Palestinians set fire to Joseph's Tomb

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 16 October 2003 | MARGOT DUDKEVITCH

[Thorondir]

The best "Arab street" cannot hold a candle to an American gutter. Those filthy primitives produce nothing but ugliness, oppression, terror and horror in this world. 'nuff said!

[thirdheavenward]

Ah. Well in that case you have a different definition of the word "holy" than I do. My mistake. I always assume people mean the same thing that I do by words. The word "holy" is one of the most difficult. But still, you must agree that murder of a living man is worse than something done to old bones.

[ChewedGum]

I concur, tracer.

Gum

[HamiltonJay]

Muslims respect nothing religious that isn't of Islam.

Or in short Muslims respect nothing religious, period. Islam is not a religion.

[Ciexyz]

The world press ignores this outrage as usual. But they keep repeating, "Ariel Sharon went to the Dome of the Rock" over and over ad nauseum.

[Ciexyz]

I'm a Christian and I'd personally love to visit Joseph's tomb. Fat chance that'll happen anytime soon.

[null and void]

*sigh*

Maybe not this lifetime.

[Zionist Conspirator]

In the past three years, hundreds of Jews have snuck into the tomb to pray illegally despite a ban issued by the OC Central Command that forbids Israelis from entering areas under full Palestinian control.

Isn't it strange that the alleged "ancestral land" over which "palestinians" have been given "total control" contains no "palestinian" holy sites, and the holy sites it does have is routinely vandalized by them. Why doesn't "the Zionist-controlled mass media" the "palaeos" are always yapping about scream for these people's heads? I doubt the "Jewish media" will even mention this.

The Arabs already vandalized Joseph's tomb several years ago, and they did the same to the tomb of Joshua just a few weeks ago (again, with no word from the "Zionist media").

I wonder just how "holy" the "dome of the rock" would be if there were no Jews claiming it?

[anotherview]

Yes, human life is always more important. Judaism places the highest value on human life and you can break any Jewish law to save lives.

That does not change the fact that places can be holy, as in of deep religious importance. The Temple Mount is, according to scripture, where G-d chose to dwell on earth. That makes it the holiest site in Judaism.

Oh, and yes, some holy sites are worth fighting and dying for.

[anotherview]

Yes, Ariel Sharon went to the Temple Mount. He did not enter the Dome of the Rock. He went with the knowledge and permission of the Muslim Waqf, the Palestinian/Islamic entity that controls the Temple Mount. They said there would be no problem so long as Ariel Sharon didn't enter the mosque. They lied, and the Palestinians used a visit they approved as a pretext to start a war.

Why shouldn't any Jew, let alone the leader of the then second largest party in the Knesset, go to Judaism's holiest site?

[Lion in Winter]

BTTT

[DonQ]

This is the Joseph son of Jacob, famous for his Technicolor dream coat. His brothers sold him into slavery, he was taken to Egypt, and after several years became an important official, having saved the Egyptian empire from a famine. He died in Egypt and was embalmed or mummified, but had left a request to his family that he be buried in the Holy Land. Centuries later, Moses and the liberated Hebrews carried his bones with them in the Exodus, and Joseph was buried in Schehem in a plot of land originally purchased by his father (Joshua 24:32)

[DonQ]

How did "Palestinian youths" get to start this fire? There are frequent news reports about how the Palestinian gendarmes are guarding the tomb to keep Jews from worshipping there. How could these arsonists have made it past the Palestinian sentries??

[Brad’s Gramma]

There is NO revenge as good as God's...and ya know He's not happy.

And the left loves these people. Flippin' incredible.

[SierraWasp]

"The son of Jacob who was sold into slavery in Egypt."

Who went on to become one of the greatest Public Administrators of all time because of his "vision!"

Furthermore, he served the Pharoah WITHOUT trying to convert all of Egypt to the one true God!!!

He lead by example as all faithful fundamentalist Judeo/Christian office holders should continue to do!!!

[.45MAN]

Well to equal things out Set Palestine on fire! ALL OF IT.......

[SierraWasp]

"The son of Jacob who was sold into slavery in Egypt."

Who went on to become one of the greatest Public Administrators of all time because of his "vision!"

Furthermore, he served the Pharoah WITHOUT trying to convert all of Egypt to the one true God!!!

He lead by example as all faithful fundamentalist Judeo/Christian office holders should continue to do!!!

[SJackson]

I wonder just how "holy" the "dome of the rock" would be if there were no Jews claiming it?

Conference for Middle East Peace

The Islamic Claim to Temple Mount

Most of the problems surrounding Jerusalem can be traced to two areas of dispute. One is the political area that asks Jereusalem to be the capital of both Israel and the nascent Palestine. The other and most contentious problem is the holiness of Temple Mount to both Judaism and Islam.

The role Jerusalem has in the Hebrew holy works is well known and not open to debate; however, there are varying opinions on the holiness of Jerusalem, specifically Temple Mount to Islam.

Many if not most opinions that counter Islam's claim point out the Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran and did not occupy any special role in Islam until recent political exigencies transformed Jerusalem into Islam's third holy site.

Following is an analysis by a well known scholar:

---

THE MOSLEM CLAIM TO JERUSALEM IS FALSE

by Dr. Manfred R. Lehmann

The Moslem "claim" to Jerusalem is based on what is written in the Koran, which although Jerusalem is not mentioned even once, nevertheless talks (in Sura 17:1) of the "Furthest Mosque": "Glory be unto Allah who did take his servant for a journey at night from the Sacred Mosque to the Furthest Mosque." But is there any foundation to the Moslem argument that this "Furthest Mosque" (Al-Masujidi al-Aqtza) refers to what is today called the Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem? The answer is, none whatsoever.

In the days of Mohammed, who died in 632 of the Common Era, Jerusalem was a Christian city within the Byzantine Empire. Jerusalem was captured by Khalif Omar only in 638, six years after Mohammed's death. Throughout all this time there were only churches in Jerusalem, and a church stood on the Temple Mount, called the Church of Saint Mary of Justinian, built in the Byzantine architectural style.

The Aksa Mosque was built 20 years after the Dome of the Rock, which was built in 691-692 by Khalif Abd El Malik. The name "Omar Mosque" is therefore false. In or around 711, or about 80 years after Mohammed died, Malik's son, Abd El-Wahd - who ruled from 705-715 - reconstructed the Christian- Byzantine Church of St. Mary and converted it into a mosque. He left the structure as it was, a typical Byzantine "basilica" structure with a row of pillars on either side of the rectangular "ship" in the center. All he added was an onion-like dome on top of the building to make it look like a mosque. He then named it El-Aksa, so it would sound like the one mentioned in the Koran.

Therefore it is crystal clear that Mohammed could never have had this mosque in mind when he compiled the Koran, since it did not exist for another three generations after his death. Rather, as many scholars long ago established, it is logical that Mohammed intended the mosque in Mecca as the "Sacred Mosque," and the mosque in Medina as the "Furthest Mosque." So much for the Moslem claim based on the Aksa Mosque.

With this understood, it is no wonder that Mohammed issued a strict prohibition against facing Jerusalem in prayer, a practice that had been tolerated only for some months in order to lure Jews to convert to Islam. When that effort failed, Mohammed put an abrupt stop to it on February 12, 624. Jerusalem simply never held any sanctity for the Moslems themselves, but only for the Jews in their domain.

[DR. MANFRED R. LEHMANN is a writer for the Algemeiner Journal. Originally published in the Algemeiner Journal, August 19, 1994.]

---

To attempt to resolve the problem we examined Arab photographs taken about 1875 by the Bonfils out of Lebanon. The photographs are from a Lebanese WEB site whose address is: http://almashriq.hiof.no/general/700/770/779/historical/pcd0109.html, and http://www.lib.uchicago.edu:80/LibInfo/SourcesBySubject/MiddleEast/Photo/Jerusalem.html, and http://almashriq.hiof.no/general/700/770/779/historical/pcd0109/17.jpg

The photos were computer enhanced to build up contrast as they are old and faded.

We also added a photograph of the Western Wall, part of the same collection, to demonstrate Jewish use of the Wall.

Following are some of the description of the photographs:

17 Mosque of Omar [Dome of the Rock] and David's Judgment Seat, Jerusalem, Mosquee d'Omar et tribunal de David.
15 The Jews Wailing Place, a Friday, Mur des Juifs, un vebdredi.
19 Mosque of El-Aksa, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Mosquee, El-Aksa.
20 Mosque of Omar [Dome of the Rock] from the South, Jerusalem.
Bonfils, ca. 1875. Mount labelled "119. Different cupolas on platform of Temple." Produced by the Bonfils Studio, Beirut, and sold by Charles Taber & Co., New Bedford, Mass. Albumen. Mounted. 11 x 8.5 inches. Acquisition number 43-85.
Bonfils, ca. 1875. Mount labelled "113. Mosque of Omar and Court of David." Produced by the Bonfils Studio, Beirut, and sold by Charles Taber & Co., New Bedford, Mass. Albumen. Mounted. 11 x 8.5 inches. Acquisition number 155-85.

Dome of the Rock Note overall disrepair and lack of use	Dome of the Rock Note missing tiles and condition of roof
Dome of the Rock, additional view	Cupolas on Temple Mount Note overall disrepair and lack of use
Al Aqsa Mosque Note overall disrepair and lack of use	The Western Wall In constant use since biblical times

[Jimmy Valentine]

Time to take control of the Temple Mount and throw the ragheads off permanently.

[anotherview]

Amen.

(Judaism, of course, discourages conversion and does not evangelize.)