Monday, October 26, 2009

The Temple Mount

The riots on the Temple Mount are being deliberately incited by the Muslim League and local extremists. They are based on the usual lies and rumors spread by them that the Mosques on the Mount are under attack by the Jews and therefore Muslims are called upon to come and defend them. They have collections of stones and bottles, some filled with gasoline, prepared in caches ready for action. Before the State of Israel was founded this type of false rumor resulted in periodic attacks on Jews and Arab pogroms, such as in 1929. They also use these false stories to incite anti-Israel and anti-Jewish feeling throughout the Muslim world.
Of course, there is no basis for the rumors. A group of Jews petitioned to be allowed to enter the Temple Mount area and pray there, but their application was denied. Jews are not allowed to enter the Temple Mount area, especially not to pray. This is against the rulings of the Jewish religious authorities because the precise location of the Holy of Holies is not known, but also by order of the Government precisely to avoid unnecessary clashes and provocation. There was a meeting this week in Jerusalem sponsored by the Temple Mount Institute in which some right wing and religious Jews opposed the current religious proscription against praying on theTemple Mount and called for a permanent presence of Jews there. However, no Jews actually visited the site, as PM Sharon did in 2000, which was used as an excuse to launch the second intifada.
When such riots occur the Israeli authorities have no alternative but to restrict Muslim access to the area, and bring in riot police reinforcements to control the situation. But ironically it is religious Jews who are barred permanently from there. Only tourists, mostly Christian and some secular Jews, are allowed on the Temple Mount in tightly controlled groups, apart from the Muslims who go to pray undisturbed there if there is no violence.
In order to placate the Muslims and satisfy the Jewish and Christian faithful, why not allow all three faiths to have a specific building there where they can pray. The actual area of the compound on the Temple Mount, as prepared by Herod ca. 2000 years ago, is very large. It could easily accomodate a synagogue far from the location of the two Mosques and would not impinge directly on them. Also, there was a Byzantine/Greek Orthodox Church where the Temple once stood (built after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple) which was destroyed in turn by the Muslims when they built the Dome of the Rock. Let all three faiths share the use of the site, which nevertheless must remain under Israeli sovereignty.
As an atheist I could dismiss this obsession with the "holy" location as based on ancient myths, but I recognize the magnetism it has for the faithful of the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions. If only their leaders could sit down and agree peacefully how to accomplish such an arrangement.

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