Temple Mount Letters-to-the-Editor

From the Jerusalem Post's Letters to the Editor section:

Abbas and the Mount 

Sir, – With regard to “Abbas calls on Palestinian activists to prevent ‘settlers’ from entering Temple Mount” (October 19), I am wondering when we are going to set Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas straight by publishing, fact by fact, our entitlement to the Temple Mount.

Our temples stood on that ground before there were Muslims, before there was Muhammad, before they invented Islam, before Christ. The wall is the same wall that was part of our temple grounds and the only thing we have left of it. Nowhere in the Koran does “Jerusalem” appear. In the Torah it appears countless times, in many contexts as the heart and soul of our country.

They have declared Jerusalem the third-holiest place for their faith. For us it is the holiest place.

As far as Abbas’s disgusting accusation that we are bent on desecrating the “Noble Sanctuary,” take note: They use it to play football, to picnic, to sleep. Oh yes, and to pray.

The “special flavor” that Jerusalem has for Muslims is that the loss of it would devastate the Jews.

Certainly, they should have access to their portion of it, as should we. But when will we formalize our position by backing it up with armed forces protecting our right to our most holy place?

MARCELLA WACHTEL
Jerusalem

Sir, – The time has surely come for Israel to lodge a formal complaint with the UN Security Council about the desecration of the Jewish holy sites on the Temple Mount by Palestinian hooligans – aided and abetted by no less than the president of the PA.

RAYMOND CANNON
Netanya

Sir, – Can someone explain to me how on earth then-defense minister Moshe Dayan was allowed to let the Wakf Islamic religious trust take charge of the Temple Mount after the bitter battle for Jerusalem? That was a tragedy, for ever since it has been one, long fight for Jews to even set foot there.

Now we have the disgusting name-calling of our “moderate” partner Mahmoud Abbas trying to incite his willing masses to stop us completely from all the area, including the Western Wall. What is wrong with our government, for goodness sake, take back control of the whole area and stop being so scared of the rioting Arabs? If they behave normally they can visit; if not, bar them just like you do with some of our own hotheads.

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

JUDY PRAGER
Petah Tikva

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P.S.


Note the language employed:

"The Palestinian leadership will be taking the necessary legal measures, at the international level, regarding the aggression of settlers on the Al-Aqsa mosque," Abbas said in a speech to the Revolutionary Council of his Fatah party.  "We will not allow settlers to attack the mosque," he added, referring to the entire compound, which is the third holiest site in Islam..."They have no right to enter it and desecrate it," he said of the visiting Israeli Jews.

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