Temple Mount Dig – The Truth
As Arabs or maybe Muslims in general, we were raised in a community and around media that depicts the Jews and anything to do with them out loud and in public. Stories and urban legends of evil plots and unwritten planned agendas of wiping out the Arab race or destroying the Aqsa Mosque were going around even before the 1950s.
I was particularly interested in the recent fiasco of the construction/excavation work near the Temple Mount and the ongoing drama about it being an ‘evil plot” to destroy the base structure of AlAqsa Mosque. Stories of clashes and news of the injured soon float around news agencies (Source).
Condemnations were being fired left and right, Islamic Clerics authorities and governments were going about doing what they do best. Condemn and show grief and sorrow for what is being done to the holy grounds, and again the byproduct of either turning a blind eye to the riots and violence of the people.
Has anybody really taken the initiative to read behind the headlines on this? Has anyone invested as little as 2 minutes around Google to investigate the so called “planned damage the golden-capped Dome of the Rock shrine and the Al Aqsa Mosque”?
For those out there interested, below is a clip explaining the construction work being carried on of replacing an access ramp that collapsed three years ago, for the benefit and safety of all visitors, 60 yards away from the Mosque.
On the other side, I must admit the way the Israeli government handled the issue was absolutely superb and transparent. 24/7 Webcams were put in place to live broadcast to the world all reconstruction/digging/excavation action on the disputed construction land (Source) the Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish mayor on Monday ordered a review of construction outside a holy site (Source)
But no, we as Muslims once again decided its best to go out on the streets provoke riots and violence. Is it a desperate act of proving ones existence, or a hopeless measure aiming to change/stop the course of the reconstruction work? I sincerely believe that no one knows the answer to this.
I do understand the degree of sensitivity the issue holds both to Arabs, Muslims, Israelis and Jews for that matter, the fact stays, the way many found a way to provoke and excuse violence for this case is absolutely inexcusable and uncalled for.
Now it is true, I am an Arab, and you probably could call me Muslim as well. It could also be true that most of the times my writing is affected by these two facts, so I choose to quote someone else in reply instead. Below I quote two non-Arab correspondents portraying the scene for some non-Arab News Agency.
“The reason for the protest does not really have much to do with archaeology in fact. It is a protest about presence. The Palestinians and the wider Muslim world have an objection to anything the Israelis do that touches on the Haram.
Such work is seen as symbolising a threat to Palestinian and Muslim identity and a rallying point for Palestinians to express their desire for their own space, their own state.
In this atmosphere, the arguments of the archaeological academics do not carry much force.
[…..]
But it has not only been the Palestinians who have linked archaeology and politics.
Over recent years, Israelis have accused the Waqf of deliberately removing evidence of Jewish remains on the Haram/ Temple Mount and dumping them in rubbish fills.
Especially after 1967, the Israelis, among them the amateur archaeologist (and illegal hoarder) Moshe Dayan himself, made a concerted effort to dig into history to provide evidence that the Jews had been there and had a right to be there still.
[…]
But in Jerusalem, you cannot “just dig”. There, every stone counts.”
(In Jerusalem archaeology is politics), By Paul Reynolds
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6347077.stm
“But it is not just a ramp. Yesterday I stood inside the Old City as Palestinian youths and Israeli police squared up to one another.
[….]
The reason my Israeli colleague had the reaction he did is because for Israeli Jews the Old City is a natural integral part of their country, so why shouldn’t they carry out repair work?
[…]
As far as Palestinians are concerned, and to be fair most of the world, the Old City – which lies in East Jerusalem – is occupied territory.
So where Israelis see an improvement project, Palestinians see it as yet another way of cementing Jewish rule over the city.
[….]
I always feel a bit awkward at these moments. Here am I, a 34-year-old male, wandering through police lines at will, while Palestinian men my age are told where they can and can’t go.
[….]
There is anger here, and around the Muslim world. But it is not about two diggers – one yellow and one red.
It is, as one Israeli commentator said, about who has sovereignty over this city – Israel or the Palestinians. And for both, it is a matter of life and death.
(Deep tension over Jerusalem holy site), By Matthew Price
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6349177.stm
@anon:
I can easily quote you other supposedly “neutral” sources that say the exact opposite. Since I am not there and there is no way for me to pass a judgment on the situation other than to look at pictures or news pieces of the debacle. Do look at the following Pictures to give you a clear view of the distance of the excavation site from the Mosque (here) to at least prove the myth of the digging affecting the base of the AlAqsa Mosque wrong.
Now if it was as you quoted above an act of proving ones existence and such, there is really very little to debate about that.
Lets agree on the following facts to start with:
• The work carried out by Israeli professional authorities is completely transparent, which is why the excavations are open to the press.
• All activities are being carried out in a location that is under Israeli sovereignty in an area under the responsibility of the Jerusalem municipality and the Government of Israel.
• The new bridge and the Mugrabi Ramp are located entirely outside of the Temple Mount complex and are not part of it.
• The aim of this process is to replace the old ramp which collapsed due to natural causes.
• Building the new bridge will not harm any religious feelings and/or interests.
• All operations are in cooperation with UN officials, Palestinian officials and other member of the international community and are completely transparent to them.
Now, since we still insist on the Jews being the “Evil Excavators” who are out there doing the digging right in the face of unarmed Palestinians protestors, It is only fair for us to take a look back in time.
- On 21 December 1997, just four days before Christmas, Muslim fenced in the area at the foot of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, declared it waqf land (a Muslim holy endowment), erected a large tent as a provisional mosque, and demanded the construction of a permanent mosque with a towering 86-meter minaret. – (More here)
- On October 7, 2000, after constant attacks by Palestinian mobs, the Jewish holy site of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus (Shechem) was sacked and burned, and later converted into a mosque. Five days later, the ancient Shalom Al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho was sacked and burned by Palestinians. (More here)
- In April 2002, Palestinian Tanzim gunmen from Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and controlled the site for weeks at gunpoint. (More here)
It’s a war my friend, there’s no such thing as who started what and when, but instead an ongoing stream of anger, violence, propaganda and lots of bloodshed.
Well, I never said I quoted a neutral source. You tried to imply that it was Arabs/Muslims and only Arabs/Muslims complaining incomprehensibly about the digging. I only replied trying to say, no, it is not that, and it is for sure shallow to think of it that way.
I did not for once doubt that you could get some other non-Arab/non-Muslims sources saying the opposite, and as matter of fact I was just about to actually say that, but I did not really want to influence the reply with any “bias” of my Arab/Muslim side.
I only meant for you to see that nothing is plain black and white, it is evident in your blog you read a lot of news, but it is always important to read both sides of the story, and here I did not even mean the Palestinian side of it, but somewhere a little, just a little, bit away from New York Times, CNN and the Israeli media.
I wonder why you are so astonished and rather annoyed by Arab/Muslim prejudice towards “Jews”, and you are not yet surprised that you, yourself apply such prejudice referring to Arabs/Muslims.
I have no idea where your bullet points come into context as a reply to what I said earlier. You want to firmly prove the digging is good? Suppose we agreed on this part, that is, still, not all.
The next set of historical events you list seem to be a very short memory and neglecting of a lot. Again, I am not sure why they are there or what message you are trying to convey. As there was a reference to “us” insisting on Jews being “evil extractors”, then assumed it was to prove otherwise.
The fight over Jerusalem started in the 1800s, not in 1997. A lot more happened from both sides than the three events you listed.
As for your last paragraph, then I have to admit I liked that one.
“It’s a war my friend, there’s no such thing as who started what and when, but instead an ongoing stream of anger, violence, propaganda and lots of bloodshed.”
Exactly, you cannot dictate people are not angered by “digging” near their long beloved mosque. To them, this is their place, and no one but themselves is to dig there.
Try bringing a bunch of Palestinians and let them dig anywhere in Tel-Aviv, Eilat or any other Israeli city. I would love to see what would be making news. Even if those were digging for gold right beneath the surface, do you expect the inhabitant of the city to like that let alone “support” it? And if cameras were installed, would that make it better?
There is bigger picture here, bigger than recorded videos of the digging, sites showing how stupid a myth everything is, and how “safe” Al-Aqsa is/would be. There is so much history that people can see would repeat itself. A lot more than the past 10 years.
@Anon:
The whole point of the post above was to prove that the violence was uncalled for, by at least debunking the myth that the excavation works will damage the “bases” of the AlAqsa Mosque, and the arabs/Muslims taking this as an excuse for more violence.
As for reading both sides of the story, you see, it’s really hard not to read both sides of the story. I’m sitting here exposed to every aspect of our poor planned weak propaganda campaign starting from our local newspapers, news bulletins on both the radio and the TV in addition to my favorite jum3a prayer Imam of the mosque near by who came up with very new and I must admit creative curses to add to his weekly du’aa.
None of the calls were anywhere near convincing, listing practically no reason for the demonstrations and riots (other than threat to the mosque structure). I had to read line after line of emotional buildup and calls for freeing Palestine and AlAqsa Mosque from the dirty hands of the evil Joooos.
Now if you agree that the digging can in fact be for the good of mosque, noting that similar digging activities were carried out at 1996 with more or less the same amount of cries and nags about it (more here). If we can agree that on the digging will have no affect on the mosque, it is really all I wanted to say.
As for historical events I noted, they are all occasions where we Muslims/ Arabs /Palestinians/ Jihadis destructed or attacked sacred Jewish structures. I only wanted to point out that the other side conducted similar acts (maybe not in the same proportions 6ab3an, but that’s a different story).
You ask if whether or not similar acts were carried away by Palestinians will cause the same results by the Israelis, which is very probable, but doesn’t justify any of this. At all.
Dear Maskati,
So you take their words for granted? why would you believe what they bulshit in the media. “This will be open to the whole world to watch what we doin” Where? i didnt see anything apart from this clip!
My friend Maskati, i noticed something in your blog (most of the times) you want to show that you are the intelligent guy and those people (dogs) barking out there know nothing but grudge against jews.
@Anon-4-ever:
This is a live link for the broadcast:
http://www.webcam-index.com/webcams/222.html
I can’t be bothered to reply the rest of the nonsense you wrote. Let me know when you grow up enough to argue maturely.
The following may be the most interesting paragraph posted above. “I only meant for you to see that nothing is plain black and white, it is evident in your blog you read a lot of news, but it is always important to read both sides of the story, and here I did not even mean the Palestinian side of it, but somewhere a little, just a little, bit away from New York Times, CNN and the Israeli media.”
Your first sentence is meant to convey there are no absolutes and yet you declare it as an absolute. My response to that would be that while most events are blended into shades of grey, some black and white can be seen in this world. In the case of the Israeli/Arab conflict, while Israel has made strategic errors, she is absolutely in the right in declaring Israel’s undivided capital to be Jerusalem. It has always been of cardinal importance to the Jewish people. It has been our physical and spiritual capital for three thousand years. Muslims have a much shorter history there and while there are a few nice mosques sitting on the ruins of our Temple, Jerusalem does not have a particular role in the Muslim religion. Jerusalem, meanwhile, is key to the practice of Judaism and the fulfillment of our obligations to G-d. While I would prefer if Amman were the Palestinian capital I am not particularly bothered what Palestinians declare to be theirs as long as it is not stolen from another people. You can have the rest of Palestine. All those lands east of the Jordan River aught to have been enough in the 19th and 20th centuries as it should be today.
While seeing both sides is instructive it does not follow reason that both sides are equal. Understanding why a group holds its position does not legitimize their claims. For instance, the clip of that mullah on the Hannity Show where the host was asking questions and the mullah refused to answer. The mullah kept calling Hannity an instigator and a man not of peace who was making Jesus, Moses and Mohamed angry with him. I understand where that comes from. Hannity was asking the mullah questions that if he had answered truthfully would make Islam look bad to the audience. This is a form of insult.
I understand that the mullah could not, in good conscience, answer those questions. Even if the mullah feels justified in certain opinions, he know that admitting them to this particular audience would make Islam look bad. From his perspective, the fact that Hannity kept asking the same question made this mullah look bad to the audience and insulted him personally. This should have been understood by Hannity when he invited the mullah to speak. Perhaps he did understand this issue as the interview displayed explicitly a couple of important points; some things one cannot discuss without insulting one side or the other and in many issues there will be no agreement. We are in the midst of a war between cultures. In our culture we ask questions because we value transparency and an opportunity to verify the ideas. In other cultures transparency, and its threat to the ignorance on which one often bases his assumptions, is rude.
When one responds to problems with analysis then you stand a chance at fixing the problem, but you might also exaggerate the problem. One needs to be an expert intellect in order to properly evaluate and express ideas, their problems and solutions. Meanwhile, if a group does not value fine intellect or disinterested inquiry then the best way to deal with a problem is usually to pretend it doesn’t exist. This will at least keep the peace.
The problem we arrive at in the Israeli/Arab conflict is that we can use our intellect to arrive at a perfect solution but, as with nearly all perfections, we will have to compromise. The only solution that might be perfect for one side would actually destroy the other. In Israel they work at finding a compromise with the Palestinians. In Palestine people are growing up hearing that neither the current generation nor the next will see the solution to their problem. But, a perfect solution will come perhaps in the generation after that. So, which side is working for a fair solution and which is counting on a genocidal one?
It is CNN and the NY Times that keep pressing the point that compromise is needed. They usually press on Israel to do so. Its no skin off their backs. They keep pressing for solutions that compromise many things, including accurate information, deep analysis and justice. CNN and the NY Times are all playing a game with Israeli lives betting on a compromise that the Palestinians keep referring to as Saladin’s Peace. Arafat was notorious for expressing this strategy in many Arab language speeches. When I look at Al-Jazeera and the various news agencies coming from the Arab world I find the Palestinian wish for a perfect solution expressed with perfect clarity. So, if this is why you suggest that CNN and the NY Times are akin to Israeli news agencies then I can see the relationship. Neither CNN or the NY Times have done more then print a few opision peices suggesting the Israel should be destroyed. Israeli news, as well as CNN and the NY Times push for compromise. But, if the criteria for similarity between news agencies is, those that push compromises that would destroy Israel, you will find that Arab news has a lot in common with CNN and the NY Times.
Jerusalem is the undivided and eternal capital of the Jewish people, of our national homeland, and our national soul. Our history on the Temple Mount has shown our willingness to include all people in worship on the Temple Mount and we have always deemed that site to be universally holy. We welcomed gentiles who wanted to worship in the Temple even before Christians or Muslims were around to claim possession of our city.
You can safely judge a people by what ideas they hold and by the consistency of their actions. The Palestinians grow up with lies, exaggeration and conspiracy theory. The Jews grow up in an environment that values transparency, fairness and legal precedent.
Lets not get confused and mistake what this conflict is about. So long as anyone favors lies while another favors truth, there will be battles of good versus evil, or black and white. It is only when both generally lie or both favor truth that we have a war based only on self-interest. As much as one would wish the Arabs to accept that Jerusalem and Israel are Jewish, there is little to indicate this will happen in our days. I pray that I do live to see the truth win in this war between two people who believe in the oness of G-d. If it be His will, may He destroy our enemies, speedily in our days. May the truth prevail and may we all live in the days when He brings peace to the world, to His people and to His land, Israel.
Blog liked, but a lot of unnecessary comments.
Interesting point of view.Thanks for the post. – Color television! Bah, I won’t believe it until I see it in black and white. – Samuel Goldwyn 1882 – 1974
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- Mohammed AlMaskati
East Riffa, Bahrain
I support a ONE Bahrain!
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