Bus posters replace Al-Aqsa with temple

Rightist group posts ads on buses in Jerusalem calling to build third temple in place of mosque - Shmulik Grossman

Two hundred Egged buses were plastered with posters Sunday that call for the construction of the third temple "quickly and in our time". The posters carry a drawing of Temple Mount without the mosques situated there.

The posters were made by an extreme right-wing group called Eretz Israel Shelanu (Our Land of Israel), headed by Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo and Baruch Marzel.  

Despite the negative emotions the campaign has stirred up in the capital's non-Jewish sectors, Rabbi Wolpo told Ynet, "The people of Israel look forward on Passover to the construction of the temple and the coming if the messiah.

"The Arabs and US President Barack Obama know that the third temple will be established at Temple Mount and that the mosque is there temporarily."

It was the second time the drawing had appeared in public in integrated cities. Two weeks ago an unknown person distributed Passover haggadahs sporting a drawing of Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock removed to kindergartens and other locations in Jaffa.

In place of the mosque was a model of the temple. The haggadahs sparked anger among the Arab residents of the city and Kamel Agbaria, chairman of the Ajami neighborhood council, said, "I hope someone will stop those who are inciting in time, so that the already tense situation won’t boil over."

Rightist Israeli MKs tour Al-Aqsa compound
Wednesday 24/03/2010

Jerusalem – Ma'an – Three Israeli Members of Knesset toured the entrances of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the gates of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday, witnesses said.

A "large number of Israeli police guarded the lawmakers as they carried out a tour," witnesses said, identifying the MKs as members of Israel's right-wing religious National Union party Uri Ariel, Arieh Eldad and Michael Ben Ari.

Site officials said the men did not obtain permission to enter the area, and said they believed the rightists were preparing to organize a tour of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The Hebrew-language news site Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Ariel as saying the aim of the visit was to prove the Jewish nature of the history of Jerusalem, and that "no government has the right to give up the city and to take it away from the Jews."

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Three Fundamentalist Knesset Members To Tour the Al Aqsa Mosque
Wednesday March 24, 2010 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The three, Uri Ariel, Michael Ben-Ari, and Arieh Eldad, said that the motive of this tour is to protest the cancellation of “festivities in the yards and around the gates” of the Al Aqsa mosque.

They refused to ask the police to grant them permits for the tour. They said they will not coordinate their visit with the police as the Jerusalem police previously refused to grant them a permit to conduct a similar tour.

The fundamentalist members of Knesset said that East Jerusalem is part of the “capital of Israel” and will always be part of the “Jewish State”.

Their statement came only one day after Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that settlement construction in East Jerusalem will continue and that Jerusalem “is the eternal capital of Israel”.

Netanyahu also said that Jerusalem is not a settlement, and that the “Jewish people started building it more than 3000 years ago, and the Jewish people are building it today”.

“Everyone knows that Jerusalem is our capital, everyone knows, everyone knows that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people”.

The United States said that settlement construction in Jerusalem threatens the efforts to resume the peace process in the Middle East.

East Jerusalem is part of the Palestinian territories Israel illegally captured in 1967 and later annexed. The Palestinians seek it as the capital of their future state. The Israeli control over Jerusalem is illegal and violates the International Law.

Tue, 16 Mar 2010
 
The Gaza-based head of al-Quds International Institution warns against the reopening of Hurva synagogue as part of an Israeli plan to erect a Jewish temple on al-Aqsa ruins.

In an interview with al-Alam, Dr. Ahmed Abu Halabiya on Monday described the restoration of Hurva as part of a project to destruct al-Aqsa, some 700 meters away, and build the Israeli claimed Solomon's Temple in its place.

Israeli officials have reportedly called on Israelis to march into the al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday, highly revered as the third holiest site in the Muslim world.

Abu Halabiya called on Palestinian officials to take legal action through international organizations, such as the United Nations and the international Criminal Court in The Hague, and press for the trial of Israeli officials for the violations in al-Quds.

The Hamas MP in the Palestinian legislative body said protecting al-Quds's Islamic identity is a responsibility not only for the Palestinians, but all Muslims across the globe.

Also on Monday, Palestinian groups convened in Gaza city at a conference on al-Quds, calling on the Muslim ummah and the Arab world to stand up against Israel's provocations in the holy city.

They warned the Israeli regime against any violation against the al-Aqsa Mosque and vowed to defend their religion and sanctities if Israel risks igniting a religious war in the region.

The Monday meeting was attended by representatives from most Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, however, refused to participate.

MRS/SC/DT

Al-Aqsa Mosque still closed to Palestinians
Mon, 15 Mar 2010
 
Israel police have maintained restrictions on access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the fourth straight day.

Israeli police have been preventing men under 50 from entering the mosque since Friday.

The compound mosque is Islam's third holiest site. This comes as Israel extended a lockdown on the occupied West Bank on Friday.

There have been several clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops both in Jerusalem al-Quds and the occupied West Bank in recent days.

Tensions have spiraled following Israel's announcement that it plans to construct 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in mostly Arab East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds in 1967 and annexed the area in a move not recognized internationally.

MGH/SC/AKM

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Israel raids Al-Aqsa Mosque, expels worshipers
Published today (updated) 15/03/2010

Jerusalem – Ma'an – Dozens of Israeli police broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque after the night prayers on Sunday, forcing some 20 Palestinian worshipers out of the building.

The gathered men had lingered in the mosque following the prayer, witnesses said, and 30 minutes after the worship session concluded, soldiers stormed the entrance and demanded to see the identity cards of all present.

All of the men had their ID cards seized and were ordered to appear at the Al-Qashla investigation center in the Old City, and the Russian Compound investigation center near the East-West Jerusalem divide.

An Israeli police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

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It is not only the Jews who are trying to destroy Al-Aqsa to rebuild their temple... But also the Freemasons who are practicing kabbalist are keen to rebuild the Temple. Freemasons and all other secret orders practice the kabalah which is black magic ie communicating with the jinn.

The Freemasons of Israel hold an annual ceremony in Zedekiah's Cave, and consider it one of the most revered sites in their history. (Masonic ritual claims that King Solomon was their first Grand Master — and some Freemasons feel that the cave is definitely Solomon's quarry[3].) According to Matti Shelon, head of the Israeli Freemasons, "Since the 1860s we have been holding ceremonies in the cave"[3]. According to the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Israel, the site "has special meaning for Mark Master Masons and the Royal Arch Masons in particular". Starting in the days of the British Mandate (1920s), the cave was used for the ceremony of Mark Master Masons. Although this practice was temporarily suspended between the years 1948 and 1968, the impressive ceremony of the consecration of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Israel was commenced again in the spring of 1969, and ever since then the Mark degree has been performed in the caves on the average of once a year. (source wikipedia)

More clashes in al-Aqsa as tensions sore
Fri, 12 Mar 2010  
 
Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinian worshippers after the Friday prayers at the highly revered al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Reports from al-Quds said at least one Palestinian worshipper was injured in the clashes that broke out at the third holiest Islamic site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

Four others were reportedly arrested for throwing stones at Israeli forces and were taken in for questioning.

Tensions have been high in al-Quds since last week when Israeli forces stormed the courtyards of the mosque.

A week earlier, Tel Aviv announced a plan to include two holy shrines on Palestinian land in the West Bank cities of Hebron (al-Khalil) and Bethlehem in a so-called heritage restoration project.

The decision sparked outrage among Palestinians who vehemently denounced the decision and staged vast street protests against the Israeli administration's confiscation of the holy sites.

On Friday, Tel Aviv closed off the occupied West Bank in response to a security request from Israeli security forces, who cited worries about protests pouring from al-Quds into the rest of the West Bank.

Since the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising) in September 2000, Israel has regularly sealed off the West Bank ahead of major holidays.

MRS/HGH

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Israeli Forces Besiege Al-Aqsa Mosque 
Friday, March 12, 2010

Only a few thousands of worshipers on Friday managed to perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem because of Israeli security measures that prevented the arrival of many Muslims to the Mosque's various precincts.

Since the early hours of Friday morning, the Israeli occupying forces deployed large numbers of police units and border guards around the holy city, which saw a major chaos today.

The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has imposed a full security blockade on the occupied West Bank and prevented its residents from entering Israel and Jerusalem.

According to local Palestinian radio stations "a few thousands of Palestinians from inside Israel had managed to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque during the night hours, following news about the intention of the occupation forces and Jewish extremists to storm it." The stations said Israeli police shut down most of the gates leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which worshipers used to get to the court yards of the mosque.

They quoted eyewitnesses and worshippers as saying police opened "irregularly" three gates leading to the mosque other than those used by the worshipers while closing 10 gates, including those which used to be open around the clock.

And within the Old City, Israeli police deployed about a dozen blocks located in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and prevented men over the age of fifty from access to the city.

Source: KUNA

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.