De Troefkaart: Slag om tempelberg dreigt weer uit te barsten

[lennart]

Police block Likud MK Hazan from going up to Temple Mount

By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

Police officers physically blocked Likud MK Yehiel
Hazan from going up to the Temple Mount twice on
Thursday morning. The second time came after
police spent half an hour explaining to him that
he would be endangering himself as well as the
people gathered to pray at the Western Wall, below
the Temple Mount. Hazan said he remained
unconvinced, but eventually left the area.

Hazan, who heads the Yesha [West
Bank and Gaza] lobby in the
Knesset, arrived at the Western
Wall plaza Thursday morning and
repeated his determination to
go up to the Mount, but police
told him he was not allowed to
go up due to "security
considerations." He waved his
Knesset member identity card,

but police officers told him it didn't give him
the license to visit the Mount. Police have
warned that a visit to the holiest site in
Judaism and one of the holiest in Islam could
lead to severe rioting and bloodshed.

The Waqf, or Muslim religious trust, called
Thursday on all Palestinians and Muslims in
Israel to "protect the Mount from attempts of
Jewish extremists to force their way into the
compound."

The Waqf's announcement, which Itim reported was
published in Palestinian media, comes on the
heels of Hazan's decision to visit the Temple
Mount on Thursday, which is Tisha B'Av, the
traditional Jewish day of mourning for the
destruction of the First and Second Temples.

As police gathered around Hazan to keep him from
going up to the Mount, he repeated his claim
that no police officer has discussed the
situation with him or expressly asked him not
to go up. Hazan told police that if they cared
about democracy and the rule of law, they would
explain their reasons.

Police at first refused to provide details, but
then took him away from the mob of supporters,
protesters and media to explain the security
considerations involved. Some people called out
to Hazan, "All honor to you," while others
asked why he was being provocative. At that
point, Hazan said he was not convinced and
tried unsuccessfully a second time to go up to
the Mount.

Hazan maintains that no member of the security
services had spoken directly to him about his
decision to head up the Mount prior to his
arrival at the Western Wall on Thursday. He
told Israel Radio that Public Security Minister
Tzachi Hanegbi asked him not to go on Tisha
B'Av, but said he didn't think a visit would
lead to security trouble.

"Just as I walk freely throughout Israel, I will
go up to the Temple Mount," Hazan said.

Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli said Thursday that she
would not visit the Temple Mount that day,
despite her declaration Wednesday that "I will
go up to the Temple Mount, period."

Gavrieli said Thursday she was persuaded by
senior security officials who gave her
"specific information" Wednesday night
indicating that an attempt to go up to the
Temple Mount could create serious
disturbances.

"If it's a matter of going up to the Temple
Mount at the expense of human life just so I
can say I kept my word, then I can live with
[my decision not to go]," Gavrieli told Israel
Radio on Thursday.

She added that her decision does not reflect a
change in her underlying beliefs, saying, "This
constitutes no, but no, concession in principle
over the right to go up to the Temple Mount."

MKs from the left as well as Shinui ministers
attacked the MKs' decision to visit the Temple
Mount at this time. Interior Minister Avraham
Poraz (Shinui) said Wednesday, "It would be a
provocation that should not be allowed." He
said that then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon's
visit to the site was a mistake, "and although
it wasn't the reason for the intifada, the MKs
who want to go to the Temple Mount apparently
believe that with their provocation they can
foil the political process they object to."

National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky
said, "Apparently there are some MKs who are
sick and tired of the quiet and they want to
reignite the intifada."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/326404.html

[jaja]

Geplaatst door lennart
...of te wel de tempelberg was opengesteld voor bezoek door de Israelische regering - waarover jij je bijvoorbeeld heel erg opwond - vervolgens heeft men besloten hem toch weer voor niet-moslims te sluiten - waar, voor zover ik weet, jij geen woord aan hebt vuil gemaakt, hoewel dat duidelijk een KLEIN gebaar was naar de moslims - en men houdt zich aan die beslissing, zelfs als een parlementslid daar tegen protesteert ... en dat vind jij een teken dat er een oorlog uitbreekt ... beetje selectief in je materiaal keuze ?? :)

[observer]

het feit dat het bestuur van de templeberg in handen is van de waqf zegt toch wel wat

wie had de israeliers tegen kunnen houden als ze in 67 de zaak hadden overgenomen en tegen de vlakte hadden gegooid?

[lennart]

Geplaatst door jaja
of te wel de tempelberg was opengesteld voor bezoek door de Israelische regering - waarover jij je bijvoorbeeld heel erg opwond - vervolgens heeft men besloten hem toch weer voor niet-moslims te sluiten - waar, voor zover ik weet, jij geen woord aan hebt vuil gemaakt, hoewel dat duidelijk een KLEIN gebaar was naar de moslims - en men houdt zich aan die beslissing, zelfs als een parlementslid daar tegen protesteert ... en dat vind jij een teken dat er een oorlog uitbreekt ... beetje selectief in je materiaal keuze ?? :)

Na'ah, de Tempelberg is de troefkaart. Likud heeft maanden lang spotjes uitgezonden op de radio om te promoten dat de Tempelberg opnieuw wordt geopend. Maar ze zullen em pas uitspelen als de Road Map dreigt te lukken of er een catalysme nodig is om Arabische bewoners uit Jerusalem te jagen.

[freya]

"Devout" Israeli lawmakers reveal pig-ignorance about Judaism
Israeli News Site, Walla News, 6 August 2003

On your way to the Temple Mount, visit a library

Likud MKs Inbal Gavrieli and Yehiel Hazan were put to shame on today's Cafe Telad morning show. Instead of making speeches about the intense [Jewish] emotional link to the Temple Mount, the two were presented with a pop quiz about its history. The results were not entirely satisfactory.

Cafe Telad, the [Israeli] Telad and Channel 2 morning show, became the scene of grotesque embarrassment at the expense MKs Inbal Gavrieli and Yehiel Hazan (Likud). The issue which they were invited to the show about was a conversation about the necessity of their planned ascent to the Temple Mount. [Anchor] Yardena Arazi tried to understand the political wisdom of climbing the disputed mountain in the middle of the Hudna, but the MKs insisted: it is the right of (every) Jew to visit the Temple Mount.

At this point, [Anchor] Dubi Gilhar asked about the level of emotional attachment the two felt to the Temple Mount, and after they both insisted that the Temple Mount was a core issue for them and that this day [the 6th of the Jewish month of Ab] would be the holiest day for Jews, Gilhar sprung a pop quiz on them, to the accompaniment of elevator music. How well did the two do on the quiz? How knowledgeable are they on this issue? You can judge it for yourself. Walla has obtained the complete transcription of the odd, embarrassing and amusing event.

Yardena Arazi: MK Gavrielli, to what extent is this issue essential to you?

Dov Gilhar: In other words, how strong is your attachment to the Temple Mount?

MK Gavrielli: I'm a Jew, the Temple Mount is the holiest site for the Jews.

Gilhar: Did you climb the Temple Mount frequently, before you were an MK?

MK Gavrielli: No, now I have the possibility of using the powers of the Immunity of Members of Knesset act, to be on the Temple Mount, to protest and represent those citizens who cannot make it there.

Gilhar: And the Temple Mount, is it meaningful to you?

Hazan and Gavrielli: Of course, of course!

Gilhar: Well, because we were thinking it was merely a populist political move. That's what people think, that you do it to be famous. So, since you are saying that the Temple Mount is essential to you so we've prepared a pop quiz for you - simple questions that any school-child could answer.... ...can we have some background music, please... Dear MKs, which of the temples was on Temple Mount, the first or the second? [the correct answer: both]

Gavrielli: Both of them.

Gilhar: Who built the first Temple? [the correct answer: King Solomon]

Hazan: Aaron the Cohen.

Gavrielli: I haven't a clue.

Gilhar: It was King Solomon! And who built the second Temple?

Hazan: I don't know, but I don't think... ...I do fast on the 9th day of Ab...

Gilhar: No, [you said that] the Temple Mount is essential to you. What dramatic event in the history of the Jewish people occurred on the Temple Mount a long time before the Temple was built? Here's a clue: Mount Moriah. [the correct answer: the sacrifice of Isaac]

Hazan and Gavrielli: [silence]

Gilhar: The sacrifice of Isaac. When was the first Temple destroyed, does anyone know?

Hazan: I don't know.

Gavrielli: [looks in all directions and says nothing.]

Gilhar: On the 9th day of Ab. Who destroyed the first Temple?

Gavrielli: I've got to stop this quiz right here!

Gilhar: Why? Are we humiliating the MKs?

Gavrielli: There's no humiliation... But all these details...

Gilhar: I'll tell the viewers: Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon!

Hazan: All you're doing is what you usually have done to the Palestinians. You're helping them. You're perfectly ok. You've got to understand, I am a Jew, it is my right to the country and I want to visit in any place that a Jewish foot wants to step on.

Gilhar: Regardless of the implications.

Hazan: I think that when the people of Israel, for generations...

Gilhar: And you know what's next? It doesn't really come from the inside of you, it's not that you would really have such a historical attachment...

Gavrielli (bursts into the conversation): Do I need to know all these details?

Gilhar: As an MK? Not at all!

Gavrielli: No, I need to know in a general way, as a Jew, all these details which we all learned in bible lessons and history lessons, in elementary school and high school. These things do not even have the slightest bearing on the fact that the Temple Mount is the holiest site for the Jews, that the Temple Mount was destroyed on the 9th of Ab, that it is a very symbolic act.

Gilhar: It was the Temple that was destroyed on the 9th of Ab, not the Temple Mount.

Gavrielli: I'm sorry, yes, the Temple. There is a very important and very symbolic act for us, as Jews, to go to the Temple Mount on the 9th of Ab. There is an issue at the very core, to stop the flaccidity and the weakness of the People of Israel regarding its sovereignty over the Temple Mount...

This report was translated from Hebrew by The Electronic Intifada. The original version, headlined in Hebrew, "On the way to the Temple Mount, visit a library," is at http://news.walla.co.il/?w=//423264


http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1790.shtml (http://)

[lennart]

Hanegbi says visits to Temple Mt. likely to resume in a week

By Haaretz Service

Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told the
Knesset House Committee Monday that he might order
the Temple Mount reopened to visits by Jews within
a week, even if the Waqf (Muslim religious trust)
objects, Israel Radio reported Monday.

Hanegbi said Israel would wait
another week for the agreement
of the Waqf to visits by Jews.
If consent was not forthcoming,
he said he might anyway order
the resumption of visits by
Jews to the disputed site,
which is Judaism's holiest.

Visits by groups of Jews and
tourists to the compound, which

contains the Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the
Rock and is Islam's third holiest site, resumed
several weeks ago, after they stopped with the
outbreak of the intifada almost three years
ago. After Arab leaders, including Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, warned that
the renewal of visits would have dangerous
consequences, the police, fearing violence,
again barred them.

Last Thursday, on Tisha B'Av, the day Jews
traditionally mourn the desruction of the First
and Second Temples, Likud MK Yehiel Hazan vowed
to visit the site but was stopped by police.

Police officers had to physically block him from
going up to the compound twice. The second time
came after police spent half an hour explaining
to him that he would be endangering himself as
well as the people gathered to pray at the
Western Wall, below the Temple Mount.

On the heels of Hazan's decision to visit the
compound, the Waqf called on all Palestinians
and Muslims in Israel to "protect the Mount
from attempts of Jewish extremists to force
their way into the compound."

The last Israeli poltician to visit the site was
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who as opposition
leader in September 2000 insisted on walking
atop the compound. The next day, six
Palestinians were killed in clashes with
police, violence compounded, and ultimately
escalated into a full-blown uprising.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/328320.html

[lennart]

11:33 Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi: Temple Mount will be open to non-Muslim visitors by end of week (Israel Radio)

[lennart]

Muslims try to prevent Jews from entering Temple Mount

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent and Itim

A group of Muslim worshippers on Monday morning
tried to prevent Jewish visitors from entering the
Temple Mount compound.

The Muslims were standing at the
Mugrabi Gate in order to
prevent the entrance of the
Jewish visitors, and a
confrontation erupted between
the groups. After police
intervention, the Muslims left
the area and the Jews were
allowed to enter the site.

The Temple Mount was opened last week to
non-Muslim visitors, and it will be open daily
between 9 A.M. and 11 A.M.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/333114.html

[lennart]

2 Waqf officials told to stay away from Temple Mt. for 2 months

By Jonathan Lis and Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondents

Two of three senior Waqf officials arrested Monday
for trying to block non-Muslims from entering the
Temple Mount were ordered Tuesday by the Jerusalem
Magistrate's Court to stay away from the holy site
for two months and were released on NIS 5,000
bail.

The third Muslim religious trust
official was still in the midst
of a hearing Tuesday
afternoon.

Police announced Tuesday that
they had arrested the officials
the day before. The Waqf
members were among a group of
Muslims that held a prayer

service at the Dung Gate on Monday morning in
an attempt to physically block the entrance
where the Jewish visits normally begin, police
said.

Meanwhile, National Union MK Eliezer Cohen and
Likud MK Gilad Erdan made low-key visits to the
Temple Mount on Tuesday morning, Army Radio
reported. A senior police officer recently
asked Knesset members, including Yehiel Hazan
and Inbal Gavrieli, both Likud MKs who drew
media attention recently when they said they
would visit the Mount, to refrain from making
publicized visits.

After the Muslim group tried to block non-Muslim
visits Monday, an argument broke out between
the Muslims and the Israeli policemen
accompanying the visitors, which ended with
most of the Muslims leaving the Temple Mount
compound.

The minor fracas marked the first Muslim-Jewish
conflict at the Temple Mount since the visits
resumed a few weeks ago. Police stopped the
visits of non-Muslims after Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and other Arab
leaders issued fiery public remarks on the
matter and police feared rioting would ensue.

After the protests were subdued, visits to the
site continued until about 11 A.M., which is
the official end of the tourism day on the
Mount.

Jewish visitors said the police had originally
planned to allow the visits to continue that
afternoon as well, but eventually decided
against doing so. The police declined to say
why they changed their minds on the matter.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/333507.html