UNESCO says no Jewish history on Temple Mount; Hebron and Bethlehem 'Integral part of Palestine' - http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/UNESCO-says-no-Jewish-history-on-Temple-Mount-Hebron-and-Bethlehem-Integral-part-of-Palestine-451517#xtor=EPR-1-[Newsletter]
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Association, announced a number of resolutions just before the weekend started.
One, submitted by the Russian Federation, called for defining UNESCO's role in safeguarding and preserving Palmyra and other Syrian World Heritage sites. Another was about "Enhancing UNESCO's contributions to promote a culture of mutual respect and tolerance."
A third was simply entitled "Occupied Palestine" and addressed the Jerusalem Old City hotspot that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram Al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. Except that the Jewish link to the site, considered the holiest place for Jews, went unmentioned.
In the context of Jerusalem's Old City, the document refers to Israel solely as "the occupying power" and refers to the site itself, the world famous esplanade flanked by the Western Wall - considered by many experts to be the last existing retaining wall of the mount that once held the ancient Jewish temples - only by its Islamic moniker.
The decision refers to the plaza fronting the Western Wall only in quotation marks, except when using one of its Arabic names, Al-Buraq, a reference to the Prophet Mohammed's ascent to heaven.
The Israeli government responded with fury.
"This is yet another absurd UN decision," an incandescent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released late on Saturday. "UNESCO ignores the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount, where the two temples stood for a thousand years and to which every Jew in the world has prayed for thousands of years. The UN is rewriting a basic part of human history and has again proven that there is no low to which it will not stoop."
Carmel Shama Hacohen, Israel's representative to UNESCO, that has its seat in Paris, issued a press release declaring that "even if UNESCO passes dozens of resolutions, and decides to continue passing thousands more, Jerusalem will always remain as part of the capital of Israel and the Jewish people."
On Saturday night, addressing Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan, the nations which presented the resolution, Shama Hacohen averred that, "As you continue on this path of incitement, lies and terror you will be sending UNESCO down a path towards irrelevance."
The Jordan Times reveled: "Jordan triumphant in 'diplomatic showdown' over Jerusalem at UNESCO."
Jews are permitted to visit the site at pre-arranged times, but under international agreements signed in 1967, when Israel captured the area from Jordan in the 1967 war, Jewish worship is banned.
Without citing specifics, the resolution also condemned Israel for "planting fake Jewish graves in other spaces of the Muslim cemeteries" and for "the continued conversion of many Islamic and Byzantine remains into the so-called Jewish ritual baths or into Jewish prayer places."
Among the states supporting the decision were Argentina, France, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, India and Russia, several of which enjoys ostensibly warm relations Israel.
A UNESCO spokesman declined to comment on the decision.
The Israeli government also declined to comment beyond the statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.
The resolution, considered a victory for anti-Israel hard-liners, also affirms that Hebron, a city that according to a most histories has a 3000-year history of Jewish life, and Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, are "are an integral part of Palestine."
Referencing "ongoing Israeli illegal excavations, works, construction of private roads for settlers and a separation wall inside the Old City of Al-Khalīl/Hebron, that harmfully affect the integrity of the site, and the subsequent denial of freedom of movement and freedom of access to places of worship," UNESCO also urged "Israel, the occupying Power, to end these violations in compliance with provisions of relevant UNESCO conventions, resolutions and decisions."
This resolution is not the first attempt to designate anew holy sites in what may be the most contested spot in the Middle East.
In October, 2015, facing the rejection of Russia, China and even Cuba, that usually joins anti-Israel initiatives, the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO withdrew a proposed resolution that would have defined the Western Wall itself as an "integral part" of the compound holy to Muslims.
Anwar Ben Badis, a professor of Arabic and Aramaic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Al-Quds University, who often leads tours of the esplanade, said the decision was "unequivocally political, not legal or binding in any way, but at attempt to support and further the Palestinian struggle."
Speaking with The Media Line, Ben Badis said he believes "that every decision provides international support to everything the Palestinians are doing to free Al-Aqsa and all of Palestine."
Israeli Arab MK to Palestinians: We must keep Jews off Temple Mount 'in any way possible' - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israeli-Arab-MK-Zahalka-Palestinians-must-keep-Jews-off-Temple-Mount-in-any-way-possible-451235
A day after he returned from a two-month suspension from the Knesset, Israeli Arab MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint List) made a call to the Palestinians to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount complex "in any way possible."
"In light of the daily increase of (Jewish) ascent to the Aksa Mosque, it is up to us to stop it in any way possible," he told the Palestinian site Dunya al-Watan on Wednesday, ahead of next week's Passover holiday in which Jews flock to Jerusalem's holy sites.
In his remarks, Zahalka, who leads the Balad party in the four-party Joint List alliance, said "the Palestinian people paid the price of 4,000 deaths in the second intifada in the year 2000."
"Our people have the right to the mosque, and we must protect it with all of our power. The Palestinian nation is the guardian of the mosque," he said in the interview published Thursday.
Zahalka charged that the continuation of the alleged uptick of Jewish visits to the site would ignite the next collective Palestinian uprising against Israel.
He added that "the increase in Jews who go up will cause the third intifada to break out and continue throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem depending on which Palestinian organizations join in the fighting."
The Israeli Arab lawmaker then appeared to make a veiled call for a more organized, wide-spread Palestinian retaliation against the Jewish state, saying: "The question is whether the organizations will join the national struggle and operate on behalf of the entire homeland, or will they leave the struggle in the hands of youth who carry out lone terrorist attacks."
"Israel continues its 100-year-old colonial Zionist project," he charged, adding that Israel "is not acting like a country but rather as Zionist settlement organizations that try to besiege the Arabs, expropriating their land and denying them their livelihood."
Ahead of the Passover holiday beginning on April 22, Israel has reassured Jordan and the Palestinian Authority that it is committed to upholding the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Israeli spokespeople are also relaying a similar message in the Arab media and on Arabic social media sites, and it has also been made clear that - with the exception of government ministers and both Jewish and Arab Mks - there are currently no limitations on access to the Temple Mount.
The messages come amid concern in Jerusalem that, as has happened frequently in the past, Jewish visits to the site on the Jewish festivals will trigger Palestinian violence. Palestinian leaders in recent days have stepped up warnings against "provocations" by Jews visiting the Temple Mount.
According to government officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of security officials last week to discuss the issue.
Passover Sacrifice to be reenacted facing Temple Mount next week - http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210824#.Vw-454-cE2x
MKs, leading rabbis and other public figures to attend event, as public interest in reviving ancient practice grows.
The public reenactment of the Passover Sacrifice, which has become a popular spring-time event over the past few years, will be getting closer to the actual site of the Temple Mount next week.
This year's reenactment may prove to be an even more festive event than ever, as many new participants are planning to arrive from all parts of the country.
The past Paschal Reenactments were held in a school courtyard which became more cramped each year due to the growing popularity of the important event. For this reason the organizers decided to move the event this year to the more spacious location of Mitzpeh Beit Orot, between Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives, near Emek Tzurim, which faces Judaism's holiest and most relevant site for the occasion, the Temple Mount.
The reenactment will take place next Monday, just four days before the prescribed time of the Paschal Offering. Event organizers say they want to offer a taste of an exciting, authentic Jewish experience, "with its smells, sounds, and colors that have been lost to us these 2000 years, and to thus arouse a longing to renew this Temple ritual in our day."
Numerous rabbis and public figures will be attending. Among them is the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Aryeh Shtern, who at last year's reenactment expressed his great amazement at the public's desire to reinstate the Paschal Sacrifice, which in his words was, "much greater than he expected." Also attending will be several Members of Knesset and the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Dov Kalmanovitch.
The ancient ritual is being revived this year with the help of the cutting-edge HeadStart Campaign Website under the name Passover Reenactment, which is proving to finance the event through the public's support. In its first week alone, the campaign became listed as one of the website's most popular causes, and it is enjoying a wave of pledged support that has covered about two thirds of the project's goal.
This year the event will begin with a rabbinical round table debate about "how much we should strive in our day to renew the Temple service with its sacrifices, if at all." Following will be Torah classes given by rabbis and rashei yeshivot, including Rabbis Menachem Borstein, Uri Shreki, Menachem Makover, Benayahu Bruner, and Rabbi Yitzhak Yavetz , graduate of the Ponivitch Yeshiva.
During all hours of the panel discussions and Torah lessons there will be children's activities such as craft tables, sheep petting, and an inflatable playground available.
Finally, there will be a procession with the sheep simulating the Passover pilgrimage to the Temple Mount as in the time of the Holy Temple, culminating in an exact reenactment of the Paschal Sacrifice, including the slaughtering of a lamb and the ritual offering of its blood and fats on a model altar by actual Cohanim dressed in authentic priestly garments.
Performer Mordechai Yitzhar and his band will be on hand to sing the Hallel accompanied by silver trumpets, just as was the practice in the days of the Temple.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.