Friday, October 05, 2012

Once Marginal, Now Avant-Garde

"What had been marginal once upon a time is gaining momentum. Temple Mount is perceived as avant-garde. It attracts the young. Maybe older people had become accustomed to Temple Mount belonging to the Arabs and waiting for the [third] Temple to fall from the heavens."

MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad

And there's this:

Following the dream of a Third Temple in Jerusalem

More than 90 percent of Israel’s religious public wants to be allowed to pray at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.


And this, too:


Azzam al-Khatib, director of the Islamic Waqf (Religious Endowments) body that oversees the site, told AFP that around 130 "extremist Jews" had entered the compound early Tuesday. "This is the result of the calls made by extremist politicians and these actions complicate things in Jerusalem," he said.


The compound houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques, and is venerated by Jews as the site where King Herod's temple once stood before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.  It is one of the most sensitive sites in the already contentious city of Jerusalem, and clashes frequently break out between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at the compound.

Funny enough, who discourages visits...of Muslims?

...Qatar-based Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian, said in a religious edict (fatwa) last month that Muslims should not visit Jerusalem "because it requires dealing with Zionist embassies to obtain visas. Such visits might also give legitimacy to the occupation and could be seen as normalization," Qaradawi said in March...The [Jordan] kingdom's powerful opposition Islamists have denounced such visits. "In line with Islamic edicts issued by respected clerics and consultations with Christian religious leaders, we consider these trips as acts of normalization that serves the schemes of the enemy," said Hamzeh Mansour, chief of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, on the party's website. "Mosque preachers, thinkers, intellectuals and journalists should intensify their efforts to warn the public against the dangerous risks behind such visits, which must not continue," added Mansour, who also heads an anti-normalization committee.


And did you know (in Italian)

The Al-Aqsa foundation of heritage and religious values ​​has made it known that "from the beginning of 2012, the number of settlers and members of Jewish groups, who stormed the al-Aqsa mosque has reached about 4,700, which is in addition to 3,250 soldiers, for a total of about 8000 between settlers and soldiers. In addition, about 220,000 foreign tourists visited the mosque wearing clothes not in keeping with the sacredness of the place. "

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