The Temple Mount As A Bowel

A lot of stories carry the theme of "Temple Mount tensions" as in "tensions around the Temple Mount are surging".

Here.

Here.

Here.   Here.

This one even gets so tense that one "Israeli security figure" (go figure that identification out) said to Amos Harel that

“The Temple Mount is like an irritable bowel,”

That's in this report:

Tensions on Temple Mount || Israel's defense establishment fears increased Jewish activism on Temple Mount may spark widespread conflict
Formerly out of bounds to Jewish activists for religious reasons, the volatile Temple Mount is now the focal point of increased public activity on the part of a wide swath of the religious-Zionist camp.

By Amos Harel and Nir Hasson

Some points:

A variety of initiatives, some of which might be considered bizarre and dangerous, is getting next to no coverage in the mainstream Israeli media.

...at this stage no concrete steps are being taken to calm the atmosphere, though the senior political decision makers appear to want to preserve the status quo and prevent a sudden deterioration that could spark a broader conflagration.

...The Temple Mount, even more than the rest of Jerusalem as such, is a magnet for religious extremists from both sides. They have no intention of forsaking their struggle for control of the site or of sharing sovereignty over it in a future political settlement.

In recent months, it has been almost impossible to keep up with the flow of reports concerning the Temple Mount. Hardly a day passes without some incident either on the mount or somehow related to it. The Jews who visit the site are aided by a well-oiled PR system and by dozens of organizations, most of which are united under the umbrella of the Joint Committee of Temple Organizations...

...a number of MKs having joined the struggle [and] a political debate about changing the status quo on the mount is taking place for the first time in years. On Monday, the Knesset’s Interior Committee will discuss the subject. The deputy minister of religious services, MK Eli Ben Dahan ‏(Habayit Hayehudi‏), will present his plan to allow Jewish worship there...

...The change in the perception of the Temple Mount by the religious-Zionist movement has been gradual; indeed, a slow but constant shift has been underway in these circles. Where once the subject was the exclusive preserve of wild-eyed, violent elements on the movement’s fringes, it is now at the center of its political map...

...What activists seek above all is a change in the status quo, according to which only Muslims are allowed to pray at the site at present. There is no legal obstacle to this, but the High Court of Justice...has repeatedly ruled that it is up to the police to decide whether to allow Jewish worship there...

Deputy minister Ben Dahan is a relative moderate in terms of his preference for change. “I want a Jew who goes up to the mount to be able to pray there,” he tells Haaretz. “I accept that at this stage there will not be prayer in a minyan [quorum of 10 males], but people can be allowed to pray for a few minutes without disturbing the Muslim public...A somewhat different plan has been proposed by one Temple Mount activist, whereby Jews would be allotted an area adjacent to the Golden Gate ‏(closest of all Old City gates to the mount, on its eastern edge‏) where benches would be placed for prayer at times when Muslim worship is not underway. The most radical plan was presented by Michael Fuah..based on the model of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron: There would be a division in terms of both area and time allowed at the site between all worshipers, such that Jews would be granted a status that is at least equal to that of the Muslims.

...“The Temple Mount is like an irritable bowel,” one Israeli security figure says. “It can always flare up, and there will always be someone to irritate it. The combination of religious fantasies and historical background is a dangerous one. We have already paid a steep price for it in the past.

My observations - after Shabbat.

________


Shabbat has gone out.

First item:

Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) has advanced new laws this morning (Friday) that would enact the establishment of regular prayer hours for Jews visiting the Temple Mount, Yediot Ahronot reports...daily prayer hours would be set for Jewish groups visiting Judaism's holiest site...Proposals regarding the Temple Mount needs to receive an official stamp of approval from both Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In the meantime, an investigation is being launched by Bayit Yehudi, along with Chairwoman of the Committee of Interior Affairs MK Miriam Regev (Likud), regarding ways to enact legislation that flies "under the radar" to ensure Jewish prayer rights at the Mount. One suggestion includes declaring the Mount as a legal Jewish Holy Site, thus barring the exclusion of Jewish entry to the site on legal and moral grounds.  

A second item:

...religious Zionist party "United Jerusalem" joined Mayor Nir Barkat's coalition this morning (Friday), gaining chairperson posts for its two new Council members, Aryeh King and Shmuel Shkedi...King, head of the Israel Land Fund which has actively been acquiring land for Jews and pressing for equal enforcement of the building law among Arabs, visited the Temple Mount on Sunday for the first time as a city council member.

As Kipa reported Monday, King intends to submit a plan in the near future to increase municipal supervision over the Temple Mount, and facilitate Jewish access to Judaism's holiest site. Under the de facto rule of the Muslim Waqf religious authority, police have enforced the discriminatory ban on Jewish prayer and free access despite court rulings.

And as for the Harel/Hasson piece, my educated guess is that they were fed material by either the GSS or some other security-related body to seek to sabotage legitimate civic activity which desires to obtain equality before the law and the realization of guaranteed freedoms.

As for that bowel comparison?

So much crap for journalism.

P.S.

As sent to me:

Inevitable when the old city is referred to as the Holy Basin.....

^