Netanyahu thrilled about visit to Palestine Exploration Fund 
HERB KEINON, Jerusalem Post correspondent in london 07/03/2010

Neither progress with the US on the settlement issue nor being called a "courageous leader" by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown excited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in London Tuesday as much as a visit to the offices of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). Netanyahu, who mentioned the visit during his press conference with Brown, waxed poetic about it at a briefing with Israeli reporters, enthusing over the organization's collection of maps, pictures and documents of Palestine dating back to the mid-19th century.

"This is a treasure, it is something you all must see," he told reporters, as he kept returning to the subject and talking about the archival information there, and about the knowledge of the geography and topography of pre-state Israel housed in that building. The PEF was founded in 1865 and is the oldest organization in the world created specifically for the study of the Levant, the southern portion of which - as the organization's literature makes clear - was conventionally known as "Palestine."

The organization publishes an internationally respected journal, the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, and brings the latest archaeological findings and research to the public in a series of regular lectures. The PEF archives houses some 40,000 photographs of Palestine, Jordan and Syria dating as far back as 1850, and also includes archaeological artifacts, natural history specimens, maps, manuscripts and paintings.

The PEF was founded under the patronage of Queen Victoria in 1865 by a group of distinguished academics and clergymen, most notably the dean of Westminster Abbey, to promote research into the archaeology and history, manners, customs and culture, topography, geology and natural sciences of biblical Palestine and the Levant. Figures associated with the PEF include Charles Wilson and Charles Warren, who carried out key excavations and land surveys in Jerusalem and Palestine in the 19th century.

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- Sir Charles Warren was the first grand master of the QC Lodge. He was also the president of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and two decades earlier had been the chief engineer for British excavations of the Temple Mount.
- Sir Walter Besant was a founding member of QC and was the treasurer of the Palestine Exploration Fund under Warren. Besant was the brother-in-law of Annie Besant, the president of the Theosophical Society after Helena Blavatsky.

From pef.org.uk website:
Between 1867 and 1870 Captain Warren carried out the explorations in Palestine which form the basis for our knowledge of the topography of ancient Jerusalem and the archaeology of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sherif. This first major expedition of the Fund, in addition to the information it provided concerning Jerusalem, served to raise the public interest in the work of the Fund sufficiently such that £60,000 was raised by public subscription to carry out the great Survey of Western Palestine. In addition to his explorations on, under, and around the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sherif, Warren surveyed the Plain of Philistia and carried out a very important reconnaisance of central Jordan. He was a keen Freemason and first Master of the First Lodge founded with the aim of conducting Masonic research.

OIC calls for intl. action over Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa
Sat, 06 Mar 2010

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) urges an all-out international effort aimed at ending the Israeli aggression after an Israeli raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Saturday, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called for "an international intervention effective at every level to end Israeli aggressions and make Israel respect international law," AFP reported.

The Israeli forces on Friday raided the compound of the holy site in the occupied East Jerusalem (Al-Quds) to push out Palestinian worshippers who had gathered for the weekly Friday prayers.

The move triggered protests that quickly turned violent after Israeli police fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at demonstrators, leaving 60 Palestinians injured.

Ihsanoglu also condemned the attack as "a sacrilegious act of profanation of the holy Islamic site" and called it "a violation of international law and a flagrant attack on the freedom of religion of the nature that could take the region into a war between religions."

The mosque is revered as the third holiest site in Islam by the OIC whose raison d'être is to "liberate Al-Aqsa from the Zionist occupation."

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Israeli actions against int’l law
07 Mar 2010

Baku – APA. The head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Saturday slammed Israel’s actions on the Temple Mount Friday, APA reports citing Jewish media.

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu decried what he called Israel’s “abuse” of worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque. He said Israel’s actions were in violation of international law and could lead to a religious war. Ihsanoglu called on the international community to stop the “Israeli attacks” on religious sites.

Approximately 20 policemen and dozens of Palestinians were wounded in the riots, the latest in a flare of violent incidents over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s announcement incorporating the Cave of the Patriarch’s in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem onto Israel’s list of national heritage sites.

The United Nations Security Council also expressed concern over the riots.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement released Friday evening that Israel had crossed every red line and made prospects for peace even dimmer in clashing with Muslim worshipers.

Abbas said Israeli security forces, which he termed the “occupation army,” were “provoking” members of other faiths in a way that could “set off a religious war in the region.” He warned that “Israeli escapades” in east Jerusalem would have repercussions not just in the city and the Middle East, but also in Muslim world.

The PA president urged the US and the international community to intervene and stop tensions from escalating further.The PA president urged the US and the international community to intervene and stop tensions from escalating further.

Israeli police storm Jerusalem site
February 28, 2010
 
At least six Palestinians have reportedly been injured after Israeli police forces stormed a holy site in Jerusalem to disperse Muslim worshippers.

Palestinian sources said that Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the worshippers holding protests in the al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday.

Israel said the situation was calm and denied that rubber bullets had been fired.

Micky Rosenfeld, the Israeli police spokesman, said that the police force dispersed about 20 masked protesters who were inside the compound.

The police said protesters had thrown stones at visitors to the complex.

The area, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been a frequent flashpoint for conflicts before, with even low-level scuffles escalating into drawn-out battles.

Sherine Tadros, reporting for Al Jazeera from Jerusalem on Sunday, said: "This was all sparked early this morning when - according to the Israeli police - there was a group of tourists entering the al-Aqsa compound in the Old City.

"They were pelted with rocks by the Palestinian demonstrators [who] decided to keep on with their resistance to the entry of these tourists into the Haram compound.

"That sparked clashes outside and near the area, which has resulted in an escalation ... outside the walls of the Old City."

Reporting later from the scene, our correspondent said: "There's a heavy police presence but it does seem calm now."

A visit to the al-Asa mosque compound in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader and later prime minister, is blamed for igniting deadly clashes that escalated into the popular Palestinian uprising known as al-Aqsa Intifada.
 
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies 

Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa mosque after stone attack

Agence France-Presse
Jerusalem, February 28, 2010

Clashes broke out at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday after police entered to arrest Palestinians who had hurled rocks at visitors they believed were Jewish extremists.

At least 13 people were wounded just outside the compound when dozens of Palestinians pelted stones at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, according to an AFP correspondent.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said security forces entered the compound after Muslim worshippers threw rocks at the group of unidentified visitors.

"Around 20 young people are holed up inside the mosque, and as a preventive measure we have decided to limit access to the esplanade to men over the age of 50," as well as women and children, he added.

Dozens of police wearing riot gear were deployed throughout the narrow streets of the Old City as loudspeakers on minarets called on Muslims to "save Jerusalem."

An official from Jerusalem's Islamic Supreme Committee said the Palestinians hurled stones at people they believed to be Jewish extremists intending to pray at the site and upset the delicate status quo.

"They threw rocks because (Israeli) settlers have been surrounding the compound for two or three days and had said they intended to enter on Sunday or Monday to pray at Al-Aqsa," Adnan Husseini told AFP.

Jews, who observe the Purim holiday on Sunday and Monday, are allowed into the compound, but authorities prevent them from praying there.

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam's third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina. Muslims refer to it as the Al-Haram Al-Sharif and believe it to be the place where the Prophet Mohammed made a night journey to heaven on horseback.

It is the holiest site in the world for Jews, who believe it was the location of the Second Temple, torched by the Romans in 70 AD, and refer to it as the Temple Mount.

The site has been bitterly contested for decades, and the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, erupted there in September 2000 after a visit by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become Israeli prime minister.

Violence erupted on several occasions starting last September after Muslim worshippers hurled stones at people they believed to be Jews seeking to pray at the site during major holidays.

Israeli authorities insisted the visitors were French tourists.

The latest disturbances comes after days of clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron over an Israeli plan to renovate the Tomb of the Patriarchs there, another ancient site revered by Jews and Muslims.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Israel digs tunnels under Old City
By MOHAMMED MAR’I | ARAB NEWS
Feb 18, 2010

RAMALLAH: The Al Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said on Thursday that “Israeli occupation authorities began digging new and wide tunnels under the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.”

In a press statement, the foundation said that the new diggings were concentrated between Bab Al-Sahirah and Bab Al-Amoud, located under the northern wall of the Old City.

It added that the Israeli authorities were planning to build new tunnels to connect them with a network of tunnels that leads to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The foundation warned that the excavations will weaken the foundation of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein criticized the Israeli move.

Hussein told Arab News that Israeli authorities are trying to find proof of the alleged Second Temple under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He said that the authorities have failed to prove Jewish presence in the holy city or that the Temple ever existed.

Hussein called the new excavations a provocative act. He urged Arab and Muslim states to take action to stop the Israeli move.

In a separate development, Israeli forces operating in the West Bank cities early Thursday arrested 11 Palestinians.

Palestinian security sources said that 11 were detained in Hebron, Nablus and Jenin. Israeli security sources told the Army Radio that the detainees were taken to unknown locations for questioning by the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet.

Also on Thursday, Israeli forces raided the home of the wanted Palestinian activist Ammar Khader and threatened to kill him.

The Palestinian sources said that the forces raided Khader’s home in the village of Anza and told his father that his son will be killed if he does not turn himself in to the Israeli Army.