TheOsloaccord is null and void! - A scathing indictment of the world
nations at large!r11
The Arab-Palestinians
Charter explicitly states that they want the State of Israel for themselves and
the Jewish people destroyed.
The Arab-Palestinians actions to date have proven that they do not want peace.
Why the liberal left and many of the world nations is are fantasizing and
deluding themselves that the Arabs want peace.
People of the world wake up and realize what their ultimate mission is,
eliminate the unbelievers. The Arabs promote and indoctrinate the children to
commit terror and violence.
The Arabs never intended
to abide by the Accord, or any other agreements withIsraelfor that matter. It was only a means to take control of territory
and eventually take over all ofIsraeland expel and kill the Jews again, and they do not hide their
intentions.
No Democratic country in
the world would tolerate the terror violence and mayhem being committed inIsraelby the Arabs. Any country that does not take extreme actions to
stop this terror and violence is shirking its responsibility and obligation to
its citizens and should be replaced.
Just like Abbas statement
this week. It is time for formally announcing that the Oslo Accord is null and
void and institute a population exchange. Moving the Arabs toJordan and or the 120,000 sq.
km. the Arab countries confiscated from the terrorized and expelled million
Jewish families. Thus, take back complete control of Judea and Samaria and
everything west of the Jordan River as decreed by post WWI international law
and treaties, including the January 1919 Faisal Weitzman Agreement.
If the world at large does not wake up now they will be next. It already has
started, take off the blinders, open you eyes and look around. The current
refugee problem fromSyria and others are floodingEuropeand changing the nature and face ofEuropeand others.
They are taking overEuropewithout a battle.
No entity in the world will force a solution onIsrael.
They forced or were complicit to the Final solution in WWII with the Holocaust
and the extermination of over 6 million Jewish people, men women and children.
Where were the world’s nation’s outcry, threats and objection when millions of
Jewish people were being exterminated, men women and children? They were
silent.
The Arab world received
over 5 million square miles of territory after WWI and they begrudge the 75,000
sq. miles Israel was suppose to get and took 78% of it for Jordan and now they
want more, until there is no Israel at all.
Where was the world nations when the Arab countries persecuted, terrorized and
expelled over a million Jewish families and their children from their countries
many who lived there for over 2,500 years, (and that includes the original
Jewish City of Medina and the Jewish community in Mecca, which predates Islam
by a thousand years), the Arabs confiscated their assets, business, homes and
land 6 times the size of Israel (120,440 sq. km. or 75,000 sq. miles), valued
in the trillions of dollars? Most of the expelled Jewish families settled in Israeland now comprise over half the population.
Where are the world nations today? Why do they ignore when thousands are
slaughtered by Muslims throughout the world. (Where are the compassionate Arab
countries taking in the current Arab refugees, they have a vast expanse of
vacant lands). The Muslims have killed over a half a billion people since the
Muslim religion was initiated.
Israel, since its independence
in 1948 and continuing thru today.Israelis being threatened with annihilation and whenIsraeldefends itself from destruction, terror, suicide bombers, thousands
of missiles, violence, etc, by the Arabs, every country has something to say,
threatenIsraeland meddle in its internal business.
This is the time when nations of the world must mind their own business and
stay out ofIsrael’s internal affairs. Only
then there will be a possibility of peace.
Jordan is The
Arab-PalestineState r3 Jordan is a country that never existed in history before WWI
and nobody is contesting its legitimacy or territorial sovereignty and control.
Jordan's territory was taken from land allocated to the
Jewish people under international law and treaties and signed by the 1919
Faisal Weitzmann Agreement. The amount of land taken away from the Jewish
people for Jordan is about 78% from the total original allocation under
the San Remo treaty of 75,000 sq. miles or 120,000 sq. km. The
Arabs received over 5 million sq. miles. The same powers that established 21
Arab States after WWI, which nobody is contesting either, had established the
State of Israel in 1920 based on the 1917 Balfour Declaration. On the other
hand, Israel and its Jewish people have over 3500 year history.
Many Nations and people are questioning Israel's control of its liberated territory. No one is
mentioning that the Arab countries had terrorized and ejected over a million
Jewish families from their lands; where many of the Jews have lived for over
2,400 years, the Arabs confiscated all their assets, businesses, homes and over
120,000 sq. km. of real property which is valued in the trillions of dollars. (That
includes property and land east of the Jordan River which is now the State of Jordan and no Jews are
permitted to live in Jordan. Most of these expelled Jewish families and their
children are resettled in Greater Israel they constitute today over half the
population of Israel.
If this is not discrimination against Israel, I do not know what is.
It seems like nobody cares about land violations in other countries in the
world, but when it comes to Israel, everyone has a say. Israel's rights in the treaty of San Remo of 1920 are in affect in perpetuity, it clearly
states that the Jewish people are the only ones with political rights in the
British Mandate of Palestine and that the Jewish people can live anywhere in
the British Mandate for Palestine
aka Israel. The UN has no authority to redraw and or recreate
countries, it can only recommend and if the recommendation is not accepted by
all parties, it has no binding affect and no validity or meaning whatsoever.
If the U.S., Europe and other countries will stop meddling, and stop its
criticism and involvement in the politics of Israel and the Arabs, than there will be a chance for peace.
We know the great powers are only interested in the OIL and nothing else, that
is the bottom line.
In fact sovereignty of the Jews over Palestine West of the Jordan is supported five ways:
1. By the grant of the WWI Allies of exclusive political rights to Palestine in trust to World Jewry on April 25, 1920, intended to vest when the Jews in Palestine had attained a population majority. Prior to that
time, England abandoned its trusteeship as the mandatory power, and
de jure sovereignty devolved to the Jews who attained a majority not long
afterwards in 1950 from the immigration of all the Jews in the Middle East who were dispossessed of their homes where they and their ancestors
had lived for centuries.
2. In the opinion of world acclaimed International Lawyers Julius Stone and
Steven Schwebel based on Jordan's conquest of Judea,
Samaria and East
Jerusalem in an aggressive
war and their liberation by Israel in a defensive war.
3. Under US and UK treaty law based on the Anglo American Convention of 1924.
4. In the historic way sovereignty was gained, by asserting Israeli sovereignty
in 1948 and defending its territory with its blood and treasure, establishing
control and stability over its claimed territory.
5. Under Canon law by a gift from God, as shown in the Old Testament.
YJ Draiman
"No Jew is entitled to give up the right of establishing [i.e. settling]
the Jewish Nation in all of the Land of Israel. No Jewish body has
such power. Not even all the Jews alive today [i.e. the entire Jewish People]
have the power to cede any part of the country or homeland whatsoever. This is
a right vouchsafed or reserved for the Jewish Nation throughout all
generations. This right cannot be lost or expropriated under any condition or
circumstance. Even if at some particular time, there are those who declare that
they are relinquishing this right, they have no power or competence to deprive
coming generations of this right. The Jewish nation is neither bound nor
governed by such a waiver or renunciation. Our right to the whole of this
country is valid, in force and endures forever. And until the Final Redemption
has come, we will not budge from this historic right."
BEN-GURION'S DECLARATION ON THE EXCLUSIVE AND
INALIENABLE JEWISH RIGHT TO THE WHOLE OF
THE LAND OF ISRAEL:
at the Basle Session of the 20th Zionist Congress at Zurich (1937)
Jerusalem is unique among the cities of the world, with special, although differing, claims on the religious and cultural sentiments of millions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is holy for the three monotheistic religions because of religiously significant events that took place in the city. It is therefore important to set out the nature and meaning of Jewish, Christian and Muslim commitments to Jerusalem and their implications. We hope that such an approach will contribute to the discovery of common ground and lead to constructive policies and programs for the welfare of all the peoples in the region.
The Significance of Jerusalem for Jews
For the Jewish people, Jerusalem is not merely a locus of holy sites or religiously and historically significant memories. The city itself is holy,1 and for at least 3,000 years, Jerusalem has become synonymous with hope and meaning in Jewish life. From biblical times — when God, as tradition teaches, spoke of the place that He would choose for His people — to the return of the Jewish people to Zion in our day (however improbable it seemed until then), the continuous and unwavering centrality of Jerusalem in Jewish life has been unquestioned.2 (The name Zion properly indicates the Temple Mount and later came to signify Jerusalem the capital city and, eventually, the entire Holy Land.) When, in 1006 B.C., King David unified the tribes of Israel and captured Jerusalem, establishing there the center of his kingdom, Jerusalem became the primary symbol of the tribes’ transition from “peoplehood” to “statehood.” The sacred nature of the city was assured when, during the reign of King David, the Ark of the Covenant was brought up from Kiryat Ye’arim, west of Jerusalem, and later placed by his son Solomon in the First Temple. As a reward for his act, God promised King Solomon that “Your dynasty and your sovereignty will stand firm before Me and your throne forever secure” (2 Samuel 17:16). The Talmud records that because of three transgressions — immoral sexual behavior, unwarranted bloodshed, and idolatry — Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C.3 The city’s Jewish inhabitants were sent into exile and the First Temple destroyed. In Babylon, the Jews were faced with the challenge of surviving as a people the destruction of their spiritual and political center. Their sense of devastating loss was poignantly expressed in Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows there we hung our harps, when our captors demanded of us songs; our tormentors asked of us mirth: “Sing us some of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I ever forget you, O Jerusalem, withered be my right hand! May my tongue cleave to my palate, if ever I think not of you, if ever I set not Jerusalem above my highest joy! After the Jews had been driven from Zion, it remained in their hearts. The dream of Jerusalem’s restoration also symbolized the awaited messianic era when the Jews would be restored to Zion and Zion to the Jews, with all peoples acknowledging God as Sovereign.4 This sequence is reflected in the standard Amidah prayer, the central part of the daily service recited by observant Jews three times a day, during which they pray for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and for the flourishing of the Messiah. The traditional significance of being buried on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple Mount, is based in part upon the desire to be ready at hand for the coming of the Messiah. The Second Temple was built in 515 B.C., after a decree by Coresh, the King of Persia, and was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Throughout the reigns of the Hasmonean rulers (leaders of the Jewish community after the revolt against the Greeks in 16 B.C.), and until the first Jewish revolt against the Romans in 70 A.D., Jerusalem was a center of pilgrimage. It was said that “He who has not seen Sukkot in Jerusalem has not seen life.”5 After the second Jewish revolt was put down (132-135 A.D.) and a 1,800-year period of exile began, the image of Jerusalem in Jewish thought took on three dimensions: that of historical Jerusalem; that of Jerusalem destroyed; and that of heavenly Jerusalem, the object of God’s promises and continuing commitment. All over the world, Jews pray in the direction of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples on the fast day of the Ninth of Av (a Hebrew month), and recite the solemn promise, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.” Even during the Jewish marriage ceremony, a glass is broken under the wedding canopy, as a reminder, in the midst of the rejoicing, of the destruction of the Temple. Likewise, it is a custom to leave a small section of a new home unplastered or otherwise unfinished in memory of the destruction. And both the Passover ceremony, known as the seder, and the liturgy for the Day of Atonement end with the invocation “Next Year in Jerusalem!” In Jewish law, Jerusalem is considered the center, or navel, of the world, from which benefits to all nations flow. The beauty of Jerusalem is thought to exceed all other beauties of the world: “Of the ten portions of beauty which came down to the world, Jerusalem took nine.”6 It was in Jerusalem, the tradition teaches, that all great events of history took place or are destined to occur, from the creation of the world, the binding of Isaac, and the establishment of the inner sanctuary of the Temple — the “Holy of Holies” — to the dawn of the messianic era and the resurrection of the dead. The significance of Jerusalem is also apparent in the proliferation of sources, from the Bible onward, that refer to the city. The Hebrew Bible mentions Jerusalem by that name some 700 times and by the name of Zion some 150 times. The implicit references to Jerusalem and Zion are even more numerous. In the words of Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2, “For out of Zion will come forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The Significance of Jerusalem for Christians
The early Church recognized the primacy of Jerusalem at the center of the Christian message. In the New Testament, Jerusalem symbolizes the new people of God redeemed by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It is here that Christ will return to fulfill the Word of God and that the Last Judgment will take place (Rev. 21:1-3). It is the center of the world, Jerusalem, that will be the scene of salvation, the focal point of the messianic age.
The significance of Jerusalem for Christians has two inseparable elements: the holy places associated with the life and teachings of Christ — with His crucifixion, burial and ascension — and the community of Christians living in the city. Although it is the “new Jerusalem” (“heavenly Jerusalem”) that symbolizes the city of God for Christians (Rev. 3:12), nevertheless, pilgrims from all over the world encounter God in the earthly city. For many Christians, visiting the holy places associated with the life and preaching of Jesus Christ, and being in an environment where history comes to life, have proven an inspiration to their fulfilling the commandment of taking the Gospel into the world (Mark 16:15). Jerusalem for them is the place where the gift of the Spirit is present; where the Church was established (Acts 2). The first Christian community came to incarnate the ecclesiastical ideal in this city. The Church — the body of Christ, or the community of believers in Christ — is an earthly reflection of the spiritual entity in heavenly Jerusalem.7
Christians envision Jerusalem as the place foretold of salvation in and through Jesus Christ. That is, Christians recognize in their faith the long history of the people of God, with Jerusalem as its center, as the history of salvation that fulfills God’s design in and through Jesus Christ. The one God chose Jerusalem to be the place where His name alone would dwell in the midst of His people, so that they might offer worship that is worthy of Him. The prophets looked up to Jerusalem, especially after the purification of the exile of the Hebrews: Jerusalem was to be called the “City of justice, faithful City” (Isa. 1:26-27), where the Lord dwells in holiness as in Sinai (cf. Psalm 68:18). They prophesied that the Lord would place the city in the middle of the nations (Ez. 5:5), where the Second Temple was to become a house of prayer for all the peoples (Isa. 2:2, 56:6-7). Jerusalem, aglow with the presence of God (Isa. 60:1), is meant to be a city whose gates are always open (Isa.11), with peace as magistrate and justice as government (Isa.17).
Jerusalem is Christianity’s holy land, associated with the most important events in Christianity. Yet there is a remarkable absence of reference to the land in the New Testament. The Apostles were unconcerned with the location of the various appearances of the Risen Lord.8 These occurrences were considered unique in character, unrepeatable, and confined to a limited period, but not geographically located. Indeed, Jesus went to Jerusalem with the aim of creating a community worthy of the name of the people of God. The Book of Revelations proclaims the anticipation of the new, heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12, 21:2, cf. Gal. 4:21-27, Heb. 12:22). The name “Jerusalem” in the New Testament signifies not an earthly city, but a heavenly one, which is the archetype of the Church. It becomes a symbol of the final or ultimate community, where God dwells with His own. Thus, the New Testament itself exhibits a marked tendency towards what might be called a “de-territorialization” of the concept of holiness. Christians see the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in Jesus Christ, who embodies the temple of God (Rev. 21:22). It is not the temple that is the center, but Christ; it is not the Holy City or Land that constitutes the “area” of holiness, but the new community, the body of Christ.9 According to this view, the Church belongs to an already existing heavenly city.
However, the land retains its physical significance in Christianity. The need to remember Jesus entails the need to remember the Jesus of a particular land. Jesus belongs not only to time, but to space; and the spaces that He occupied take on a significance of their own, so that the realia of Judaism continues as realia in Christianity. History in the tradition demanded geography.10
Earthly Jerusalem, in the Christian tradition, prefigures heavenly Jerusalem. It becomes the image and symbol of the Promised Land — heavenly Jerusalem. Jerusalem is no longer only a land and an earthly heritage, it is in a special way the spiritual heritage of humankind in need of salvation.11 Paul shares in the apocalyptic view that heavenly Jerusalem already exists on high. “But those who live by faith in Christ already live the life of the New Jerusalem and are citizens of Heaven” (Gal. 2:19-21, Phil. 3:20). Christians on earth already share the glories of the heavenly city, which belongs to that realm “where eye hath not seen nor ear heard”: a vision that emphasizes the transcendental meaning of the land. Therefore, the New Testament finds holy space wherever Christ is or has been and it personalizes “Holy Space” in Christ, who, as a figure of history, is rooted in the land.
The Significance of Jerusalem for Muslims
The spiritual importance of Beit al-Maqdis12 (Jerusalem) and Masjid al-Aqsa (the al-Aqsa Mosque) derives from the fact that for sixteen months,13 the mosque was the first qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims. It is Islam’s second most holy mosque, after Mecca. Furthermore, Jerusalem is commonly associated with the “night journey” (isra’) of the Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to the Masjid al-Aqsa, as recorded in the Quran (17:1), as well as his ascension (mi’raj) to Heaven to receive the principles of Islam from Allah (God). Both events happened one year before the hijra, Mohammad’s move from Mecca to Medina, in 622 A.D.14
Accounts of these famous events record that, on his way to Beit al-Maqdis, the Prophet Mohammad visited the tomb of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) in Hebron (al-Khalil), where he performed two prostrations (rak’a).15 He also visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where the Prophet Jesus (‘Isa) was born, and performed two rak’as there as well. Hence, the holiness of Jerusalem to Islam has very strong roots, since Islam respects all the prophets before the time of Mohammad, though granting him primacy over and above those of Judaism and Christianity.
Jerusalem became an Islamic city in the first half of the seventh century A.D. when the Muslims entered the Holy City (in 15 A.H./636 A.D.), during the reign of the second Muslim caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab). According to historical sources, “Umar came in person for the purpose of receiving the surrender of the city from its patriarch, Sophronius, who refused to give it up to anyone else. The sources also state that the caliph declared a special covenant (sulh, ‘ahd) to the Christians living in the city; its text developed over time into the form known as the Covenant of ‘Umar (al-‘uhda al-‘umariyya). In this covenant, the caliph guaranteed religious freedom and the safety of the churches and secured the lives, fortunes and properties of the people living in Jerusalem.
The Muslims recognized the area of Mount Moriah, with the Rock where the al-Aqsa Mosque stands, as the most holy spot in Beit al-Maqdis for the Islamic religion. The significance of Jerusalem for Muslims is documented in the Quran, in verses that mention it using the name of al-Masjid al-Aqsa, and in the prophetic traditions (hadith) of Mohammad, which give several accounts relating the importance of Jerusalem. Among them is the tradition, “Whoever wants to see a part of Paradise, let him look to Beit al-Maqdis.”16 According to another tradition, recounted by the last Orthodox caliph, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taleb, “The most exalted spot is Beit al-Maqdis and the most exalted rock is the Rock of Beit al-Maqdis.”17
The importance lent to Jerusalem led the Umayyads to strengthen their political and religious relationship with Beit al-Maqdis. This first becomes apparent with the Umayyad caliph Mu’awiya, who took his oath of allegiance (bay’a) in Jerusalem and was known as the “Prince of the Holy Land” (Amir al-Ard al-Muqaddasa). There can be no doubt that Abd al-Malik regarded Jerusalem as a holy place, in particular, the site of Mount Moriah, where he laid out the plan of Haram al-Sharif as it exists to this day. The connection with Jerusalem was also strongly developed by Abd al-Malik, no stranger to such ideas, since he had resided for a long time in Syria-Palestine and was the governor of the province of Filastin during the caliphate of Mu’awiya, which ended in 750 A.D.
In order to understand further the Islamic significance of Jerusalem, we have to turn to the fada’il literature, the elegies about the religious merits of Jerusalem.18 The fada’il literature may have existed from the time of the Prophet and continued to be transmitted in the Umayyad and later Islamic periods. The earliest fada’il books by Abu Bakr al-Wasiti and Ibn al-Murajja were compiled before the Crusades. But this type of literature was produced principally in response to the Crusades, to draw the attention of Muslims to Jerusalem and to reach jihad (holy war) to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Crusaders. The fada’il literature is vital to understanding the Islamic meaning of Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Islamization of Jerusalem occurred in the first year A.H. (620 A.D.), the year when Allah ordered Muslims to face the city as their first qibla as they performed their daily prostrations, and when the night journey and ascension to heaven took place. Because Jerusalem was greatly revered before Islam, Allah made it the site of reverence for Muslims as well, just as the ka’ba in Mecca had been built by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma’il (Ishmael)19 and then turned into the first holy place of Islam.
The reason, therefore, that Allah had Muslims pray toward Jerusalem (al-Masjid al-Aqsa) for sixteen months and then ordered them to pray toward the ka’ba, and the reason that the night journey occurred between the two mosques — al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem — is in fact to confirm the link between Islam and the pre-Islamic religions.
Extracted from Jerusalem: Points of Friction and Beyond. Edited by Moshe Ma’oz and Sari Nusseibeh. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000. Reprinted by permission. Endnotes1. Mishnah Kelin 1, 6-9. 2. R.J. Werblowsky, The Meaning of Jerusalem to Jews, Christians and Muslims (Jerusalem: Israeli Universities Study Group for Middle Eastern Affairs, 1983), p. 14. 3. Tosefta Mehunot 13:22. 4. Raphael Jospe, “The Significance of Jerusalem: A Jewish Perspective,” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture, 2:2 (1995), p. 37. 5. Sukkah 51b. 6. Esther Rabbah (Vilna), 1:17. 7. Werblowsky, The Meaning of Jerusalem, p. 9. 8. This may be attributed to the fact that, during the first two centuries, the early Christians expected a speedy end to the age they lived in, and therefore had little interest in preserving the memory of the holy sites. Moreover, as members of a persecuted religion, they were unable to make public pilgrimages or erect shrines. J.W. Parkes/R.P./S.P.C., in Encyclopaedia Judaica (New York: Macmillan, 1971), s.v. “Holy Places.” 9. Werblowsky, The Meaning of Jerusalem, p. 7. 10. Marc H. Tanenbaum and R.J. Zwi Werblowsky, eds., The Jerusalem Colloquium on Religion, Peoplehood, Nation, and Land. Proceedings, Truman Research Institute Publication No. 7 (Jerusalem: The Truman Institute, the American Jewish Committee, and the Israel Interfaith Committee, 1972), p. 152. 11. Msgr. Michel Sabbah, Reading the Bible Today in the Land of the Bible. In pulchritudine pacis. Pastoral Letter 4 (Jerusalem: Latin Patriarchate Printing Press, 1993), p. 53. 12. Encyclopedia of Islam (1971), s.v. “Bayt al-Maqdis.” 13. Al-Suyuti, in A. Ramadan, ed., Ithaf al-Akhissa fi Fada’il al-Masjid al-Aqsa (Cairo, 1984), pp. 183-184. 14. The Quranic verse that confirmed the night journey (al-Isra’ wa-al-Mi’raj) is the first verse of Surah 17, which was given the name al-Isra’. The verse reads: “Glory to Allah who did take His Servant for a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of our Signs, for He is the one who heareth and seeth [all things],” ‘Abd Allah Yusuf ‘Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Quran (Brentwood: Amana, 1991). The most significant hadith concerning the religious status of the al-Aqsa Mosque is “You shall journey to but three masjids (mosques): al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), and my Masjid (Medina).” Mentioned in Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 2 (1981), p. 58, and Muslim, Sahih Muslim, vol. 2 (1978), pp. 975-76. 15. Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali, Al-Uns al-Jalil fi-Tarikh al-Quds wa’al-Khalil, vol. 1 (Amman, 1973), pp. 238-239. 16. Ibid. 17. M. Dabbagh, Biladuna Filastin, vol. 3 (Beirut, 1988), pp. 82-83. 18. Abu Bakr al-Wasiti, Fada’il al-Bayt al-Muqaddas, in I. Hasson, ed. (Jerusalem, 1979); Ibn al-Jawzi in Jibra’il Jabbur, ed., Fada’il al-Quds (Beirut, 1980); al-Hanbali, Al-Uns al-Jalil; Ibn al-Murajja, Abu al-Ma’ali al-Musharraf, in Ofer Livne-Kafri Shafram, ed., Fada’il al-Bayt al-Maqdis wa al-Khalil wa Fada’il al-Sham (1995); and others. 19. Al-Hamawi, Mu’jan al-Buldan, vol. 5 (Beirut, 1979), pp. 464-465.
Seven Places in Israel That Will Make You Cry: The Wailing Wall
.
The view from the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, in Jerusalem during prayers. Photo Credit: Photo: Gilad Benari
The Western Wall forms part of the western flank of the holy site of the Temple Mount. The wall is the imposing remnant of Jerusalem's Second Temple (Herod's Temple), which the Romans destroyed in 70 CE. Because it's all that's left, the Jewish tradition of visiting the wall and mourning the destruction of the temple also resulted in the name, The Wailing Wall.
Jewish tradition holds that despite the temple's destruction, the divine presence never left.
It's customary to write a note, ostensibly for divine consideration, and place it between the large, ancient stones. Regardless of your faith, it is remarkable to see the archaeological trace of an ancient religion. And to feel the power that it still exerts. At all of Jerusalem's holy sites but perhaps especially the Wailing Wall, it's really okay to cry.
Nowhere on earth is more sanctified than the segment of the Middle East known as the Holy Land. In this sacred space, the main monotheistic faiths believe, God entered into a relationship with the human race.
In this land lie the ruins of the world’s oldest civilizations. Its strategic location, at the junction of Africa, Asia and Europe, made it a corridor between East and West — and a much-trampled prize for conquering armies. Much blood has been spilt on its holy ground.
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, by David Roberts in 1842 (Library of Congress)
It is a place of perpetual tension between Jew and Arab, and a place of extreme contrast in terrain — from fertile farmland to arid desert.
Pilgrims have come since ancient times. With the Bible as their tour guide, they endured all kinds of hardship and perils in their quest to visit the holy places.
Holy Land stretches from Egypt to Syria
The term Holy Land encompasses the places in the Middle East that are mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. It includes:
Israel and the Palestinian Territories (which hold most of the sites sacred to Jews and Christians)
Western Jordan (where Moses glimpsed the Promised Land and Christ was baptised).
The Sinai Peninsula in Egypt (where Moses and the Israelites wandered for 40 years)
Southern Syria (where Elijah took refuge and St Paul was converted)
This is the land described by God in Exodus 3:8 as “flowing with milk and honey” (that would have been sheep or goat milk and date honey).
Central to the Holy Land is Israel. The world’s only Jewish state, it occupies just a tiny proportion of the globe. It is the size of New Jersey or Wales, and about a third the size of Sri Lanka or Tasmania.
Central to the Holy Land is the state of Israel (Wikimedia)
Around Israel on three sides are Muslim states, all much larger. And over all of the Holy Land countries are the footprints and landmarks of past conquerors — among them the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottoman Turks and British.
Holy to four faiths
The concept of a holy land became of great significance to both early Judaism and early Christianity. However, the expression “holy land” occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible (Zechariah 2:12), twice in the deutero-canonical books (Wisdom 12:3 and 2 Maccabees 1:7), and not once in the New Testament.
What made the land holy? According to biblical scholar and archaeologist Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, this occurred for the Jews when the Ark of the Covenant was carried into the Holy of Holies in the Temple at Jerusalem and “the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10). From Egypt to Syria, it was also the place where the patriarchs and prophets lived and were buried.
For Christians, the Holy Land is where Jesus lived, proclaimed his Gospel, performed miracles, was crucified and rose from the dead. From early times, the followers of Jesus venerated places associated with him, foremost among them the cave at Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulchre.
For Muslims, veneration of Jerusalem as a holy place goes back to Muhammad, who prayed facing Jerusalem before he was inspired to turn toward Mecca. He called Jerusalem “the Holy City”. Muslims believe Muhammad visited the rock of the Temple Mount during his night journey on the winged steed al-Burak in 620.
Followers of another monotheistic religion, the Bahá’í faith, have their holiest site in Haifa, Israel. The golden-domed Shrine of the Bab is set on a hillside of terraced gardens.
Living faiths are part of the land
There is another reason for the holiness of the Holy Land — because holy people still live in it.
As biblical scholar Leslie J. Hoppe puts it, “The Holy Land is home to sincerely believing Jews, Christians and Muslims, who are trying to live according to God’s will as they understand it. It is not always an easy matter for these people to follow the dictates of their conscience, yet they struggle to live faithfully and to hand on their respective religious traditions to the next generation.
“People who come to ‘the Holy Land’ and only visit shrines or historical sites do not experience the totality of this land’s holiness. No pilgrimage is complete unless pilgrims come away with a greater knowledge and appreciation of the living religions of ‘the Holy Land’: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam . . . .
“In particular, Christian pilgrims should spend time acquainting themselves with the local Church, which is, of course, the Mother Church of the faith. They should hear the Christians of the Holy Land give witness to their faith and speak of their hopes. They should learn of the practical ways this local Church lives the Gospel, and they should encourage their fellow believers to remain faithful to their commitment to Christ.”
Christians in the Holy Land now live in a predominantly Judaeo-Muslim world. In Israel they make up less than 2% of the population. Economic hardship, political uncertainty and discrimination have caused Christians to emigrate, especially from the Palestinian Territories.
Christ’s birthplace of Bethlehem, once a Christian town, is now mostly Muslim. There are more Christians from Bethlehem living in Santiago, Chile, than in Bethlehem.
Al Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem
Armenian Mosaic, Jerusalem
Baha'i Shrine and Gardens, Haifa
Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth
Cana, Galilee Region
Capernaum Synagogue
Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem
Church of All Nations, Jerusalem
Church of Dominus Flevit, Jerusalem
Church of John the Baptist, Jerusalem
Church of Mary Magdalene, Jerusalem
Church of St. Anne, Jerusalem
Church of St. Catherine, Bethlehem
Church of St. Gabriel, Nazareth
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
Church of the Pater Noster, Jerusalem
Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem
Church of the Visitation, Jerusalem
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
Dormition Abbey, Jerusalem
Elijah's Cave, Haifa
Emmaus Nicopolis, Imwas
Garden Tomb, Jerusalem
Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem
Jesus Boat Museum, Tiberias
Last Supper Room, Jerusalem
Mary's Well, Nazareth
Milk Grotto, Bethlehem
Monastery of the Cross, Jerusalem
Pool of Siloam, Jerusalem
Shepherds' Fields, Bethlehem
Stella Maris Monastery, Haifa
Temple Mount, Jerusalem
Tomb of Lazarus, Jerusalem
Tomb of Rachel, Bethlehem
Tomb of the Virgin Mary, Jerusalem
Tombs of the Patriarchs, Hebron
Tombs of the Prophets, Jerusalem
Umar Mosque, Bethlehem
Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem
Western Wall, Jerusalem
