Free Republic

Chaos is the only term that can describe the events taking place in Jerusalem these past few days and it doesn’t look like the mayhem will subside anytime soon. Israeli police are in an all out battle with masked Palestinian protesters as stun grenades, stones, petrol bombs and plastic chairs are raining from the sky. The fact that this World War III type of scene is happening outside one of Jerusalem’s most holy shrines shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those who are familiar with the history between these two enemies. As Israeli riot police tried to extinguish...

Israeli police firing stun grenades faced off Sunday against masked Palestinian protesters hurling stones and plastic chairs outside the Holy Land's most volatile shrine, where past violence has escalated into prolonged conflict. A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields marched toward young men covering their faces with T-shirts and scarves, sending many of them running for cover into the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the Islamic structures in the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. They remained holed up in the mosque with police outside for several hours until dispersing...

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem's holiest shrine Sunday, firing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh eruption of violence at the most volatile spot in the Holy Land. A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields closed in on the crowd, sending many protesters — overwhelmingly young men — running for cover into the black-domed Al-Aqsa mosque. The mosque is one part of the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Dozens of protesters remained holed up inside the mosque for several hours, occasionally opening...

Stone-throwing Arab youths wounded three policemen on the Temple Mount on Sunday as Jerusalem police, firing water cannons and stun grenades, raided the holy site in a bid to quell repeated bouts of rioting. Police stormed the compound twice; the first time was in response to Arab youths who pelted officers with rocks and poured oil on them. Later Sunday morning, about 100 Arab youths renewed rioting at the Temple Mount, after which Border Police and regular policemen raided the site again, using stun grenades to disperse the rioters. Police were attempting to completely clear the compound of worshippers. Officers...

Muslim "extremists” are “spreading lies” by alleging that Israel is digging underneath the Temple Mount to cause the collapse of the mosques, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet Monday morning. The Arab world, including the Palestinian Authority, has increasingly accused Israel of the same charges over the past several years, and many Muslim and Arab leaders have told the Arab world that the Temples never existed.

At least 100 Palestinians on the Temple Mount were refusing to leave the area on Sunday afternoon, despite an Israeli decision made on Sunday morning to shut down the site due to security concerns. The Palestinian Authority and the Waqf instructed the men to arrive at the site on Saturday night and stay put, fearing what they termed a "Jewish takeover." Approximately 150 Arabs hurled rocks and bottles at security forces in the Old City on Sunday morning shortly after the decision to shut down the compound was announced. Border Police closed off roads around the Old City and dispersed...

Israeli police fired stun grenades on Sunday to disperse 150 Palestinians who hurled stones at Jewish worshipers visiting a sensitive religious site in the Old City before the start of the holiest day for Jews. Two policemen were lightly wounded, a spokesman said, and Palestinian medics said they evacuated a Palestinian man suffering from a head injury. Police restored calm and closed the complex after the incident. The incident occurred before Yom Kippur in the complex known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Harm al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). It houses al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the...

I recently stumbled across the fact that the latitude of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem passes through Palestine, Texas. This little town is famous as the location of the Columbia Disaster that killed seven astronauts, including the first Israeli astronaut. The connection of the Israeli and the name of "Palestine" was considered remarkable at the time. The Temple Mount latitude makes it something more. This lured me into a search that uncovered a network of connections between the United States, Palestine, the Temple Mount, and disaster. Are these just a freakish set of random coincidences? Or could they mean something?...

Hundreds of right-wing activists are intending to attempt to march up to the Temple Mount next Thursday morning, Tisha Be'Av, in protest of the US demand to cease construction in east Jerusalem. March organizer Gershon Salomon told the Jerusalem Post that as opposed to previous years when only a few dozen participants at most tried to go up to the mount, this year he was hoping for hundreds to protest the "US pressure to stop settlement activity, and east Jerusalem construction in particular, and also the apparent weakness of our leaders," which he said he feared would lead to a...

Religion is at the heart of dispute over the Temple Mount, but maybe not the way you think. To the Jews it is the site of the Two Holy Temples erected to God. It is also one of only three places in the Tanach (the Jewish Scriptures) that talks about a financial transaction where a Jew purchased the land. Scholars believe the transaction was written about to show Jewish ownership of that land: King David then bought the site from the Jebusites, as it is written (II Samuel 24:24): "David bought the threshing-floor... for fifty pieces of silver." Ever since...

A new Jewish interfaith initiative launched last week argues building the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would not necessitate the destruction of the Dome of the Rock. "God's Holy Mountain Vision" project hopes to defuse religious strife by showing that Jews' end-of-days vision could harmoniously accommodate Islam's present architectural hegemony on the Temple Mount. This vision of religious shrines in peaceful proximity can transform the Temple Mount from a place of contention to its original sacred role as a place of worship shared by Jews, Muslims and Christians," said Yoav Frankel, director of the initiative. The Interfaith Encounter Association at...

Espousing a dream of harmony that may stretch credibility among even the most fervent believers in dialogue among the great religions, clerics in Jerusalem launched a project on Thursday aimed at finding a way to share the city's holiest, and most fought over, site. Even the Jewish religious scholar promoting it acknowledges it might need divine intervention before a peaceful remapping of the area where Muslims built the 7th century Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque on the site of the biblical Jewish Temple.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Espousing a dream of harmony that may stretch credibility among even the most fervent believers in dialogue among the great religions, clerics in Jerusalem launched a project on Thursday aimed at finding a way to share the city's holiest, and most fought over, site. Even the Jewish religious scholar promoting it acknowledges it might need divine intervention before a peaceful remapping of the area where Muslims built the 7th century Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque on the site of the biblical Jewish Temple. "We offer this vision for a long and deep discussion, and of...

Sheikh Raad Salah, leader of the Northern Wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, believes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will try to rebuild the Jewish Temple. Speaking at a conference organized by website Islam Online in Doha, Qatar, Salah stated his belief that Netanyahu may try to build the Jewish Temple – which the Islamic preacher called “the false temple” – during his current term after allegedly failing to do so in his first term as Prime Minister in the late 1990s.

Israel may find Iran as one of the administrators of the Temple Mount, according to a new Palestinian Authority plan reported Thursday by the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz. PA sources said giving up claims to the Temple Mount and handing over control to the 57-member Saudi-based Islamic Conference Organization is conditional on Israel’s agreeing to a final status agreement. Iran, which is classified as Persian and not an Arab country, is part of the Islamic group. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has opposed agreeing to a new PA state without knowing ahead of time what it would entail. The PA recently has...

Today is Jerusalem Day - celebrating the day Jerusalem’s Old City (including the Western Wall) was liberated by Israel’s Defense Forces… I thought I would share some thoughts… I arrived in Israel on Friday before the Six Day War, as a volunteer. For Shabbat (Parshat Bamidbar) we stayed in Savyon, a ritzy neighborhood close to the airport and not far from Tel Aviv. The view was absolutely breathtaking! On Sunday morning I was taken to Kibbutz Lavi, strategically perched atop a hill overlooking the Tiberias-Haifa road. Within minutes of arriving, the secretary of the kibbutz assigned me a room overlooking...

Tonight starts Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day. It celebrates the day in 1967 that the IDF returned the Old Jerusalem to Jewish hands. Jews were denied access to the Holy sites in the Old City Jerusalem since 1948, when Jordan took it over during the War of Independence. In the intervening 19 years the Jordanians waged systematic destruction, desecration and looting of Jewish sites. Since that day in 1967, the Muslims have been trying to reclaim Jerusalem's Holy Sites, not because of any 'religious ties" but to de-legitimize the Jewish claims to the city. The sad part of today's struggle is...

srael may find Iran as one of the administrators of the Temple Mount. Palestinian Authority sources said giving up claims to the Temple Mount and handing over control to the 57-member Saudi-based Islamic Conference Organization, which includes Iran is conditional on Israel’s agreeing to a final status agreement.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that if Israel opts for peace and has a leader who is willing to make genuine compromises, a peace agreement could be reached within three to six months. Palestinian sources said the PA would only be willing to relinquish Palestinian sovereignty over the Temple Mount as part of a final-status agreement in exchange for Islamic sovereignty over the site. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced Wednesday that he was canceling his planned visit to Washington next week due to the death of his grandson

On Israel's most popular English TV show Tuesday Night Live (TNL) in Jerusalem, hosts Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel present the absurdity at the entrance to the Temple Mount: Gentiles are allowed to enter freely while Jews cannot. The Jews of Jerusalem are also asked to relate to the question, "Are we ready for the Third Temple?"

A group of rabbis, politicians, philanthropists and right-wing activists gathered Sunday in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City to celebrate the reopening of a synagogue located about 100 meters from the Temple Mount. "We are here today to mark the return of a Jewish presence to this house of prayer," said Rabbi Shmuel Rabbinovitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and the holy sites. "Any claims leveled at us by Muslim leaders that we are trying to take control of the Temple Mount are downright lies. According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to go up on the Temple Mount...

The Hamas terrorist organization’s television station has for the past several days been broadcasting exclusive coverage of nightly Ramadan prayers from atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. As a terrorist organization, it is illegal for Hamas or its Al Aqsa television network to operate in Jerusalem or any other Israeli town.

“February 20th, 2008, at Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake Washington saw something, a total lunar eclipse also called a ‘blood moon’ for its reddish hue� (read article here). “I thought 'wow' that looks just like what the Lord was talking about in the last days,� says Blitz. Blitz is referring to Joel 2:31: “The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.� Notice that the moon will be turned into blood not look reddish. Those who claim to...

JERUSALEM – Jerusalem and the Temple Mount belong to the Muslims and any Israeli action that "offends" the Mount will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims, declared the chief of staff for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "Jerusalem is Muslim. The blessed Al Aqsa mosque and Harem Al Sharif (Temple Mount) is 100 percent Muslim. The Israelis are playing with fire when they threaten Al Aqsa with digging that is taking place," said Abbas' chief of staff Rafiq Al Husseini. The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site. Husseini was referring to Israeli plans to construct a new bridge from the...

(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Antiquities Authority announces the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the First Temple period have been exposed so close to the Temple Mount – on the eastern slopes of the Upper City. A rich layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period (8th-6th centuries B.C.E.) has been discovered in archaeological rescue excavations near the Western Wall plaza.  The dig is being carried out in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza, near the staircase leading up towards the Jaffa Gate. The Israel Antiquties...

A delegation from the Judea and Samaria (Yesha) Rabbinic Council was blocked from ascending the Temple Mount on Tuesday morning. Jerusalem police closed the Temple Mount to Jews, telling those who arrived that an ancient Muslim holiday was discovered to be taking place, thereby precluding entrance by Jews. They could not name the holiday when asked, however. “It seems that the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, will be the first thing to be handed to [U.S. President George W.] Bush on a silver platter,” read a statement to the media by the Movement to Prepare the Holy Temple. The statement...

JERUSALEM - In spite of longstanding denials by top officials here, the Israeli government in 2000 agreed to relinquish the Temple Mount - Judaism's holiest site - to the Palestinians during U.S.- backed negotiations, according to declassified documents made public today. The information comes as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier this month denied talks started at November's Annapolis summit would lead to Israel giving up its sovereignty over the Temple Mount, while chief Palestinian negotiators tell WND the Jewish state already agreed to forfeit Judaism's holiest site to a coalition of Arab countries...

PA official: Olmert lying about Temple Mount Israeli PM claims holy site not up for talks, but Palestinians say he has already agreed to forfeiture Aaron Klein, WND Published: 11.29.07, 18:25 / Israel News Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statements on Wednesday that Israel's sovereignty over the Temple Mount is not up for negotiation are "false," according to a chief Palestinian negotiator, who told WND the Israeli leader already agreed to forfeit Judaism's holiest site to a coalition of Arab countries. "What Olmert said (regarding the Mount) is absolutely false. I think he's not yet ready to tell the Israeli public...

Tangible evidence of the success of this Annapolis sham conference (a photo-op so Rice and Bush will have pictures to put on the mantel when these low achievers leave office) will be a settlement based on the Syrian Nationalist Party Middle East Peace Plan. That is, Israel is a Jewish State. Jerusalem is its capital, if the Jews so choose. Read more athttp://www.omedia.org/Show_Article.asp?DynamicContentID=2722&MenuID=702&ThreadID=1014004

Roman street uncovered in Western Wall tunnels Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 15, 2007 The remains of an ancient terraced street that dates back to the Roman period have been uncovered in the Western Wall tunnels, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. The street, which likely led to the nearby Temple Mount itself, dates back nearly 2,000 years when the city was called Aelia Capitolina during the second-fourth centuries. The site, which was uncovered in archeological excavations over the last year, is a side street which connects two major roads in the area, said Jon Seligman, the Antiquities...

Published: 11/06/07, 12:09 PM Landmark Criminal Suit Against Waqf for Temple Mount Destruction by Hillel Fendel (IsraelNN.com) A group of 150 Israeli citizens have filed a class action suit against the Moslems who run the Temple Mount site for having destroyed Jewish antiquities there. The suit, brought by the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, charges that Islamic Waqf officials have engaged in the deliberate destruction of ancient Jewish relics on the Temple Mount. The indictment was filed in the Jerusalem District Court last week, and Shurat Hadin sources say it is the first of its kind in Israeli legal history....

JERUSALEM - Turkey`s government is to erect a memorial for its fallen soldiers from the Ottoman era near Islam`s third holiest site in Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a senior official said on Thursday. "We allowed the Turkish government to build a memorial for the Ottoman soldiers in Jerusalem," Azzam al-Khattib, the head of the Waqf which oversees Muslim religious sites, told AFP. The memorial will be built outside the walls of Jerusalem`s Old City, several metres east of the bitterly contested holy site known to Muslims as the Al-Haram Al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, Judaism`s holiest...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel’s Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbi of Haifa have been invited to the White House for pre-Annapolis talks to explain the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. Chief Rabbis Yonah Metzger and Shlomo Amar, as well as the Chief Rabbi of Haifa and Chairman of the Chief Rabbinate Communications Committee Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen departed Saturday evening for a series of meetings to clarify to US leaders that the Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site. Ahead of the Annapolis Conference, the Bush administration is trying to gauge Israel’s “red lines” and examine the possibility of relinquishing the Temple Mount...

(IsraelNN.com) The unauthorized dig of a trench this past summer by the Moslem Waqf on the Temple Mount, in the course of which it was assumed that precious findings were destroyed, apparently had a thin silver lining. Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) personnel monitoring the trench-digging have, for the first time, found traces of the First Temple. The IAA studied an archaeological level dating to the First Temple Period, exposed in the area close to the south-eastern corner of the raised platform surrounding the Dome of the Rock. Archaeological examination of a small section of this level, led by Jerusalem District...

(IsraelNN.com) A historic first: Last week, during a special visit to the Temple Mount, the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26) was recited there, for arguably the first time since the 1st-century destruction. The Blessing is recited daily in synagogues in Israel by descendants of Aaron the Priest, and only on festivals in the Diaspora. The special visit was held to commemorate the 842nd anniversary of Maimonides's famous visit to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. A group of some 25 Jews, organized by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, marked the special day with a commemorative visit. Giving extra-special meaning to the...

UNITED NATIONS — As an American-hosted Middle East summit approaches, Palestinian Arabs are hardening their positions: An aide to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday that the Palestinians will demand sole Arab control over Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem, the Western Wall. Mr. Abbas's adviser on religious affairs, Adnan al-Husseini, made the new demand in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv, sparking an outcry from many Israeli politicians who complained that recent reports about the Olmert government's proposal to transfer Arab-dominated neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the jurisdiction of a Palestinian state have led to further Arab demands....

West Papua Delegation Donates Gold For Holy Temple 26 Tishrei 5768, 08 October 07 03:03 by Ezra HaLevi(IsraelNN.com) On Wednesday, the last day of the Sukkot festival, a 34-person delegation from West Papua presented a large amount of gold to be used in the building of the Holy Temple. The delegation, including representatives of the nation’s government, explained that they study the Bible regularly and recently came upon a verse in Zecharia (6:16) reading “And the distant ones will come and build the Temple of G-d.” They discussed the passage among themselves and decided that their faith obligates them to...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office on Monday morning denied the report in Al-Quds al-Arabi that he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to transfer the Temple Mount's holy sites to Jordanian custody. According to the report in the London-based newspaper, Olmert and Abbas had agreed that the Temple Mount sites would be under Jordanian jurisdiction in a final peace deal, and Jordanian citizenship would be granted to 90,000 east Jerusalem residents. The report also said it was likely that a supreme supervisory commission would be established, which would include representatives from the UN, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office on Monday morning denied the report in Al-Quds al-Arabi that he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to transfer the Temple Mount's holy sites to Jordanian custody. The Prime Minister's Office said that no agreement had been reached on the holy sites in Jerusalem. According to the report in the London-based newspaper, Olmert and Abbas had agreed that the Temple Mount sites would be under Jordanian jurisdiction in a final peace deal, and Jordanian citizenship would be granted to 90,000 east Jerusalem residents. The report also said it was likely that a supreme...

Report: Israel, PA agree Jordanian control of Temple Mount London-based Palestinian daily quotes Abbas aide as saying, Israel and Palestinians have agreed to transfer control of parts of Old City in Jerusalem to Jordan as part of future peace agreement Roee Nahmias Israel and the Palestinians have agreed that the Temple Mount as well as other parts of the Old City in Jerusalem will be under Jordanian control as part of a future peace deal, a Palestinian daily reported on Monday. The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported that President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reached the agreement during recent...

A thundering silence on Temple Mount's depredation By Hershel Shanks The "Jewish State" is allowing Judaism's holiest site to have its priceless artifacts destroyed and nobody seems to care No one really cares. But that puts me in an elite group: It includes two of Israel's most prominent Jerusalem archaeologists (Gaby Barkay and Eilat Mazar) — and me. Meanwhile, the Muslim Waqf goes on tearing up Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where once the Jewish Temple stood. The week before last, they hit an ancient wall that might be the foundation of a wall from the Second Temple complex built by Herod...

The Holy Temple .....is under attack....

As an Arab bulldozer continues to dig away at the current Temple Mount floor, evidence is mounting that actual walls from the Second Temple are being destroyed. The world is silent, while Prime Minister Olmert continues talks with the Palestinian Authority regarding future sovereignty over the holy area.The actual digging, under the auspices of the Moslem Waqf [religious trust to which Israel has assigned responsibility for the Temple Mount - ed.], has been ongoing for several weeks.  Only over the past 8-10 days, however, has attention been paid to the dangers of the barely supervised works.  The Waqf claims that the...

JERUSALEM – Islamic authorities using heavy machinery to dig on the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – have been caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities and what's believed to be a section of an outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple.

A month-old Islamic dig on Jerusalem's Temple Mount to replace faulty electrical cables has damaged an ancient wall that is likely a remnant of the Second Temple, Israeli archaeologists said Thursday. The work, which is being carried out with the approval of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the state-run Antiquities Authority, has been repeatedly condemned by independent Israeli archaeologists, who are calling for its immediate halt. "The Israeli Government is lending a hand to the destruction of one of the most important archaeological sites in the world," said Bar-Ilan University archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai at a Jerusalem press conference. Barkai...

Shimon Peres is going to see the Pope on September 5th to see if the Catholic Church will oversee the temple mount. The reason is the his plan to negotiate for sharing it with the Muslim as outlined in a final status deal with the Palestinians before an international conference in November. Peres quietly drafted a plan for the Jewish state to evacuate and transfer to the Palestinians nearly the entire West Bank and several Arab Israeli cities located within territory that undisputedly is Israel's according to the international community. The diplomatic sources also said earlier this U.S.-brokered month biweekly...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office today presented the Palestinian Authority with a formal plan in which the Jewish state would forfeit the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to Muslim control, according to top Palestinian sources. The sources said Olmert's plan calls for the entire Temple Mount plaza to fall under Arab sovereignty; Jerusalem's Old City holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the Mount to be controlled by Israel.

JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the Jewish state is willing to forfeit control over the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, according to an Arab media report.

6 Elul 5767, August 20, '07 Published: 08/20/07, 9:03 AM Olmert, Arabs Negotiating Over Temple Mount by Gil Ronen (IsraelNN.com) Arab representatives who are negotiating an agreement with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office have made it clear that they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish State forfeits the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. According to a report in the daily newspaper Yediot Acharonot, Olmert is willing to discuss joint Israeli-Arab control over the Temple Mount compound. A chief Arab negotiator told WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein that "there can be no agreement with Israel unless we...

Using maps created in 1866 by a British explorer and passages from the Jewish Mishnah, an Israeli archaeologist and professor at Hebrew University says he has pinpointed the location of the sacred Jewish Temple, twice built and twice destroyed in ancient times.