DIVIDING JERUSALEM
by Emanuel A. Winston
August 8 '00 / Av 7, 5760

In This Article:
Don't Confuse Me With the Facts
Get Your Piece of The Rock
A Match Made in Hell

Don't Confuse Me With the Facts
The Chicago Tribune made an interesting point in its July 21st editorial.
The editor said "Jerusalem is a city burdened by history." They also said:
"It is also burdened by a people who have tried to use that history to
back up their claims to the Holy City through the ages." What nerve! What
arrogance those Jews have to dare throw 3000 years of history in the face
of the nations! The Tribune, not surprisingly, has signed on to Arafat’s
charge that the Jews were "Judaizing" Jerusalem.

Is it not true then that every city in the world, particularly those
chosen as the capital, carries a similar burden? Is not London for the
English, Moscow for the Russians, Cairo for Egyptians, Washington for
Americans - all with their own history and claims? Granted, Jerusalem has
a certain mystical quality given that G-d chose Jerusalem as His earthly
dwelling place. Further, it was the Jews that He appointed to His service.
G-d, according to the Biblical literature (the Old Testament) instructed
the Jews how to build the structure called the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah
(now called the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.

No, He did not so instruct the Christians, nor Mohammed’s followers. They
were not there 3000 years ago. That did not stop these two follow-on
competing religions from attempting to capture the Spirit of the Jews' G-d
by capturing Jerusalem’s golden stones.

Both religions built structures on top of the Jewish Holy of Holies,
trying to demonstrate that, for the moment, they had captured the Temple
of the Jews and, therefore, had G-d in their hand. Yes, the Christians
built a Church on top of the ruins of the Jewish Temple. They were driven
off by the Muslims who built their Mosque on the ruins of the Church. The
conquerors have come and gone but, none have been able to remain, nor did
they want to - once they determined that G-d did not bless their conquest
with a personal appearance.

Get Your Piece of The Rock
Caliph El Malik of Damascus built the Mosque with the Golden Dome (The
Dome of the Rock) on top of the Jewish Temple Mount 60 years after the
death of Mohammed. El Malik wished to turn Muslim prayers away from Mecca
and toward his Golden Dome and, of course, turn himself into the new
leader of Mohammed ’s new religion. It didn’t work but he left the Golden
Dome to be later claimed as an unsurpassed Holy Place - which it was not -
at least for Muslims of Mohammed’s persuasion.

I downloaded photos of this area from the Net. These photos date from 1875
during the days when the Temple Mount was in the hands of the Arabs. This
unclaimed "Third Holiest City" of Islam and their now supposedly revised
Holy Dome of the Rock was none of what is now claimed. These photos show a
desolate shambles, with grass growing up through the stones. There were no
crowds of Muslim worshipers wearing away the stones and trampling down the
grass. The Golden Dome was a wreck, with missing tiles on its roof.
Centuries of neglect, with filth piled up against its walls, was the
legacy of its Muslim conquerors.

The political claim of sudden holiness emanates from a primitive culture
where yesterday’s fiction becomes today’s truth. History - documentation -
photos are irrelevant. The TRIBUNE reminds us that the United Nations in
1947 devised the Partition Plan, wherein the so-called Palestinian Mandate
under political control of Great Britain was to be divided into two
States, one Jewish and one Arab. The Arabs refused and in six subsequent
wars the Arabs tried their very best to eliminate the Jews from the face
of the planet.

That, of course, was after they had stripped the promised Jewish State of
78% of Palestine in 1922 - awarding it to Abdullah as compensation for
being ejected from Saudi Arabia. This became Trans-Jordan until King
Hussein declared his independence as Jordan in 1946. Jordan is 78% of what
was originally pledged in 1917 by the English Balfour Declaration and
ratified by the League of Nations for the Jews to build their National
Homeland. The Jews accepted this but not to the Arabs.

Since neither Britain nor France actually owned what had been captured
from the Turks, they took the temporary right given to them by the League
of Nations (who also didn’t own the land) to divide parts of the former
Ottoman Empire into not only Palestine but Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon.

But, Turkey only controlled the land through conquest for 400 years. Those
nations who were victorious over the Ottoman Empire took control for a few
years and divided up control, giving Palestine to Great Britain as a
temporary mandate. Lebanon and Syria were under French control for a
while, also as a temporary mandate.

Meanwhile the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple built by the Jews for the
Jewish G-d on His instructions, lay slumbering, awaiting the full return
of the Jews. Is Jerusalem, with a Jewish history of 3000 years, now to be
bartered by nations who were pagan when the Jews had an advanced
civilization?

Now comes the Tribune and a corrupt American President whose conduct
earned him an impeachment hearing, trailed by a gaggle of nations, most of
whom had participated in killing off the Jews of Europe. They announce
their solution to the Jewish problem is to again deprive the Jews of their
capital.

Israel should give it over, in parts, to a mixture of Arabs who migrated
into Israel from many Arab countries. Should they give it to people who
practice murder as their national sport and teach it to their children in
school and summer camp? Yasser Arafat got the approval of the Pope who
pleaded with this arch terrorist, to give the Christians access to their
holy places once those areas are turned over to Palestinian Authority
control. If he agrees to the Pope’s pleas, the Pope will back Arafat’s
claims to Jerusalem (which is what he did). Why would the Pope be
concerned that Arafat’s Muslims would deny Christians access to their
Churches and Shrines?

A Match Made in Hell
Is that because the Muslims hate the Christians and have already pressured
them to either leave or convert to Islam? This is happening in all the
Arab nations and in those areas Israel has turned over to Arafat’s
control. One can understand why the Pope would sell out the Jews and
Jerusalem.

Clearly, here is a match made in heaven or is it more appropriately named
hell? Two age-old enemies and contestants for G-d’s recognition as the
rightful heir of the Covenant now in the hands of the Jews, join forces
against the Jewish people. Presumably, once the Jews are properly disposed
of, they can attack each other over the spoils of Jerusalem.

The Tribune editor merely echoes the sentiments of those people envious of
the Jews and creates a fictional rationale why Jerusalem should be given
over to the Palestinians. According to the Tribune "...if Jerusalem is the
sticking point, remember that the 1947 UN partition plan...the resolution
also called for Jerusalem to be established as "a corpus separatum," a
separate internationalized city." They want to divide Solomon’s City and
Temple Mount like Solomon was called upon to divide the baby but, without
the wisdom of King Solomon.

The Tribune says elegantly: "It’s time for both men to get real and
separate their ethereal concerns from practical, earthly ones." This is
the Tribune's problem: They know nothing and could care less about the
spiritual quality that Jerusalem has for the Jews. They think the UN,
along with the Christians and Arabs, could fairly administer the Jews’
Holy City. Poignantly, when either had control of Jerusalem, each denied
freedom of worship to the other - with both denying it to the Jews.

These two religions, having butchered their way through centuries in the
name of their respective religions, now want to finalize their claims for
G-d’s attention. 
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Emanuel A. Winston is a Middle East Analyst & Commentator