An Historical Desecration of the Haram A-Sharif

In January 1939, the London Times published documents such a letters and reports of Arab terrorists found at Bani Naim by British forces. The Palestine Post then republished the story on January 25, 1939.

The highlight was the extensive use made of the Haram A-Sharif compound as a base for the terrorist gangs, sniping positions, arms storerooms, etc. as well as the presence, within the compound, of security personnel of the Mandate.

An extract:

Rebel Arab documents seized by the troops in some recent engagements,, particularly that at Beni Na'im on December 15, when the Worcestershires. with R.A.F. cooperation, engaged a large band, provide sensational proof that the sacred Haram esh-Sharif has been the scene of murder, bomb-throwing, and rebel courts-martial, and evidence that even the rebels themselves are disgusted and alarmed at the terrorism of Arabs by Arabs which has marked the lateit stages of the campaign.

The documents are from the files of 'Abu Mansur," the nora de guerre of Abdel Khader Husseini. With such evidence as this of the Moslems' violation of their own sanctuary, and the proof , witnessed by members of the Moslem Supreme Council , after the recapture' of the old city of Jerusalem on October 19, that the Haram has been used as a vantage point for snipers. As the sheikhs have locked the old police post next to the Dome of the Rock, the present post has been placed in a sheikh's room farther from the sacred rock...

The following day, the paper's editorial read, in part:

the desecration of the Haram esh Sharif for terrorist attacks both against individual Arabs and against the police and the troops.The propaganda agents of the Mufti and their helpers in the foreign press launched a wide campaign of insinuation and slander against the security authorities in this country when the latter found themselves obliged to station a small post of Moslem and British police in the Haram area in order to prevent its being used as a point of vantage for gunmen. It is now revealed from the files of the terrorist leaders themselves that not only was the Haram turned into a haunt of snipers, but that it also served as a venue of trials by terrorist "courts" and that the "holy warriors" murdered fellow Arabs within its sacred precincts. 

From The Times Archives, thanks to EV: 

^

No Protection for Jewish Holy Sites?

For the record

King Abdullah II on Tuesday...affirmed that Jordan stands with all its potentials and capabilities to achieve their legitimate and just rights. He will continue his efforts to work with the actors and the international community to create political horizons that serve Palestinian interests and the right of the Palestinian people. 

During the meeting, they stressed the importance of maintaining coordination and consultation between the two sides on the latest developments related to the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem. His Majesty stressed the importance of preserving the status quo in Jerusalem as the key to achieving peace in the region, stressing that Jordan continues to play its historical and religious role in protecting the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, based on the Hashemite tutelage on these holy sites.

Jordan was negligent in the extreme during 1948-1967 as regards protecting and preserving Jewish holy sites (including the Mount of Olives cemetery, synagogues, etc.) it illegally occupied and violated terms of the Armistice Agreement about access to the Western Wall (see Article VIII, 2).

Jordan cannot be trusted.

^ 

What Would Be the Reaction?

This was reported:-

The final communique of the Arab Summit, concluded Wednesday in Amman...read by Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit,...voiced rejection of all unilateral Israeli measures aimed at altering the legal and historical status of Muslim and Christian holy shrines in occupied Jerusalem.

And there was this, as well:

King Abdullah, whose dynasty has custodianship over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, said any unilateral Israeli move to change the status quo in the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque would have "catastrophic" consequences for the future of the region.

I am just wondering.

What would be the reaction if Israel, say, at a Zionist Congress (not at AIPAC, they'd never go for this), would declare:

Israel rejects all unilateral Arab actions and measures that were aimed at altering the legal and historical status of Jewish holy shrines in Jerusalem they occupied after invading and conquering the country in 638 CE?

What do you think would be the reaction?

^

Is Netanyahu Down In the Dumps?

It started in 1996, then the owner of the store over the basement was abducted under orders of Arafat, who was asked by Egypt's Mubarak to persuade him to give basement to Copts but he refused, was then referred to as a Subterranean volcano in 2009 and by 2010, we were updated about the ownership of a long-forgotten medieval cellar that for centuries has been filled with rubbish.

The basics:

The cellar, which dates to at least the 12th century, lies in Jerusalem, and is claimed by both a Palestinian Muslim shopkeeper and Egyptian Coptic Christians who have responsibility over part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity's holiest site.

The legal battle over the centuries-old vaulted stone cellar has been festering for 14 years...Antonios al-Orshaleme, general secretary of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, insists the basement is holy ground and was once part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by most Christians as the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried.

...The church was built in the fourth century. Its destruction seven centuries later provided an impetus for the Crusades. It was rebuilt in 1048 following agreement between the Byzantine Empire and the region's Muslim rulers.  "Here is a monastery, below is also a monastery," says Orshaleme.

Not so, says lawyer Reuven Yehoshua, who represents storekeeper Hazam Hirbawi. "For 800 years this cellar was used as a garbage dump," says Yehoshua.

And, basically, PM Binyamin Netanyahu may have to resolve it.

Why? 

Israel court stumped by holy row over property near Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The owner is dead but his son and his Israeli lawyers keep on.

This week, a report (in Hebrew) indicates the decision was that thee cellar belongs to ... Hirbawi.

And you thought the Temple Mount was the only troublesome holy site?


(thanks to RH)
^

Jordan Rep Expresses Apartheid/Racist Views

Jordan will continue to honour its commitments towards holy places in Jerusalem we have been informed by Jordanian House Speaker Atef Tarawneh today, speaking in Kuwait at the 20th conference of the Inter-Arab Parliamentary Union.

"Holy Places", he said?

Let's be specific:-

Jordan will continue to honour its historical commitments towards protecting the Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem.

What happened to the Jewish sites?

Remember that March 2014 agreement?

Tarawneh said that the agreement, which was signed by His Majesty King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, reaffirmed the status of His Majesty King Abdullah as the custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem and was aimed at exerting all legal efforts to protect the holy places in Jerusalem in general and the al-Aqsa Mosque in particular.

Are there no Jewish holy places in the city?

Of course there are and they are adjacent to and contiguous with Islanic sites: the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

Tarawneh spoke about "the Israeli attempts to Judaize and change the identity of Jerusalem" and "highlighted the Israeli violations against the holy shrines in Jerusalem, noting that these violations send a clear message that any peace agreement would remain threatened by Israel" and added, "Jordan always takes stances towards these violations, through available legal channels".

But there's more:

The key to Arab-Israeli comprehensive peace lies in implementing the two-state solution, under which an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state is established within the June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem its capital...we in Jordan believe that implementing the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state within June 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital constitute a higher interest for Jordan...

...Regarding East Jerusalem, His Majesty King Abdullah II is taking care of the maintenance and protection of the Christian and Islamic holy sites there, as part of the historical Hashemite custodianship of East Jerusalem. We will continue to play this role and addressing all Israeli violations, which continue to defy several resolutions issued by the UN Security Council that stipulate that all Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem are null and void and should be halted immediately, and that the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem must end.

Those were the words spoken in New York of Minister of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs, Nasser Judeh, on Monday, who chaired a United Nations Security Council's open debate on various Middle East issues.

He, too, is an apartheidist, even a racist.  Jordan doesn't recognize Jewish holy sites in the city, it would appear and even if they did exist, the King, in his custodianal role, wouldn't care for them.

No suprise, really, after his grandfather's father's record of destroying almost 40,000 Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives prior to 1967 and all but one of the 35 synagogues in the Old City were destroyed, either razed or used as stables and chicken coops.

Is this the man and the position with who Mr. Netanyahu discusses peace?

By the way, at the UN, this also was said by Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson at the opening of 2014 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:-

...Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are working hard towards a peaceful, comprehensive settlement of all permanent status issues...It means accepting Jerusalem as the capital of the two States, with arrangements for Holy Sites acceptable to all. 

Eppes.

__________

P.S.

As for fulfilling terms of treaties, cease-fire agreements, etc., let's not forget the experience:

In direct contravention of the 1949 armistice agreements, Jordan did not permit Jews access to their holy sites or to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
Article VIII of the Israel Jordan Armistice Agreement (April 3, 1949) established a special committee which would “direct its attention to the formulation of agreed plans and arrangements” including “free access to the Holy Places and cultural institutions and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives.” Nevertheless, and despite numerous requests by Israeli officials and Jewish groups to the UN, the U.S., and others to attempt to enforce the armistice agreement, Jews were denied access to the Western Wall, the Jewish cemetery and all religious sites in eastern Jerusalem. The armistice lines were sealed as Jordanian snipers would perch on the walls of the Old City and shoot at Israelis across the lines.

And in reviewing what I wrote above, it may not be clear to some readers what my 'problem' is as some may assume that of course Jordan will not be "in charge" of any Jewish site so why get upset.

Briefly, I believe Netanyahu does not really want a "Palestinian" state and so seeks to have Jordan in on any agreement.  The political rights of local Arab residents west of the Jordan River will find their expression via Jordan with an improved Begin-autonomy plan. That in itself is an improvement over the Pal. Authority monster but the price will be official Jordanian administration of the Temple Mount (i.e., foreign sovereignty) and then for sure no Jewish identity will be permitted there (it will become extra-territorial), expression that will be less than today probably. That's a price I feel we do not have to fork over.

As I noted above, if now Jordanian spokespersons ignore any Jewish character of a holy site that is conterminous, as is the Temple Mount and its Western supporting wall, with a Muslim site, then we cannot expect Jewish expressions there, whether religious, spiritual or cultural.  And, perhaps, given Jordan's record, even worse.  Instead of Islamic rocks and firebombs thrown at Jews, bullets could be fired next.

^

Put The Violators on Trial

These people, among others, (and in this short video), are guilty of violating the Law for the Protection of the Holy Places

2.   (b) Whosoever does anything likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the different religions to the places sacred to them or their feelings with regard to those places shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of five years.

They should be detained, interrogated and if a solid basis of evidence exists, they should be tried.

They interfered this morning with the free access of non-Muslims touring the Temple Mount necessitating the exit of those visitors through the Chain Gate without a full encircling of the compound due to a police collapse of security in the face of violent threatening behavior.


^

Israel's Yielding on Jerusalem

On April 22, this year, MK Yariv Levine asked the Foreign Minister a Parliamentary Question regarding the PA-Jordanian Agreement on Jerusalem.

Noting that the agreement seemingly represents an attempt to negatively affect Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem and its holy shrines, his two queries are:

1.  What is Israel's official stand regarding the agreement?

2.  Why does Israel not declare publicly and firmly that it rejects this injurious attempt?

 The answer came a month later from then Deputy Foreign Minister Zev Elkin:

and reads:

Re: Israel's Ignoring of the Agreement between King Abdallah and the PA President as regards the Temple Mount

1.  The setting of Jordan's position complies with Israel's outlook and contributes to the distancing of undesired elements, including Qatar and other Arab Muslim countries.

2.  The Jordanian recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem is not new but has been reestablished by this agreement.

3.  The agreement does comply with the terms of the special status awarded to Jordan concerning the holy sites to Islam according to the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, 9 (2), and therefore restricts the Palestinian aspirations (symbolically and administratively) on the Temple Mount.

This is outrageous.

I complained about the ignoring.

I asked Yariv to pursue the matter. 

_______

P.S.  

If you comprehend Hebrew, listen here to the Internal Security Minister admitting he was told recently by the Prime Minister not to allow prayer by Jews on the Temple Mount.

^

Franciscans Provide Temple Mount Precedent

Some of their propaganda from the voice-over clip at the bottom of the page is nigh anti-Semitic but the information is encouraging:

Upper Room on Mt. Zion To Open for Catholic Worship

The Cenacle, the building on Mt. Zion which houses the “Upper Room” where Jesus and his disciples held the Last Supper will once again be open for Catholic worship, it has been announced by spokesmen for the Vatican, the Israeli government and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.  The agreement, which is part of overall negotiations over the use of land owned by the church in Israel allows for Franciscan administrative control of the site, while ownership will remain with Israel...

...The Franciscan Friars owned the site during the 14th and 15th centuries, but were expelled by the Ottoman Empire in 1550...While expressing disappointment with Israeli ownership, he said, "opening the Upper Room to Catholic worship is “good news.” 

...Negotiations between the Vatican and Israel began 20 years ago with a “Fundamental Agreement” designed to open the way to Vatican recognition of Israel. Negotiations halted for several years until the United States intervened and talks were resumed in 2004, Vasko said. The current round of talks is the first to be held in two years. In addition to the Cenacle, other key elements of the negotiations include two churches the Vatican wants to build, and tax exempt status for Catholic Churches. The recent agreement approves tax-exempt status for the churches but specifies that attached buildings such as gift shops and restaurants will be subject to Israeli sales tax.  Negotiations will continue in December, according to the joint announcement.

If the Israel government can make these generous provisions for shared use of a holy site, when do they finalize an arrangement with the Waqf so that Jews can worship on the Temple Mount?

Freedom of worship is, I would presume, a right for Jews as much as it is for Christians.

No?

_____________

Being me, I sent this query:-

Is worship limited to Catholics or can other sects of Christianity pray, too?

and received this reply:-

Thank you for your response to our article “Upper Room on Mt. Zion To Open for Catholic Worship”.  We as Catholics are very excited that the ability to celebrate Holy Mass in the “Cenacle” or “Upper Room” is being restored  to the Franciscans even though the ownership of the Upper Room will stay in the hands of the Israelis.  The reason this is so important to us is that we believe that Jesus celebrated the first mass at the Last Supper and asked us to do so also in remembrance of Him.  It is also where the sacrament of Holy Orders (Priesthood) was established.

In response to your question, the Upper Room has been open to other forms of worship all along.  However, I am not sure if it requires any type of permission.  There are numerous YouTube videos of groups worshipping in the open spaces.

Are you an interested reader or are you affiliated with a news source? 

Many blessings.  Visit us at www.ffhl.org for much more on our work in the Holy Land.

Deborah Roberts

Media Coordinator

This was my answer:

I am an interested reader and I also blog.

I asked because I thought the arrangement being agreed upon could serve as a model for the friction between Muslims and Jews on the Temple Mount.

and I then added:

incidentally, I could not locate any other independent corroboration for the story even after searching Vatican news web sites.  has the story appeared other than where I found it?

^

Quotable Words on Holy Sites Endangered

...[PA President Mahmoud] Abbas followed up this Sunday during a trip to Amman, where he and King Abdullah signed an agreement to protect holy sites in Jerusalem.* Again, Al-Aqsa was depicted as a prime target of Israeli attacks. But for good measure, the two leaders also professed to become protectors of all Muslim and Christian shrines in Jerusalem. 

Not only was all this a bogus concoction since Al-Aqsa and all other religious shrines in Jerusalem remain open and under full Israeli protection. But conspicuously missing from all these supposedly threatened targets were Jewish holy sites in Israel's capital, where Temple Mount and the Western Wall are Judaism's most sacred places.

Somehow it escaped the attention of Abbas and King Abdullah that, if they really were sincere about protecting all sacred sites in Jerusalem, the only actually vulnerable shrines in Jerusalem and adjoining West Bank are Jewish ones.

Leo Renert

The Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty does relate to this issue:

ARTICLE 9
PLACES OF HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUSSIGNIFICANCE

1. Each party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.

2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.

3. The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

Note:

Do Jews have free access to the Temple Mount?

Have permanent status negotiations begun?

Does 'high priority' mean absolute priority?

Interfaith relations are to be accomplished "together".  And that includes "freedom of religious worship".

*

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas signed on Sunday an agreement confirming their "common goal to defending" Jerusalem and its sacred sites against attempts to Judaise the Holy City.  A statement by the palace said the deal confirms Jordan's historic role as custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, particularly the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, and outlines coordination between the two sides.

"In this historic agreement, Abbas reiterated that the king is the custodian of holy sites in Jerusalem and that he has the right to exert all legal efforts to preserve them, especially Al-Aqsa mosque," the statement said.
"It is also emphasising the historical principles agreed by Jordan and Palestine to exert joint efforts to protect the city and holy sites from Israeli judaisation attempts."

"It also reaffirms the historic principles upon which Jordan and Palestine are in agreement as regards Jerusalem and their common goal of defending Jerusalem together, especially at such critical time, when the city is facing dramatic challenges and daily illegal changes to its authenticity and original identity."

And this:

Abbas said an agreement he signed today with His Majesty for defending and preserving Al Aqsa is a reassertion of a role that had been standing for decades.

"It is a reassertion of the longstanding bond since the reign of His Majesty the late King Hussein Ibn Talal,"he added.

^

Sacred Soccer

EOZ's clip from this week:-

Islamic respect for a holy site.

^

Oddity of Middle East Politics

Read this:-

Jordan's King Abdullah II, meeting with President Shimon Peres, subsequently said that he expects Israel to refrain from unilaterally demolishing the Mughrabi Bridge.

"Israel must refrain from any step that will damage the character of Jerusalem or sites that are sacred to Islam or Christianity," Abdullah said, according to Israeli officials.

Now, ask yourself, how can the improvement of the entrance to the Temple Mount which involved closing off a wodden structure built just a few years ago outside the Temple Mount (and leaving eight other entrances open) "damage the character of Jerusalem" or its sacred sites?

Who, now, doesn't know his history or his geography?

^

Will This Report on the Temple Mount Be Praised Like His Others?

The Comproller's report, as regards Defense Minsiter Ehud barak's finances is getting a lot of coverage and people are demanding action.

Will they get excited and forceful about his other finding, concerning the Temple Mount?

'Waqf Temple Mount excavation damaged archaeological relics'

State Comptroller's report finds that the Muslim religious trust carried out works without permits and used heavy equipment damaging the Jerusalem holy site.

In his annual report, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss found many shortcomings in the supervision of works carried out by the Waqf Muslim religious trust at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, saying that as a result, important archaeological artifacts had been damaged.

The majority of the State Comptrollers opinion is being kept confidential...The only section of the opinion that was made public was the conclusion, which says that supervision of the works that the Waqf carried out at the Temple Mount, particularly in the structure known as Solomon's Stables, was problematic. "These works were carried out without any coordination with the authorities that deal with legal enforcement in the Temple Mount, and without the required permits and licenses. The use of mechanical tools during some of the works regretfully damaged some of the archaeological evidence," the comptroller wrote.

"The preservation of antiquities at the Temple Mount, and the prevention of their destruction, is a public duty of the highest order," the conclusion also stated. "It is important to highlight that any work or excavation at the Temple Mount should be carried out in keeping with the character of the site, with the necessary licenses, and according to archeological standards. These include not using heavy tools in on-site works that require digging."

"The preservation of antiquities in the Temple Mount, which is a very holy place, is subject to the principle of preservation of our religious and cultural heritage, enables us to pass on the valuable legacy of this site to future generations."...

Willl thet demand, for example, a special Temple Mount Authority to supervise and administer the site? Will the Waqf lose its exclusive status?

Will they, for example, agree with this?

Glenn Beck Plans ‘Restoring Courage’ Rally on Temple Mount

^

Could The 'Pals.' Learn From Turkey's "Faith Tourism"?

This is the terrible reality today:

Due to Muslim pressure and hollow "Palestinian Arab nationalism", Jews cannot pray at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and they get killed if they try to pray of Joseph's Tomb, they are limited in their devotions at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and if they discover through archaelogical excavations anything that confirms the Biblical accounts of the history of Jews in Eretz-Yisrael Arabs and their supporters ridicule that.  Jewish religious sites get burnt, desecrated and neglected.

Maybe, since Turkey seems to be a major pro-Pal. player, our local Arabs could learn a positive lesson from that country's reported policy:

“We have recognized this as a special field of tourism and as a special cultural wealth,” the Turkish culture minister, Ertugrul Gunay, said in an interview in Ankara. By next year, his ministry aims to increase the number of religious tourists to Turkey to more than three million, from 1.3 million last year.  “Until now, our concept of faith tourism was limited” to Muslim shrines “like the Mevlana tomb in Konya or the Halil-Ur Rahman mosque in Urfa,” Mr. Gunay said, “even though Anatolia is the home of important shrines of Christianity and Judaism as well.”

“Now,” he added, “we are working to care for all of these sites, Muslim, Christian and Jewish, without discrimination, to restore them and maintain them and to open them up to the public to visit.”

What's your opinion?  Possible?

^

Temple Mount Sacred to Muslims?

Good resource:

...For Muslims, Jerusalem is thought to be sacred for two reasons: First, Muslims were initially commanded to pray toward Jerusalem. But when the Jews refused to convert to Islam, Muhammad changed the prayer direction toward Mecca. Second, Muslims believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven and back from "the Rock" which much later after his death was interpreted to mean what is today the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Interestingly, Islamic sources from the first 50 years or so after Muhammad's death make clear that Jerusalem had absolutely no holy status for Muslims.

Some centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) another important Muslim cleric with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Koran and Hadith, wrote extensively about Jerusalem, and how there were only two holy cities in Islam – Mecca and Medina...

Ibn Taymiyya went to great lengths to explain that the veneration of Jerusalem in nothing more than the "Judaization" of Islam...

Later, Ibn Taymiyya discussed the first caliphs and showed that when they ruled over today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, neither they nor any of the early governors nor any clerics made any attempt to build any structure over the Rock on the Temple Mount...How then, Ibn Taymiyya reasoned, could we who never knew them nor Muhammad have the right to disagree? There is no way we could know more about Islam than they. We therefore have no right to sanctity al-Aqsa because they did not do so.

In order to further strengthen his argument against Jerusalem's sanctity, Ibn Taymiyya wrote that during Muhammad's night journey to heaven from Jerusalem, there is no mention of the (Temple) Rock in the story. Therefore, since the Rock is not even mentioned, it has no importance in Islamic tradition.

...So how did Jerusalem become holy in Islam?

Read on.

Avnery Goes Woe

Former Irgunist and member of the elite IDF 'Samson's Foxes' unit that raked Arabs with machinegun fire in the Negev during the War of Independence, Uri Avnery, now "peace activist" with Gush Shalom, is very upset.

Those durn territories are in the Bible, with all those holy sites. Excerpts from his:

The Harlot’s Grave And Misusing Holy Sites

...Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in Rome...a Palestinian leader once told me his version: God appeared to Agca in a dream and told him: Go to the Holy City and kill that damn Pole. But the Turk misunderstood, so instead of going to Jerusalem and killing Menachem Begin, he went to Rome…

[he's so sick even for repeating that Arab humor example]

Which just goes to show that holy cities are a pain in the neck.

THE LATE Yeshayahu Leibowitz... poured his wrath on religious Jews who sanctify “holy” sites...The mutation of Judaism, which has become a kind of state religion in Israel, has turned this idolatry into a holy cult...But after the Six-day War and the beginning of the occupation, the worship of holy places assumed a much more sinister character. It became an instrument of the settlers.

[Exodus 3:5 - And He said: 'Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.'; Ezekiel 20:40 - For in My holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve Me in the land;; Daniel 9:20 -And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God ; Joshua 5:15 - And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua: 'Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.' And Joshua did so]

...Holy places serve now as justification for the robbing expedition called settlement. Pieces of land are stolen all over the occupied territories because of their sanctity. [actually, Arabs have done all the robbing and they even continue by pillaging gravesites and other archaeological locations] The most extreme leaders of the settlers, all of them “rabbis”, fight for the liberation of holy graves. One of them is leading a crusade (or, rather, star-of-davidade) in order to take possession of the “tomb of Joseph” in the center of Nablus, [actually on its southern fringe] which would turn the city into a second Hebron. The Israeli army chauffeurs the settlers there in armored vehicles, so they can “pray” there. [and Arabs desecrated it, destroyed it and killed IDF soldiers inside])

...Which reminds me of another prophecy by Yeshayahu Leibowitz on Jericho. The settlers, he said, would sanctify the tomb of Rahab the Harlot in Jericho. This heroine of the Bible (Joshua 2), the whore who betrayed her city and helped the invaders to conquer it and murder all the other inhabitants, is in good company with the settlers.

NO NEED to point out that the worship of these holy places is manifestly absurd. There is not a single grave in the country that can be seriously identified with any Biblical figure, real or imagined. Most holy graves are those of local Arab Sheikhs, who, because of their righteousness [??? so Arab holy sites are okay?], were believed to be able to intercede with Allah. The location of most holy sites, including the Christian Holy Sepulcher, is much in doubt, to say the least.

That is also true for the two sites where bloody riots have lately broken out: the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem and the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

...Joint love for the country, including all its periods and sites, holy and unholy, could serve as a spiritual basis for peace and reconciliation. Even now I hope for the day when schoolchildren in both states, Israel and Palestine, will learn the annals of this country in all its periods, and not just Jewish history here and Muslim history there. The wonderful richness of this country’s history, from the time of the Canaanites to this day, could create a strong bond.

However, the intentions of Netanyahu and his settlers are quite the opposite: to misuse history as an instrument of occupation, and to build settlements around the harlot’s grave.

Woe.

Biden's Right - I Don't Like It

Biden told a pro-Israel lobby that

"Israel has to work toward a two-state solution. You're not going to like my saying this but not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement."

Despite the garbled syntax, I still don't like it.

As for "freedom of movement", see this.

P.S.

And I do not like this:

President Obama also reportedly told the king that he wants the United Nations flag raised over holy sites in eastern Jerusalem, where the PA would have total sovereignty under the Saudi plan.