Why Jerusalem? Israel

Cairo, August 6, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - Israel's plan to annex the whole of Jerusalem, part of its efforts at bolstering its international legitimacy, is being carried out without regard for legal, moral or historical considerations, writes Dan Lieberman* in occupied Jerusalem. Three huge granite stones rest comfortably on the top of Midbar Sinai Street in Givat Havatzim, Jerusalem's northernmost district. Cut to specification, the imposing stones represent one of several preparations by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement to erect a Third Temple on the Haram Al-Sharif Temple Mount.

Since the Islamic Waqf owns and controls all the property on the Haram Al-Sharif, by what means can these stones be transferred to the Temple Mount and how can a temple be constructed there? Not by any legal means.

The stones are a provocation, which the Israel government refuses to halt. Neglect and passivity have led to a belief that an eventual Muslim reaction to the increasing provocations will give Israel an excuse to seize total control of the Holy Basin -- the properties that Israel intends to incorporate into a greater Jerusalem.

For decades, the Israeli authorities have spoken of a united Jerusalem -- suggesting a spiritual quality to their message -- as if Israel wanted the home of the three monotheistic faiths to be solid and stable. By being guided from one central authority, a united Jerusalem would also offer the preservation of a common and ancient heritage.

However, by stressing the word "united", Israel disguises the lack of a supporting and verifiable historical narrative that could bolster its thrust to incorporate all of an artificially created Greater Jerusalem within its boundaries. Coupled with inconsistencies and contradictions, Israel's eagerness to create a Greater Jerusalem under its total control becomes suspect. The intensive concentration on a "united" Jerusalem reveals a hidden agenda that debases Jerusalem's religious ingathering and heightens division, hatred and strife.

Examine the Holy Basin. The Holy Basin contains well- marked Christian and Muslim institutions and holy places that have had historical placement for millennia. Although people of the Jewish faith had a major presence in Jerusalem during the centuries of Biblical Jerusalem, which included rule by King Hezekiah and control by the Hasmonean dynasties, their control and presence were interrupted for two millennia.

Extensive commentary has enabled these 2000 years of lack of control and presence to seem as if they never happened and that today is only a short time from the years of Hezekiah. Some remains of Jewish dwellings and ritual baths can be found, but few if any major Jewish monuments, buildings or institutions from the Biblical era exist in the "Old City" of today's Jerusalem. The often-cited Western Wall is the supporting wall for Herod's platform and is not directly related to the Second Temple. No remains of the Jewish Temple have been located in Jerusalem -- not even a rock.

According to the religious writer Karen Armstrong, Jerusalem Jews did not pray at the Western Wall until the Mamluks allowed them to move their congregations from a dangerous Mount of Olives and pray daily at the Wall in the 15th century. At that time she estimates that there may have been no more than 70 Jewish families in Jerusalem. After the Ottomans replaced the Mamluks, Suleiman the Magnificent issued a formal edict in the 16th century that permitted Jews to have a place of prayer at the Western Wall.