2001-07-27: Temple denial |
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By
Donald H. Harrison
Jerusalem (special) -- As Tisha B'Av approaches this Sunday, debate over the history of the Temple Mount is leading to calls for militancy by the religious settler movement and to political action by some U.S. Congressmen. Tisha B'Av commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples
in=
Some Palestinians are arguing, in essence, that there never was a first or second Jewish temple on the mount, and that therefore Jews have no legitimate interest in the area which today is the site of two important Islamic shrines: The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. Some in the Arab propaganda effort even go so far as to say that the Kotel, or Western Wall--the holiest shrine in Jerusalem--has no connection to the Jewish people. In response, the Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza on Wednesday,=
This is a departure from Orthodox custom of not visiting the Temple
Mount lest Jews, by accident, tread over the area where the "Holy of Holies"
of
However, the Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza said it would prepare a map of the Mount to indicate areas which must be avoided to comply with the halakha, or religious law. Jewish concern over the future of the Temple Mount has been exacerbated not=only by the Temple denial movement, but also by some mysterious digging and construction work occurring there under the authority of the Islamic Waqf. Confirmation that a large power saw was being used to cut through rocks on the Temple Mount was provided a Knesset committee last week by Niso Shaham, Israel' s police commander for the Old City. =20 Previously photographs taken from a helicopter by the Committee for the Prevention and the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount had showed the saw as well as sawed off stones. Arabic language newspapers meanwhile have referred to projects on the Temple Mount, including the cleaning of cisterns, which have attracted hundreds of volunteers. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., earlier this month sent letters to the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell calling for an investigation into
large sca=
He said police reports and photographs confirm the Waqf permitted construction
crews to indiscriminately use jack hammers, tractors, stone cutters and
other heavy machinery in digging a massive hole more than 50 meters long,
The Los Angeles Democrat noted that no archaeologists were allowed to oversee the excavation and the Israeli Antiquities Authority has been denied access to inspect the site since October 2000. Waxman said a reason for suspicion is that "There is already an escalating
trend of Arab leaders endorsing Holocaust denial. The Waqf appears
to be participating in a calculated assault on Jewish heritage, Jewish
history and
Both Waxman and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., likened the digging on the
Temple M=
Cantor on Thursday, July 19, introduced legislation calling for a cessation
The congressman said the measure is intended to ensure that important
sites in the Holy Land "remain open and remain preserved in good condition
with
Joined at a news conference by Congressmen Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) and
Mike
After Israel gained control of the Old City of Jerusalem in the 1967
Six-
In the aftermath of the negotiations surrounding the Oslo Accords, Chairman
Yasser Arafat "took control of the Waqf, bringing about a change in the
policy of free access for all religions on the Temple Mount," Cantor told
a
Arafat replaced Jordanian-affiliated clergymen and officials and named Mufti Ikirima Sabri as the chief Muslim administrator, Cantor said. "Sabri, known for his anti-Semitic and anti-American views, has since declared that the Jews have no right to the Temple Mount. "More recently, Arafat has denied Jewish and Christian worshipers access
to the historic Temple Mount and has restricted media from visiting the
site,"
"Beginning in early 1998, Arafat's Waqf has permitted the large-scale
bulldozing and destruction of the Temple Mount antiquities. Thousands of
tons
UCSD Professor
David Noel Freedman, one of the world's foremost experts on=
"I don't think any serious person has ever questioned that is the area where the Temple stood," Freedman told HERITAGE in a telephone interview last week. "There is a continuous history, and excavations have never shown anything to disprove that. The modern debate is purely political. It has nothing to do with serious scholarship." Freedman, who is the editor-in-chief of the Anchor Bible Project as
well as
"They understood it was sacred space," Freedman said. Freedman said when the Muslims conquered Jerusalem, the city's predominant=
population was Christian. "Jews weren't involved, weren't consulted.
Freedman said the Dome of the Rock was the fourth major religious edifice
built on the Temple Mount. After the First and Second Temples were
destroyed the Roman emperor Hadrian apparently built a temple there to
the Roman god
He said the Dome of the Rock is "a very distinctive kind of monument;
it is not a mosque. The Dome of the Rock is a memorial to a great
ancestral her=
"The connection with Abraham is quite deliberate," said Freedman. "Most
things you find in the Koran derive from Hebrew scriptures." He said because
the prophet Mohammed was illiterate, "his understanding of Hebrew Scriptures
was based upon stories told to him by Jews and Christians. In the
K=
Jewish tradition holds that King Solomon built the First Temple on Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham was prevented by God from carrying out His previous command to sacrifice Isaac. |