By Michael Ledeen
Today, the
Temple Mount is the only territory in Israel where freedom of religion is not
enforced, because the Muslim Waqf wants it to be a strictly Islamic zone. Jews,
Christians and agnostics are not allowed to gather there for religious
observance of any sort, and tourist visits are strictly limited. No such
strictures are permitted in synagogues, churches, and such areas as the City of
David just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.
The Muslims have
used their power over the Temple Mount in an Orwellian
project to “prove”
there was never any Jewish presence there, the better to insist on the
“historic” rights of the Islamic ummah to exercise total control. To that end,
Jewish antiquities have been systematically removed, and bulldozers have been
deployed to erase any evidence of the temples in ancient times. This enables
them to claim that the Temple Mount has “always” been Muslim, even though its
alleged importance is not mentioned in the Koran.
If Dayan had
not returned the Temple Mount to Arab Muslim control, the same freedom of
religion that is practiced everywhere else in Israel would be extended to this
important area as well. Israeli security already provides protection to al Aqsa
and the Dome of the Rock, and, were it not for Dayan’s unfortunate decision,
the archeological integrity of the space could have been preserved.
As things stand
today, Israeli soldiers and police are used to keep non-Muslims from visiting
one of the most symbolically powerful places on earth, the place where Abraham
took his son to be sacrificed, where Jesus expelled the money-changers, and
where Mohammed set off on his heavenly horseback ride. Anyone seeking eventual
harmony among the Western world’s three great monotheistic religions should
want the maximum religious freedom and toleration on the Temple Mount.
Moreover, those who care about the preservation of the archeological remnants
of the ancient world should decry the systematic destruction of the Temple
Mount’s rich treasure of physical documentation of its past.
Ironically, the
Temple Mount is the site of fairly frequent religious conflict as the result of
a snap decision by a man who sought to prevent Israel from exercising
“colonial” control, and giving authority to just one of the three religions. It
hasn’t worked well.
STOP PRESS: During the days leading up to the Jewish New Year, Israeli
intelligence sources revealed that weapons were being stockpiled in the El Aqsa
Mosque on the Temple Mount. A search discovered pipe-bombs, fireworks,
stones and large rocks being collected for use on Jewish worshippers praying at
the Western Wall on the morning of Rosh HaShana. For entering the mosque to
confiscate the weapons, Israel has been harshly criticized by a number of
nations including Great Britain and Jordan but no such criticism has been
levelled at those planning what could have been a deadly attack.
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