|
| Week ending Shabbat, February 17, 2007 |
29 Shevat, 5767 |
|
Riots Continue Over Temple Mount Ramp Construction
The week long riots (see last week's report) have continued over the construction of a ramp leading to the Mugrabi Gate (photo left-note that the work [bottom left] is far removed from all mosques). On Sunday rioting Moslems targeted tourists as they threw rocks at a bus carrying Canadians. The Canadian tourists escaped unharmed after police rushed to the scene to escort the bus to safety. The bus was damaged by the rocks.
The previous Friday security forces stormed the Temple Mount to disperse Moslems violently protesting the construction work at the Mugrabi Gate. Arab teenagers from East Jerusalem set fire to garbage bins and threw stones at Israeli police while burning an Israeli flag. Jerusalem police chief Ilan Franco said Saturday events pointed to Hamas as instigator of events. Some 2,700 police had been stationed throughout Jerusalem Friday in an effort to maintain order in advance of and following Islamic prayers routinely held in the mosques on the Temple Mount. Entrance to the Mount was restricted to exclusively Moslem men over the age of forty-five with Israeli identity cards and Israeli Moslem women. Nevertheless, protests broke out immediately following Friday prayers when hundreds of Moslem worshippers began throwing rocks at police officers securing the area. Fifteen police officers sustained light injuries. The rock-throwers took refuge in the al-Aqsa Mosque and continued to throw stones. Two-hundred police officers fired stun grenades and used batons to disperse protesters. Several demonstrators were injured and seventeen were arrested. Jews praying at the Western Wall were evacuated to avoid being hit by stones from the Temple Mount. The demonstrators left the mosque after an agreement with the police was brokered by MK Talab El-Sana.
Sunday night Mayor Uri Lupolianski (photo left) announced that completion of the overhead walkway will be postponed to allow opponents - i.e., Arabs - to file formal objections to the construction work. To that end, the city planning committee will provide a complete and organized urban construction plan for the bridge and environs. Mayor Lupolianski reached his decision to suspend bridge construction in coordination with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places. The two consulted Muslim religious leaders and Arab residents of Jerusalem to hear their views on the new Rambam Gate Bridge. The mayor said he also conferred with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, the planning authorities of the Jerusalem Municipality and the city engineer in making his decision. Even though the suspension of the work will have no immediate practical effect (the preparatory archaeological excavations will continue for the next eight months), the mayor's widely-publicized decision was widely seen as a cave-in to Arab violence, threats and incitement.
Minister of Knesset (MK) Aryeh Eldad, of the National Union party (photo left), blasted the mayor's decision, "This country is simply a country of surrender, and at this rate, I don't know where we will be in five to ten years." Asked if possibly Israel should not have started the Rambam Gate work, Eldad responded sarcastically, "Perhaps we never should have returned to this land in the first place! But we did, because we know it is our land, and it is not the Arabs', and the same is true with Jerusalem."
Rabbi Daniel Shilo, spokesman for the Yesha Rabbis Council said that this decision is "just another in a series of surrenders that strengthen the Arab lies that Jerusalem does not belong to the Jews. It began when Moshe Dayan gave the Waqf control of the Temple Mount after the Six Day War, and continues today." "If it would have been done that way from the beginning," Rabbi Shilo said, "then it would have been acceptable and normal. But it's clear that it was merely done in surrender to Arab pressure and terror, and this merely strengthens their resolve and their brazenness and their murderous tendencies regarding our presence in Israel." "The mayor is apparently of the school of thought that says that we must anger the goyim as little as possible, and that we must live only inasmuch as they allow us. But we are in the Land of Israel and the State of Israel, and the time has come to fulfill that which the [Zionists] always said, that we must no longer be Diaspora-oriented, but to walk upright in our Land." The publication of the bridge plans and the opportunity given to residents to file formal complaints is intended to combat the rumors promoted by Islamic leaders that the construction is part of an "assault on Al-Aksa mosque." Such false reports have led to violence inside Jerusalem, attacks on Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall, and condemnations of Israel throughout the Muslim world. The Israeli Antiquities Authority, which is conducting a dig accompanying the bridge construction, will not halt its work. The dig, required by law at any major construction in the ancient city of Jerusalem, is meant to uncover and salvage any antiquities that may otherwise have been covered or destroyed by the construction work. Already the site has uncovered ruins from the Muslim Umayyad (800-900 CE), Christian Byzantine (400-800 CE), and Jewish Herodian (100 BCE through 100 CE) periods.
Tuesday Sheikh Raad Salah (photo left) and four of his followers were charged for their behavior during one of the protests that took place the previous week. They were accused of attacking police officers as they tried to force their way into the site where excavations and repair work were being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The indictment filed at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court charged that the Muslim cleric had "instructed the disturbers to sit on the road and refuse to leave." Salah was also caught on tape spitting in a Border Guard police officer's face and cursing him. "You are racists and murderers, and have no honor," Salah apparently said. Police asked the court to extend a restraining order against the five Muslim protestors, barring them from approaching the walls of the Old City at a distance of 150 meters or closer for the next 60 days. Muslim leaders in Israel, including several Arab Knesset Members and Islamic clerics in surrounding Arab countries, called on worshippers to protest the construction, which they claim will damage the al-Aksa mosque located 60 meters from the site. See last week's report.
As a result of all the turmoil you may now view the archaeological site from a live camera everyday but the Shabbat (Sabbath: from sundown Friday evening until sundown Saturday - in Israel).
In Response, the Temple Mount Faithful Identify Abuse and Destruction of Artifacts
Recent photographs taken along the eastern wall of the Temple Mount reveal piles of ancient stones from various periods, some are decorated and dressed stones, and some are broken columns. Now they are mixed in with recent waste and building materials. The findings are spread around large areas of the eastern wall of the Mount, in the area of Solomon's Stables and the Eastern (Golden) Gate. On Thursday the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement publicized the photographs after receiving copies of the photos. The organization claims that some of the stones are remains from the Second Temple itself. The representing attorney for the movement, Naftali Wurzberger, has sent letters to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Jerusalem District Police Chief Ilan Franco demanding an immediate investigation and legal action against those responsible "for the destructive activities at the site."
Dr. Eilat Mazar, one of the leaders of the Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, said that similar piles have been lying along the eastern wall, particularly near Solomon's Stables, for some time but that the photos are of new material, ancient stones that had not been there previously. She went on to say that the photos clearly show ancient stones from various periods that are of great significance and which have been thrown together haphazardly. She emphasized that a High Court of Justice ruling explicitly prohibits any changes to the stones at the site without prior archaeological examination, and demanded Antiquities Authority supervision of the Temple Mount.
Israel Successfully Launches Arrow Missile
Sunday night Israel successfully launched its Arrow anti-missile system in its first night test. The system is critical to national security because it is capable of intercepting Iranian nuclear weapons. Defense officials said the test was held less than two weeks after Syria tested an advanced model of its Scud missile. They said it prepares them for being able to "meet future threats to the State of Israel." This is Israel's fifteenth test of the Arrow. The Israeli Air Force had not fired one previously since December 2005. Two Arrow batteries were tracked with the Patriot battery. The Defense Ministry said "the purpose of the test was to study the improved operational capabilities of the system, which include expansion of the intercept envelope against future targets that might threaten Israel. In this trial the system was examined in a combined operational configuration of two batteries that were at a geographical distance, while taking into consideration lessons learned in the past. The interceptor, manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries and Boeing, was launched at night, simulating an operational scenario in all its components."
Syria Claims To Have Missing Israeli
According to and announcement Tuesday by the Resistance Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights an Israeli soldier missing for nearly ten years (since August 1997) is being held in Syria. The authenticity of the statement is still unclear. Guy Hever (photo left) went missing on August 17, 1997 and was presumed kidnapped on the northern border. His mother, Rina, stated: "I know he's being held in Syria, I've been certain of this for the last 10 years, and kept saying it. There was no other option. He disappeared near the Syrian border." A security official identified that the defense establishment was looking into the report. An Israeli Defense Force (IDF) official said the report would be examined, as was all information that has arisen in the past regarding the soldier's whereabouts. Officials noted that in that past various other groups claimed responsibility for his kidnapping, and thus the matter should be considered cautiously until reliable and accurate information is acquired.
Petition to Reopen Joseph's Tomb
On Thursday, thirty-five Knesset members from various political factions called on the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to renew civilian access to the tomb of the Biblical Joseph in Shechem. The site, where Jews have gathered for prayer over many generations, has been closed to visitors for the past three years due to the dangers posed by Arab terrorists in the region. In a letter to IDF Central Command Officer Major General Yair Naveh, the parliamentarians requested that the military authorities reopen Joseph's Tomb to Jewish visitors, taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure secure access.
The tomb was first abandoned by IDF forces in 2000, at the order of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, when it came under intense attack by "Palestinian" Authority (PA) militiamen and police at the start of what became known as the Oslo War. IDF soldier Medhat Yusef died during the PA siege on the compound. Upon the Israeli withdrawal, Arabs swarmed the building, destroying or pilfering whatever was to be found there. In the major counter-terrorist military operation dubbed Defensive Shield, in May 2002, IDF forces returned to Shechem and to Joseph's Tomb. The military then organized monthly trips to the tomb, secured by IDF forces. The visits, which were arranged for midnight, regularly drew about 800 people. The threat of Arab terrorist attack on Jewish pilgrims to the tomb in the past three years, however, has led the local IDF commander to suspend the visits.
Tour the Biblical Heartland of Israel
The Tzemach Institute has joined forces with the Christian Friends Of Israeli Communities (CFOIC) in planning a special tour of the heartland of biblical Israel. Join us as we explore Israel from a genuine Biblical Zionists perspective. Meet the people who are continuing the Biblical narrative in the Land today. See for yourself how ancient prophesies are being fulfilled. Discover how you too can participate in the ongoing process of Biblical Redemption. Join us for an opportunity of a lifetime, to see the real Israel from the viewpoint of those who are living the Bible today. The experience will change your life. The tour has been coordinated with Sondra Baras of CFOIC and will be guided by Associate Pastor Jon Klein [pictured left].
More information | Questions
|
Tzemach News Service [TNS] is a ministry of: Tzemach Institute for Biblical Studies
This week's sources: Arutz Sheva, Haaretz, Israel National Radio, Israel Today, Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, Voice of Israel Radio, Ynet News.
| | |
