Jerusalem Muslim Cleric Hate
Jerusalem Muslim leader calls for halt in Israeli excavation
project
By RAVI NESSMAN (Associated Press
Writer)
Associated Press
01/03/2006
JERUSALEM - The top Muslim cleric in the Holy Land on Tuesday called on Israel to halt work on an archaeological project near a disputed holy site, saying continuing the dig would inflame tensions in the region.
Israeli authorities recently unveiled an underground site that strengthens Jewish ties to the hilltop compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.
The compound was the site of the biblical Jewish temples, and is considered so holy that many observant Jews will not go there for fear of defiling it. It currently houses the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques and is revered by Muslims as the place where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Israel has conducted archaeological digs near the compound since it captured the Old City of Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War. The digs infuriate the Palestinians and the Islamic Trust that oversees the mosque complex. The competing claims to the site have often acted as a catalyst for Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
In September, Israel unveiled a tourist center at the underground site near the compound that details the Jewish connection to the site. The center showcases a ritual bath from the period of the second Jewish Temple, destroyed in 70 A.D., and a wall archaeologists say dates to the first Jewish Temple, destroyed in 586 B.C.
The top Muslim clergyman, or mufti, of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, called the archaeological project an "aggression" that threatened the mosque compound and demanding an immediate end to the digs.
"These violations and aggression lead to tension in the region," he said Tuesday.
In 1996, Palestinians rioted after Israel opened an archaeological tunnel alongside the compound. Eighty people were killed in the violence.
In September 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the mosque compound. The next day, violence erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, evolving into a nearly five-year Palestinian uprising that killed more than 3,500 people on the Palestinian side and more than 1,000 people on the Israeli side.
Sabri and other local Muslim leaders also accused Israel of opening a synagogue in the newly opened site, which they considered a challenge to their own claims to the compound.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the chief rabbi of the Western Wall, said there was no new synagogue at the site and the digs did not go into the compound.
"It's lies and there is nothing behind what they are saying," he said.
Sheik Raed Salah, a radical leader of Israel's Islamic Movement, called the excavations a "black stain" on Israel and accused the government of plotting to destroy the mosques to build a new temple.
"You are inviting an uprising against you just to stop your attack on the mosque," he said.
Israel has repeatedly denied any plans to damage the mosques and has stopped several attempts by Jewish extremists to destroy the shrines.
"The third temple will not be built by people. As we know in the Jewish faith it will be built by God," Rabinovitch said.
Muslim Leader Threatens Gay Activists Planning Parade in Jerusalem
July 06, 2006
by Jim Kouri - JERUSALEM -- Last week a top Muslim leader, Sheik Ibrahim Sarsur,
who is also a member of the Israeli Kensett, warned gays that "if they dare to
approach the Temple Mount during the World Pride 2006 parade in Jerusalem - they
will do so over our dead bodies."
Charles Merrill, 72, a gay rights activist,
defiantly replied, "I will be approaching the Temple Mount out of love and
forgiveness to those who hate us. If the three major religions in the Middle
East (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) want us stoned to death as it dictates
in their ancient scriptures, then our gentle innocent blood will be on their
hands. Gays are
the meek in society and love all of humanity."
Merrill is one of thousands of homosexuals who will be taking part in World
Pride 2006, a gay event in the holy city of Jerusalem. The event, which is held
in a different world city every four years, was to have been in Jerusalem last
summer but postponed due to the Israeli pullout from the Gaza.
Sheik Sarsur warns that he will use all means at his disposal to stop the gay
pride parade and festivities in a city that is sacred to Christians, Jews and
Muslims, and may find such an event would defile the city's sanctity. Other
religious leaders have also condemned the use of Jerusalem for political
activism.
Merrill says he will be marching in Jerusalem on August 10th as a celebration of
universal love, and love across borders. Merrill's same sex partner, Kevin
Boyle, will remain in the USA to carry on in the event of Merrill's death at the
hands of religious extremists.
But some gays aren't big on the idea of this particular parade. One man said
that the parade will do more damage than good.
"Rubbing our lifestyles in the faces of religious people and leaders is not the
way to achieve acceptance and support for our rights. Jerusalem is considered
the holiest city on earth by three religions that have millions and millions of
followers. It's not the way to win them over," said the man, a New York City
fashion designer who wished to remain anonymous.
Merrill, 72 - whose cousin, Charles Merrill, founded Merrill Lynch, and whose
late wife, Evangeline, was the only daughter of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert
Wood Johnson - wants other gays to join him in World Pride 2006, Jerusalem,
Israel.
If Merrill's name sounds familiar, it's because he's also one of the founders of
a growing movement in the United States for homosexuals to withhold their taxes
until the government recognizes gay partners as having the same legal rights as
heterosexual married couples.
According to the two gay activists, the momentum for the same-sex marriage tax
protest started with a Page Six article in the New York Post and in an article
on the Internet news organization WorldNetDaily.com in February 2006.
The articles covered how Merrill and his partner protested an anti-gay marriage
amendment sponsored by President Bush.
Merrill said in a released statement, "As a result of nationwide publicity, we
have had e-mails from hundreds of gay men and women from all over the country
wanting to join us and asking how they could be a part of the gay tax protest."
Boyle added, "We gays will gladly pay our taxes once the government stops
discriminating against us and passes laws that allows us to marry the person[sic]
we love. We deserve the same Federal and State benefits as other married
citizens."
Discrimination in the tax code also caught the attention of Howard Dean,
chairman of the National Democratic Party. In a recent speech on June 3, 2006 to
the gay political group National Stonewall Democrats' conference in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, Dean mentioned the outrage of gays and lesbians who are denied the
benefits of marriage.
He is quoted as saying, "It is wrong for our tax code to be discriminatory. And
it is wrong for any group of Americans to live in fear of hate crimes. We
(Democrat Party) believe that every taxpayer should have the same government
services and benefits as any other American."
Dean also said, "The fight continues, and the Democrat Party is standing with
you by leading the fight against discrimination, and by helping you meet your
electoral objectives this fall...."
The World Gay Pride parade may be cancelled, however, due to the continuing
violence in the region between the Palestinian terrorists and the Israeli
defense forces.
Islamic heads call for violence over work by Temple Mount
Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST
Feb. 6, 2007
In a new showdown, Islamic leaders on Tuesday called for a new wave of violence against Israel over a contested Israeli archeological excavation near the Temple Mount.
The threats came as Israeli archeologists pressed ahead with a three-week-old salvage excavation in the archeological garden outside the Temple Mount ahead of the planned construction of a new bridge to the Mughrabi Gate.
"The danger in Jerusalem has increased. It is high time for the intifada of the Islamic people," the fiery leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel Raed Salah told reporters near the holy site on Tuesday.
"The continued Israeli aggression on Al Aksa Mosque and Jerusalem require all Palestinians to unite and remember that our battle is with the occupation," said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
The bridge, which is being built under the auspices of Israel's Antiquities Authority, will replace the temporary bridge which has been constructed on the section of the Western Wall allocated for women's prayer after the original stone ramp leading up to the Mughrabi Gate was removed, having been deemed unsafe by city engineers.
Israeli officials repeatedly emphasized Tuesday that the work underway at the site was outside the confines of the Temple Mount, and posed no danger to the mosque at the site.
"The construction of the bridge, located in its entirety outside the Temple Mount, has no impact on the Mount itself and certainly poses no danger to it," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said.
"There is nothing on earth that can cause damage to the walls of the Temple Mount, and certainly not to any structures inside," said Dr. Gideon Avni, the director of excavations and surveys at the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
He noted however that there was no cooperation with Islamic officials at the site over the issue.
According to decades-old regulation in place at the Temple Mount, Israel maintains overall security control at the site, while the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, is charged with day- to-day administration of the ancient compound.
By law, Israel is required to carry out a 'salvage excavation' before any construction goes ahead in the country. More than half a dozen such excavations are underway in the Old City of Jerusalem at present.
The decision over "when and how" to carry out the work near the Temple Mount has been going on for two years now, the Antiquities Authority archeologist said.
Jerusalem Police chief Ilan Franco said Tuesday that the work would take eight months to complete.
He added that 2000 police were deployed in and around the Old City on Tuesday to maintain law and order.
"It is clear to anyone who stands here that all the work is taking place outside the compound of the Temple Mount," Franco said in a briefing at the Western Wall plaza, where dozens of journalists had gathered to watch the work.
In low-level skirmishes, dozens of Arab teens pelted police with stones in various locations throughout east Jerusalem.
There were no injuries or damage reported.
11 suspects were arrested by police for taking part in the violence, Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
Earlier Tuesday, police had barred non-Muslims from entering the Temple Mount and restricted Muslim entry to the holy site to men over the age of 45 in a largely successful effort to ward off violence at the compound for the day.
The new bridge, which has received a green light from both the city's planning committee and the blessing of the rabbi of the Western Wall, is slated to tower above the archaeological garden adjacent to the Western Wall, and will be supported by as many as eight pylons in the archeological garden.
The garden, located outside the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, has been deemed one of the most significant archeological parks in Israel and the world.
The original stone ramp, which was built after the Six Day War in 1967, and served as the point of entry for non-Muslim visitors entering the Temple Mount, was badly damaged during an earthquake that rattled that region three years ago and by inclement wintry weather.
After being deemed unsafe by city engineers, the strategically-placed ramp was removed and a new temporary bridge was built next to it, which has cut off the allocated space for women's prayer at the Western Wall by more than one-third.
The Antiquities Authority was at pains Tuesday to explain why it decided not to support the existing ramp as some Israeli archeologists had proposed, or to use the existing route in building the new bridge.
The Temple Mount, which is Judaism's holiest and Islam's third holiest site, has been the scene of violence in the past, which later spilled out across the country.
Israel's opening of the Western Wall tunnels in 1996 was followed by a wave of Palestinian violence that killed 80 people, while Ariel Sharon's 2000 visit to the Temple Mount as opposition leader was followed by the latest round of Palestinian violence that has continued for over six years.
Israeli efforts to downplay the dig near the bitterly contested holy site -- known as the tinderbox of the Middle East -- fell on deaf ears in the Arab public, with Arab media playing up the heated rhetoric of Islamic officials blasting the work.
MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List) warned on Tuesday that the excavations are likely to ignite a third intifada, which will include protests and conflict throughout the Arab and Muslim world.
"The Israeli government is again provoking the Muslim world and the Palestinian people, and is not hesitating to ignite the region on behalf of irresponsible decisions," El-Sana said.
The latest controversy comes as an ancient wooden pulpit destroyed four decades ago by a deranged Australian tourist hoping to hasten the coming of the Messiah was restored in the El Aksa Mosque, and as Jordan presses ahead with plans to build a fifth minaret at the site.
Last decade, Wakf officials built the largest mosque in Israel in an underground architectural support of the Temple Mount known as the Solomon's Stables.
The construction of the mosque, which was carried out without any archeological supervision, was later called an "unprecedented archeological crime" by Israel's top archeological body.