Jews challenge Muslim control of Temple Mount (Al Aksa). Calls to build 3rd Temple where Dome of the Rock stands
(1) Map of Old City of Jerusalem, showing Temple area
(2) Jews Challenge Rules to Claim Heart of Jerusalem - NYT
(3) Over 300 Jews ascend the Temple Mount (Sept 18)
(4) Temple Institute lobbies for building 3rd Jewish Temple where Dome of the Rock stands
(5) Palestinians inflamed by Jewish campaign to replace Dome of the Rock with a Jewish Temple
(6) Fifteen Palestinians arrested as Israel tries to take over the Temple Mount
(7) Extremist Israeli minister and settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque
(8) Rabbi Chaim Richman's "Judaism For Gentiles", "Light to the Nations"
(9) Dozens of Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque
(10) Jewish settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
(11) Jewish settlers storm Aqsa Mosque compound again
(12) Jewish settlers storm Aqsa Mosque again
(13) Israel uses camera footage to incriminate al-Aqsa worshippers
(1) Map of Old City of Jerusalem, showing Temple area:
(2) Jews Challenge Rules to Claim Heart of Jerusalem - NYT
Jews Challenge Rules to Claim Heart of Jerusalem
{photo} The Dome of the Rock is in the center of the sacred compound at the Temple Mount, or Noble Sanctuary, perhaps the most religiously contested site on earth.
Ammar Awad / Reuters
{end}
By JODI RUDOREN
NYT, September 21, 2013
JERUSALEM Ñ Small groups of Jews are increasingly ascending the Temple Mount in JerusalemÕs Old City, a sacred site controlled for centuries by Muslims, who see the visits as a provocation that could undermine the fragile peace talks started this summer.
For decades the Israelis drawn to the site were mainly a fringe of hard-core zealots, but now more mainstream Jews are lining up to enter, as a widening group of Israeli politicians and rabbis challenge the longstanding rules constraining Jewish access and conduct. Brides go on their wedding days, synagogue and religious-school groups make regular outings, and many surreptitiously skirt the ban on non-Muslim prayer, like a Russian immigrant who daily recites the morning liturgy in his mind, as he did decades ago in the Soviet Union.
Palestinian leaders say the new activity has created the worst tension in memory around the landmark Al Aksa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, and have called on Muslims to defend the site from Òincursions.Ó A spate of stone-throwing clashes erupted this month: on Wednesday, three Muslims were arrested and an Israeli police officer wounded in the face. And on Friday thousands of Arab citizens of Israel rallied in the north, warning that Al Aksa is in danger.
ÒWe reject these religious visits,Ó Sheik Ekrima SaÕeed Sabri, who oversees Muslim affairs in Jerusalem, said in an interview. ÒOur duty is to warn,Ó he added. ÒIf they want to make peace in this region, they should stay away from Al Aksa.Ó
The 37-acre site is perhaps the most religiously contested place on earth. Jews revere it as the home of the First and Second Temples more than 2,000 years ago. For Muslims, who call the site the Noble Sanctuary, it is the worldÕs third holiest spot, from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. More than 300,000 foreign tourists also flock there annually, many of them Christians drawn to the ruins of the Temple Jesus attended.
Politically, the competing claims to the area are the nut around which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict revolves, the symbolic heart of each sideÕs religious and historical attachment to Jerusalem that has made its governance one of the thorniest issues in peace negotiations.
Israel captured the site along with the rest of East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967, with a general declaring dramatically, ÒThe Temple Mount is in our hands!Ó But the government immediately returned control to the Muslim authorities, and ever since, a de facto accommodation has prevailed in which Muslims worship at Al Aksa above and Jews at the Western Wall below, a remnant of the retaining wall around the ancient Second Temple.
There have been flare-ups before. In 2000, a visit by Ariel Sharon, then IsraelÕs opposition leader, accompanied by 1,000 police officers, prompted a violent outbreak and, many argue, set off the second intifada.
<INSET: Israeli security and border patrol officers were on alert on Wednesday at the entrance to the Temple Mount, or Noble Sanctuary, after clashes erupted there.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times>
Over the last few years, a cause long taken up by only a fringe group of far right-wingers has increasingly been embraced by the modern Orthodox Ñ known here as religious Zionists Ñ who have also gained political power. At three recent Parliament hearings, religious lawmakers and cabinet ministers questioned the status quo, in which non-Muslims can enter the site only for a few hours five days a week, and those identified by the police as Jews are separated, escorted by police officers and admonished not to dance, sing, bow down or even move their lips in prayer.
ÒThe Temple Mount is in our hands Ñ but is it really?Ó asked Michael Freund, a Jerusalem Post columnist who visited the site as a child in 1977 and returned for the first time last year, with 50 members of his synagogue. ÒIt particularly offends me that the Israeli government puts into place restrictions which prevent Jews from fulfilling their basic right to freedom of worship.Ó
Jack Stroh, a cardiologist from East Brunswick, N.J., who visited on Wednesday, has been bringing friends for five years before the holidays of Sukkot and Passover Ñ two of three pilgrimage festivals when ancient Jews were required to pray at the Temples.
ÒMy cousin said that if Jews donÕt go up to the mountain there is an increased chance that the government will say Jews are not interested and will give it away,Ó he said as his group waited to enter. ÒIÕm taking them up. Someone took me up. TheyÕll take other people up; itÕs a growing phenomenon.Ó
<INSET: Palestinian women protested Wednesday outside the site, whose gates were shut after violence flared.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times>
Amid the religious pilgrims on Wednesday was Michal Berdugo, 25, a secular Israeli who said it had been her Òdream for three yearsÓ to visit. ÒItÕs part of who we are,Ó she said.
The recent shift has many roots. For years, most authorities on Jewish law said Jews should not enter the complex for fear of treading on the ancient TempleÕs holiest spots, but recent archaeological work has led some moderate and even liberal Orthodox rabbis to lift those bans. At the same time, activists have stepped up their campaign for access and prayer at the Temple Mount, part of a broader push to cement Jewish control of all of Jerusalem.
Experts who have observed the phenomenon also see it as a reaction to IsraelÕs evacuation of Jews from the Gaza Strip in 2005, a redirection of Messianic energy once devoted to West Bank settlements that many fear could soon succumb to the same fate to make way for a Palestinian state.
ÒThe war for the land of Israel is not just political, but essentially spiritual,Ó said Yossi Klein Halevi, author of a new book that traces the lives of paratroopers who seized the Mount in 1967. ÒGiven that the Temple Mount is the focal point of holiness in the Holy Land, the thinking is that we need to go to the source in order to prevent the further partition of the land.Ó
<INSET: An officer escorted a Jewish man at the site the day before.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times>
Israel Police statistics show visits by people identified as Jews rose to 8,247 in 2011 from 5,792 in 2010, then dipped slightly last year. The figure is on track to top 2011Õs total this year, with 5,609 Israelis coming through July. Crowds Ñ and clashes Ñ are expected Sunday and Monday for Sukkot.
While the numbers remain tiny compared with the 10 million annual visitors to the Western Wall below, Palestinian officials say what used to be a trickle of individuals has given way to groups of 40, 60, 90. They were particularly alarmed that the Israeli police commissioner told a newspaper this month that Òevery Jew who wishes to pray at the Temple Mount can pray on the Temple Mount,Ó though his subordinates said afterward that did not change the police policy on the ground preventing non-Muslim prayer. A recent visit by the right-wing housing minister also stirred outrage.
ÒBefore, it was some settlers from here, some extremists from there; now we start to hear it from the real officials,Ó said Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem. ÒWhen they get inside with this big number, itÕs sure that they will make some kind of religious activities and there will be more friction between them and the people inside the mosque.Ó
The Palestinians have complained to the United Nations, the Arab League and Secretary of State John Kerry, most recently after WednesdayÕs clash, when the chief Palestinian negotiator wrote to Mr. Kerry saying the issue Òcould inflame the situation and undermine the current opportunity to move toward peace.Ó
IsraelÕs chief rabbinate still maintains the Mount is off limits to Jews Ñ a sign saying so is posted at the gate. But a senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government supports Òin principleÓ JewsÕ rights to pray there, adding, ÒweÕve got to do it in a measured way, a sensitive way.Ó
As visiting the Mount has become more mainstream Ñ one Israeli newspaper has since December 2011 devoted a full page weekly to news and columns about the site Ñ the original hard core has been emboldened. A group formed last year calls for building a small synagogue on the plaza. Yehuda Etzion, who was arrested in 1984 for plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock, and a team of architects are designing a Òfuture JerusalemÓ plan with a new Temple at its heart. An activist groupÕs Web site devoted to the Mount unveiled a virtual tour this summer with a Third Temple where the Dome stands.
ÒWeÕre talking about something much deeper than visiting the place, weÕre talking about a movement that wants to change the status quo from its roots,Ó said Yedidia Z. Stern, a vice president of the Israel Democracy Institute, an Orthodox Jew with liberal leanings who has watched the change with concern. ÒYouÕre dealing with the ultimate TNT in our national existence here.Ó
For Max Freidzon, the Russian immigrant, visiting the site has become a daily ritual: he stands still several times on his stroll around the Mount, and goes through the morning prayers Ñ including a plea to rebuild the Temple Ñ without moving his lips.
ÒThe situation is the same like it was in the Soviet Union,Ó said Mr. Freidzon, 46, citing the police escorts, the identification checks, and the ban on religious texts and on a minyan, the 10-person quorum required for public communal prayer. ÒStep by step, the situation will change. ItÕs necessary to pray here, and to make here minyan, and to build here Temple.Ó
Said Ghazali, Tamir Elterman and Irit Pazner Garshowitz contributed reporting.
(3) Over 300 Jews ascend the Temple Mount (Sept 18)
9/18/2013, 8:50 AM
This week at the Temple Institute:
JEWS KEEP STREAMING TO TEMPLE MOUNT:ÊPolice report that over 300 Jews ascended the Temple Mount in purity this morning. Jews were greeted at the entrance to the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount by volunteers working for a new organization called Mesamchei Olei Regalim, (The Organization for Gladdening the Hearts of Temple Pilgrims), who provided all comers with food and drink. Jews waiting to get through security reported that the refreshments did, indeed, lift their spirits as they waited in the hot sun.
Organized groups arrived from all over Israel, including contingents from the cities of Karnei Shomron, Petach Tikvah, Ra'anana, and Kiryat Ata. A number of grooms about to be married were among the pilgrims. In spite of the anti-prayer policy enforced (illegally) by the police, many of the Jews were able to pray unimpeded, as well as prostrate themselves as per proper Jewish practice on the Temple Mount.
(4) Temple Institute lobbies for building 3rd Jewish Temple where Dome of the Rock stands
Rabbi Chaim Richman is the international director of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem which is dedicated to rebuilding the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash). He is a member of the current effort to revive the Sanhedrin and the author of ten books including Mystery of the Red Heifer and A House of Prayer for All Nations. Yitzchak Reuven works at the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. He previously worked building Biblical harps and other musical instruments for use in the Holy Temple. He and Rabbi Chaim Richman have been friends since their Israeli army days. They host the Temple Talk podcast dealing with issues of the Temple Mount and the weekly Torah parsha every Tuesday from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Israel time (1pm U.S. EST) on Israel National Radio.
Full story: Temple-Mount-326262
The Jerusalem Post
"We will allow Jews to visit the Mount, and we don't want to disturb Muslims who are praying. Why doesn't the police decide that if Muslims don't allow Jews to visit without disturbances, we'll have days for Jews to access the Mount a...ÊSee More
(5) Palestinians inflamed by Jewish campaign to replace Dome of the Rock with a Jewish Temple
Fatah Declares War over Temple Mount: ÔGreen LightÕ on Terror
While Fatah head Abbas talks to Israel, FatahÕs armed wing declares war over Jewish visits to the Temple Mount.
By Maayana Miskin
First Publish: 9/10/2013, 9:00 PM
While Fatah head and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas negotiates with Israel for the creation of a PA state, FatahÕs armed branch, the Al-Aqsa MartyrsÕ Brigade, has declared war.
The Brigade issued a statement Tuesday announcing that it would give the Ògreen lightÓ to terrorist attacks targeting Israelis beginning on Friday.
The reason given for the planned resumption of open hostilities was Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, which the group termed, ÒThe invasion of the compound by hordes of settlers, and the harm to [Muslim] worshipers, with no intervention from the international community.Ó
Tensions have been high on the Temple Mount in recent weeks, with many Jewish visitors to the holy site reporting harassment and violence at the hands of groups of Muslims.
The Temple Mount is the holiest place on earth according to Judaism. The site is currently run by the Muslim Wakf. Jews are allowed to visit only during limited hours, and are forbidden to pray on the Mount.
Muslim leaders have denounced Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, which is also the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and have accused Israel and Jews of attempting to harm the mosque. PA leaders, including Abbas himself, have made similar claims, insisting that Jews have no ties to the holy site and that Israel is secretly plotting to replace the mosque with a Jewish Temple.
Police responded to recent Muslim violence by closing the Temple Mount to Jews, a step commanders argued was necessary in order to keep the peace.
The Al-Aqsa MartyrsÕ Brigade was responsible for several mass-casualty terrorist attacks during the wave of ÒSecond IntifadaÓ attacks on Israel. Among the attacks which its terrorists committed were a shooting at a bat mitzvah Ð a traditional celebration for a 12-year-old Jewish girl Ð which left six people dead, a bombing in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem targeting a group of women and children, which left 11 dead, 7 of them children, and a bombing at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station that murdered 22.
(6) Fifteen Palestinians arrested as Israel tries to take over the Temple Mount
Temple-mount/
15 arrested as Palestinians, police clash on Temple Mount
Security forces stop 100 Muslim worshipers from accessing site for fear of further disturbances
BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFFÊ September 4, 2013, 12:55 pmÊ Ê
Fifteen Palestinians were arrested Wednesday morning, including seven youths ahead of the Jewish New Year after they threw stones and clashed with police on the Temple Mount. Police also stoppedÊseveral buses carrying some 100 Muslim worshipers from accessing the site on suspicion that they intended to cause disturbances. There were no reports of injuries.
Public SecurityÊMinister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that he regards such behavior with severity and will not let ÒradicalsÓ disturb the peace, especially on the High Holidays.
ÒLately, weÕve witnessed efforts to incite [against Israel] from the likes of [leader of theÊNorthern Branch of the Islamic Movement]ÊRaed Salah and others on the Temple Mount. I see such behavior as very grave and I will not let radical elements disturb the peace, especially on holiday days. Anyone who acts with intent to harm will be arrested by police,Ó saidÊAharonovitch.