”

This is a consistent line. Last April. the King was quoted

Stressing that the Hashemite custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem is “a historical duty and responsibility that we are proud to carry”, King Abdullah said: “We will persevere in upholding this responsibility, in coordination with our brothers at the Palestinian National Authority and with your support.”

What "history" is he talking about?

The most compact statement is this, from the 2013 Jordan-PLO Agreement on the Jerusalem Holy Sites:

Recalling the role of King Al-Sharif Hussein Bin Ali in protecting, and taking care of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem and in the restoration of the Holy Sites since 1924; recalling the uninterrupted continuity of this role by His Majesty King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, who is a descendant of Al-Sharif Hussein Bin Ali; recalling that the Bay’ah (oath of allegiance) according to which Al-Sharif Hussein Bin Ali held the custodianship of the Jerusalem Holy Sites, which Custodianship was affirmed to Al-Sharif Hussein Bin Ali by the people of Jerusalem and Palestine on March 11, 1924; and recalling that the Custodianship of the Holy Sites of Jerusalem has devolved to His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin al-Hussein;

An expanded research booklet is here. That "custodianship" was based on some eight months that Ali claimed to be Caliph but was tossed out:

Two days after the Turkish Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 3 March 1924, Hussein declared himself Caliph at his son Abdullah's winter camp in Shunah, Transjordan.[10] The claim to the title had a mixed reception, and Hussein was soon ousted and driven out of Arabia by the Saudis, a rival clan that had no interest in the Caliphate.

That booklet first debunks Jewish history. Rather badly and so stupidly. On page 59, we read:

The present-day Israeli narrative seeks to justify the ethnic domination of Jews in the Holy Land by making the claim that the earlier 400-year connection of Jews to Jerusalem (and the later 100-year connection) gives Israel sovereignty over it. However, Jerusalem was founded by the Arab tribe of the Jebusites 2000 years before the arrival and brief rule of the Hebrews. In fact, many different nations and peoples have lived and ruled in Jerusalem, but for more than 1200 years of the last 1400 years since 638 CE, Jerusalem has been a predominately Arab and Islamic city. Moreover, in the 5000 years since Arabs founded the city, they have maintained a constant presence there (as Muslims or pre-Islam) and have ruled it for at least 3200 of the 5000 years of recorded history, compared with only about 500 years of Hebrew and Jewish rule.

Bunk.

Then, on pages 56-57, the Jordanian "historical connection" is explained:

...the Jordanian Hashemites took on the role of the guardians and custodians of the Muslim Holy Sites in Jerusalem. In 1918, British Commander Hogarth was instructed to deliver a guarantee to Sharif Hussein bin Ali — Emir of Mecca and father of the founding King of Jordan Abdullah I — that Muslim Holy Sites shall be considered a Muslim concern alone and shall not be subjected directly or indirectly to any non-Muslim authority. Since 1922, the Hashemites have undertaken three major restoration projects of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem and since 1948 Jordan has continuously maintained the Awqaf Administration in the Old City. The First Hashemite restoration of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque took place during the period of 1922–1924, under the auspices of Sharif Hussein and in cooperation with the Supreme Muslim Council. This exceptional historic role continued during the periods of the “British Mandate”, the period of Jordanian rule over East Jerusalem (1948–1967) and even after the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem (1967–present). Sharif Hussein bin Ali donated 24,000 golden lira to the first renovations of Al-Aqsa Mosque and requested to be buried there before his passing.  

History of less than a century.

Jordan was not officially a country, a sovereign and recognized country, until 1946, by the way.

There you have it.

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The Haram A-Sharif Is Not All One Mosque

As even this article in the Jerusalem Quarterly magazine indicates:

Al-Haram al-Sharif was central to the lives of the Old City’s inhabitants and other Jerusalemites. But, as the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, the al-Aqsa Mosque also attracted Muslim pilgrims from throughout the Arab and Muslim world. The Haram compound, with the al-Aqsa Mosque, was a focal point for all Muslims to come visit; as part of the hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims), pilgrims would pass through Jerusalem.

Quite simply, the Haram is a courtyard and in in it, among other buildings and monuments and groves is ... a mosque.

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No Wonder We Have a UNESCO Problem

Again, the Temple Mount is not to be.  

Only the Haram A-Sharif.

I finally figured it out.

With UNESCO, we're literally not at all on the 'map':-

There is no non-Arab state in the Middle East, or the Middle East doesn't exist.

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Let's Put a Halt to Arab Propaganda - Exhibit: Pilgrimage Halt

Diaa Hadid writes in her AP report

After decades of shying away from an ancient pilgrimage route, Muslims are visiting Jerusalem to pray at Islam's third-holiest site, the revered Al-Aqsa mosque.

Diaa:

photo source


Decades?  But they have been coming always.

Ah, here is the lie:

...that pilgrimage route was abruptly halted after Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. East Jerusalem is home to the hilltop compound housing both Al-Aqsa and the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. As a result, many Muslims believe visiting the mosque would amount to recognition of Israel's claim to the area and be inappropriate when Israel prevents many Palestinians from entering.

a) it was not halted.  ask former President Sadat who prayed at El-Aksa in 1977.

b) yes, occasionally, due to threats of Muslims rioting, entry can be restricted for men in a certain aga and marital status category.  that's a security issue and is never a 100% ban.  unlike the Jews, mind you.

c) maybe it's a self-imposed policy not to come?


Is Diaa a real journalist

photo credit

or a propagandist?

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