Comments on: Passively described aggression

By: Gary Rosen

Gary Rosen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:16:27 +0000

” last time the city was under Muslim control Muslims from Israel and Jews from anywhere were forbidden to enter it ”

Not to mention the Arabs used Jewish holy sites as garbage dumps and latrines.

By: Michael Lonie

Michael Lonie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:52:27 +0000

The Palestinian Arabs continually incite violence through bogus claims of Jewish plots against the mosques at the Temple Mount. This goes all the ay back to the 1921 riots. The ironic point is that the only people endangering them are the Arabs. The Waqf, or foundation, that oversees the mosques has been conducting illegal excavations under them for years. The Israel Antiquities Authority can’t get them to stop, although the place is a world heritage site so what the Arabs are doing violates international law as well as Israel municipal law. And the Israel govenment has been too afraid of the Arab and world reaction if it used force to stop the criminal actions of the Waqf to actually do anything about it. These excavations are undermining the foundations of the Temple Mount. A strong hundred year rain, or even less, might well see the whole thing collapse in a landslide. Israel will be blamed, of course, for sabotage carried out by the Arabs.

The reason they are destroying the place in this manner is that the Arabs are terrified that if any real excavations were ever carried out there they would confirm the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and to Jerusalem. So the Arabs are destroying the evidence before it can be seen. From their point of view this fear is well founded. In spoil heaps from these diggings people have found artifacts, including pottery from pre-Exilic times and Jewish religious artifacts, such as parts of menorahs. Because they were not excavated in a scientific manner the artifacts lose much of their historical value, but they are there.

As usual the Palis violate international law and nobody pays any attention.

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:20:41 +0000

Like a lot of things, zee, it only becomes a problem if the Israelis do it. As you point out, last time the city was under Muslim control Muslims from Israel and Jews from anywhere were forbidden to enter it and yet…somehow..the world managed to deal with it. For that matter, a Palestinian state could have been declared without dealing with Israel but a Palestinian state didn’t seem a pressing issue.

On the other hand, part of what is politely termed the Palestinian narrative is fact have no connection to this particular plot of ground. You’d think that acknowledging that Jews do might be a sign that they’re ready to negotiate in good faith…it’s not a lot to ask one would think. But somehow it’s Israeli intransigence that’s the problem.

By: zee

zee — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:59:27 +0000

“And of course the Jordanian doesn’t acknowledge that when his country ruled the Old City, Jews were forbidden from visiting their holy site!”

They also don’t acknowledge the fact that visiting Jerusalem wasn’t a priority for muslims at the time. No Saudi rulers ever visited for example. And King Hussein, who claimed direct descent from Mohammed, had his capital in Amman, not Jerusalem.