Jewish Desire to Supplant Mosque Led to Massacre
November 22, 2014
Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery
retraces the decades-long decline
in Israeli-Palestinian relations that led to
the synagogue attack last week.
"The manifest desire of certain religious and right-wing fanatics to build the Third Temple in place of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, this was enough to create the belief that the holy shrines were indeed in danger."
"Individual Muslim inhabitants of the city started to act. Disdaining organizations, almost without arms, they started a series of attacks that are now called "the intifada of individuals". Acting alone, or with a brother or cousin whom he trusts, an Arab takes a knife, or a pistol (if he can get one), or his car, or a tractor, and kills the nearest Israelis. He knows that he is going to die."
Uri Avnery fought as a soldier in the Israeli war of independence in 1948, and was later elected to the Knesset. He is leader of the Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom.
(Uri Avnery, left) The annexation was presented to us (I was a member of the Knesset at the time) as a unification of the city... In fact, what happened in 1967 was anything but unification.
If the intent had really been unification, ...full Israeli citizenship would have been automatically conferred on all inhabitants. All the lost Arab properties in West Jerusalem, which had been expropriated in 1948, would have been restored to their rightful owners who had fled to East Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem municipality would have been expanded to include Arabs from the East, even without a specific request. And so on.
The opposite happened. No property was restored, nor any compensation paid. The municipality remained exclusively Jewish.
Arab inhabitants were not accorded Israeli citizenship, but merely "permanent residence". This is a status that can be arbitrarily revoked at any moment - and indeed was revoked in many cases, compelling the victims to move out of the city. For appearance's sake, Arabs were allowed to apply for Israel citizenship. The authorities knew, of course, that only a handful would apply, since doing so would mean recognition of the occupation. For Palestinians, this would be paramount to treason. (And the few that did apply were generally refused.)
The municipality was not broadened. In theory, Arabs are entitled to vote in municipal elections, but only a handful do so, for the same reasons. In practice, East Jerusalem remains occupied territory.
TEDDY KOLLEKS ROLE
The mayor, Teddy Kollek, was elected two years before the annexation. One of his first actions after it was to demolish the entire Mugrabi Quarter next to the Western Wall, leaving a large empty square resembling a parking lot. The inhabitants, all of them poor people, were evicted within hours.
The mayor, Teddy Kollek, was elected two years before the annexation. One of his first actions after it was to demolish the entire Mugrabi Quarter next to the Western Wall, leaving a large empty square resembling a parking lot. The inhabitants, all of them poor people, were evicted within hours.
But Kollek was a genius in public relations. He ostensibly established friendly relations with the Arab notables, introduced them to foreign visitors and created a general impression of peace and contentment. Kollek built more new Israeli neighborhoods on Arab land than any other person in the country. Yet this master-settler collected almost all the world's peace prizes, except the Nobel Prize. East Jerusalem remained quiet.Only few knew of a secret directive from Kollek, instructing all municipal authorities to see to it that the Arab population - then 27% - did not rise above that level.
Kollek was ably supported by Moshe Dayan, then the Defense Minister. Dayan believed in keeping the Palestinians quiet by giving them all possible benefits, except freedom.
A few days after the occupation of East Jerusalem, he removed the Israeli flag which had been planted by soldiers in front of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Dayan also turned the de facto authority over the Mount over to the Muslim religious authorities.
Jews were allowed into the Temple compound only in small numbers and only as quiet visitors. They were forbidden to pray there, and forcibly removed if they moved their lips. They could, after all, pray to their heart's content at the adjoining Western Wall (which is a part of the compound's ancient outer wall).
The government was able to impose this decree because of a quaint religious fact: Orthodox Jews are forbidden by the rabbis to enter the Temple Mount altogether. According to a Biblical injunction, ordinary Jews are not allowed into the Holy of Holies, only the High Priest was allowed in. Since nobody today knows where exactly this place is located, pious Jews may not enter the entire compound.
AS A result, the first few years of the occupation were a happy time for East Jerusalem. Jews and Arabs mingled freely. It was fashionable for Jews to shop in the colorful Arab market and dine in the "oriental" restaurants. I myself often stayed in Arab hotels and made quite a number of Arab friends.
This atmosphere changed gradually. The government and the municipality spent a lot of money to gentrify West Jerusalem, but Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem were neglected, and turned into slums. The local infrastructure and services degenerated. Almost no building permits were issued to Arabs, in order to compel the younger generation to move outside the city borders. Then the "Separation" Wall was built, preventing those outside from entering the city, cutting them off from their schools and jobs. Yet In spite of everything, the Arab population grew and reached 40%.
Political oppression grew. Under the Oslo agreements, Jerusalemite Arabs were allowed to vote for the Palestinian Authority. But then they were prevented from doing so, their representatives were arrested and expelled from the city. All Palestinian institutions were forcibly closed down, including the famous Orient House, where the much admired and beloved leader of the Jerusalem Arabs, the late Faisal al-Husseini, had his office.
KOLLEK was succeeded by Ehud Olmert and an Orthodox mayor who didn't give a damn for East Jerusalem, except the Temple Mount.
And then an additional disaster occurred. Secular Israelis are leaving Jerusalem, which is rapidly becoming an Orthodox bastion. In desperation they decided to oust the Orthodox mayor and elect a secular businessman. Unfortunately, he is a rabid ultra-nationalist.
Nir Barkat behaves like the mayor of West Jerusalem and the military governor of East Jerusalem. He treats his Palestinian subjects like enemies, who may be tolerated if they obey quietly, and brutally suppressed if they do not. Together with the decade-old neglect of the Arab neighborhoods, the accelerated pace of building new Jewish neighborhoods, the excessive police brutality (openly encouraged by the mayor), they are producing an explosive situation.The total cutting-off of Jerusalem from the West Bank, its natural hinterland, worsens the situation even more.
To this may be added the termination of the so-called peace process, since all Palestinians are convinced that East Jerusalem must be the capital of the future State of Palestine.
JEWS CLAIMING THE TEMPLE MOUNT
THIS SITUATION needed only a spark to ignite the city. This was duly provided by the right-wing demagogues in the Knesset. Vying for attention and popularity, they started to visit the Temple Mount, one after the other, every time unleashing a storm. Added to the manifest desire of certain religious and right-wing fanatics to build the Third Temple in place of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, this was enough to create the belief that the holy shrines were indeed in danger.
Then came the ghastly revenge-murder of an Arab boy who was abducted by Jews and burned alive with gasoline poured into his mouth.
Individual Muslim inhabitants of the city started to act. Disdaining organizations, almost without arms, they started a series of attacks that are now called "the intifada of individuals". Acting alone, or with a brother or cousin whom he trusts, an Arab takes a knife, or a pistol (if he can get one), or his car, or a tractor, and kills the nearest Israelis. He knows that he is going to die.
The two cousins who killed four Jews in a synagogue this week - and also an Arab Druze policeman - knew this. They also knew that their families were going to suffer, their home be demolished, their relatives arrested. They were not deflected. The mosques were more important.Moreover, the day before, an Arab bus driver was found dead in his bus. According to the police, the autopsy proved that he committed suicide. An Arab pathologist concluded that he was murdered. No Arab believes the police - Arabs are convinced that the police always lie.
Immediately after the Synagogue killing, the Israeli choir of politicians and commentators went into action. They did so with an astonishing unanimity - ministers, Knesset members, ex-generals, journalists, all repeating with slight variations the same message. The reason for this is simple: every day the Prime Minister's office sends out a "page of messages", instructing all parts of the propaganda machine what to say.
This time the message was that Mahmoud Abbas was to blame for everything, a "terrorist in a suit", the leader whose incitement causes the new intifada. No matter that the chief of the Shin Bet testified on the very same day that Abbas has neither overt nor covert connections with the violence.
Binyamin Netanyahu faced the cameras and with a solemn face and lugubrious voice - he is a really good actor - repeated again what he has said many times before, every time pretending that this is new recipe: more police, harder punishments, demolition of homes, arrests and large fines for parents of 13-year old children who are caught throwing stones, and so on.Every expert knows that the result of such measures will be the exact opposite. More Arabs will become incensed and attack Israeli men and women. Israelis, of course, will "take revenge" and "take the law into their own hands".
For both inhabitants and tourists, walking the streets of Jerusalem, the city which is "joined together", has become a risky adventure. Many stay at home.
The Unholy City is more divided than ever before.
First Comment from Dan:
I was floored to learn that Uri Avnery is 91 years old. Who is going to replace the wise people?
Here's a good 20 minute interview with Uri Avnery from August, 2014. He was focused on current events, but LInda Goodman kept asking him about his time in the Irgun. His family emigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1933 after the the election of Hitler. He was recruited in the Irgun in 1938 at fifteen. Due to his education and intelligence they put him to work editing their paper, "The Struggle". He quit the Irgun in 1942 due to their indiscriminate bloodshed. He didn't go along with the policy of retaliating against murder with murder.
He response to this introduction is meaningful. "I was a member of a terrorist organization when I was fifteen years old. I believe I understand the psychology of young people who join organization which are called terrorist by their enemies, but which think if themselves as freedom fighters." He went on to say the cease fires never work because the Israelis and members of Hamas never talk to each other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eVnMyZFzIY
I was floored to learn that Uri Avnery is 91 years old. Who is going to replace the wise people?
Here's a good 20 minute interview with Uri Avnery from August, 2014. He was focused on current events, but LInda Goodman kept asking him about his time in the Irgun. His family emigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1933 after the the election of Hitler. He was recruited in the Irgun in 1938 at fifteen. Due to his education and intelligence they put him to work editing their paper, "The Struggle". He quit the Irgun in 1942 due to their indiscriminate bloodshed. He didn't go along with the policy of retaliating against murder with murder.
He response to this introduction is meaningful. "I was a member of a terrorist organization when I was fifteen years old. I believe I understand the psychology of young people who join organization which are called terrorist by their enemies, but which think if themselves as freedom fighters." He went on to say the cease fires never work because the Israelis and members of Hamas never talk to each other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eVnMyZFzIY
Dan said (November 23, 2014):
American liberal Catholics and even the 'Christian Zionists' were disturbed and confused by Israel's massive overkill in Gaza last summer. Such vicious behavior is dissonant with those insulated, candy coated 'Holy Land' tours.
But the spin campaigns are up to speed now to sooth them back to sleep. Last week I got an email invitation to register for a national Catholic teleconference on "Holding out Hope: The Future of a Two-State Solution for the Holy Land"
I was disappointed that this topic morphed into a pity plea for the poor entrepreneurs in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv suffering from the downturn in tourist traffic.
The email plea said: "Because of the recent unrest in the Holy Land, tourism has declined sharply, and fair trade artisans and farmers are losing vital income that they would normally earn from those making pilgrimages".
Here's the money shot: World Fair Trade Day: A Glimpse into the Holy Land
http://www.crsfairtrade.org/world-fair-trade-day-a-glimpse-into-the-holy-land/
The blurb reads, "When I initially think of the Holy Land I think of my Christian faith, of Muslims and Jews, how we are all connected by this sacred place".
I'm sorry that the 'unrest' has interrupted the Baltimore based Catholic Relief Services tax exempt commercial partnerships with Israel, but the way they say "Holy Land" I hear "KA-CHING!" in the background. Is anyone reminded for Jesus and the moneychangers in the Temple? Or am I just being negative? (I refer to Matthew 21:12.)
Gaza's been forgotten due to the act of two young Palestinian cousins. Now we're shown the faces of the dead rabbis, and their Palestinian killers. Maybe the murder at synagogue had less to nothing to do with the Mosque. Nobody is asking if they lost relatives in Gaza maybe?
I'll leave the debates on "who started it" and "who's gonna finish it" to everybody else. All I'm qualified to say it that the Catholic 'NGO'S are IMPOTENT as peacemakers because it's become all about the "Ka-ching", and preserving their candy coated Holy Land fantasies.