Where What When

If I Forget

Dr. Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations and current president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is an articulate spokesman for Israel. He recently wrote a book, The Fight for Jerusalem. Dr. Gold said that his reason for writing the book goes back to Arafat’s claim at Camp David in 2000 that there had never been a historical connection of Jews to Jerusalem, a historical denial that subsequently gained currency throughout the Middle East. He wrote the book to combat the belief that there was no Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

One of the arguments Dr. Gold makes in the book is that an Israeli surrender on Jerusalem will only worsen the Western conflict with Islam. Diplomacy through which Israel relinquishes part of Jerusalem will not be viewed as compromise but as a victory for Islam. This would not defuse tensions but encourage further conflict.

So, despite the very loud protests from the Islamic world about Israel’s work on the Mugrabi Gate outside of Har Habayis (the Temple Mount), Israel should not back down. Nor should it in any way promise to cede any part of Jerusalem. That would only encourage Israel’s enemies, including Iran.

Using Jerusalem as a rallying point against the West generally or Israel specifically has happened several times since 1990. In 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, then-President Bush was trying to build a coalition within the Arab countries to oppose Saddam Hussein and force him from Kuwait. But, in the crisis exploded during Sukkos of that year, Saddam used Jerusalem as a means of getting support from the Muslim world.

During Chol Hamoed, when Jews were davening at the Kosel, Arabs who had gathered in response to rumors that a group of Jews would be going up to Har Habayis started throwing rocks and other objects onto the plaza below. Miraculously no Jews were hurt. But when the police went to disperse the crowds that were threatening the Kotel plaza, they were greatly outnumbered. Feeling threatened they opened fire, killing nearly 20 Arabs.

The world community was outraged, and the United States signed on to a condemnation of Israel in the United Nations. Saddam took advantage of the situation to pose as a defender of Jerusalem and gain popularity in the Arab world.

A similar scenario occurred in September 1996. After Binyamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister, he refused to meet with Yasser Arafat. In September, Netanyahu arranged that a tunnel outside of Har Habayis would be opened into the Muslim quarter of the Old City for tourists. The Palestinian Authority incited riots, falsely claiming that the opening of the tunnel threatened the Al Aqsa mosque. This led to violence and an eventual condemnation of Israel. Arafat, in the end, was able to use the incident to get diplomatic pressure applied to Israel that ended in the Hebron Accord in early 1997.

Right before Rosh Hashana, in 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon arranged a tour of Har Habayis. The next day, incited by the Palestinian Authority, violent riots started taking place in Jerusalem. At the same time, Palestinian terrorism against Israel increased, and the “Aqsa intifada” began. (Despite what is usually reported, the terror started before Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount.)

Again the violence served as a pretext for applying diplomatic pressure on Israel. The government of Ehud Barak restarted negotiations with the Palestinians, improving on the overly generous offer that Arafat had rejected months earlier at Camp David. In the end, those negotiations didn’t produce peace and Barak lost an election to Sharon. But the increased terror continued.

Once again the Islamic world is up in arms about a supposed Israeli threat to the Islamic shrines on Har Habayis. The municipality of Jerusalem, in response, suspended work on the Mugrabi gate. Like Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat did in the past, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now posing as a defender of Islam.

This is not a new phenomenon either. The infamous Arab riots of 1929 started when the Jews built a mechitza outside the Kosel.

The irony of Arab or Muslim leaders rallying their people around Jerusalem is that despite the fact that Jerusalem is the third holiest city in Islam, historically, it never had a level of political importance in Islam. Dr. Gold points out that cities like Damascus or Medina have been political capitals. And Daniel Pipes has observed that from 1948 to 1967 not a single Arab leader (aside from Jordan’s King Hussein whose country occupied the Old City) visited Jerusalem.

While the Islamic attachment to Jerusalem is being inflated for political purposes, the Jewish ties to the city are denied. This denial isn’t just in the form of claims but of actions. The Muslim authority on Har Habayis, the WAKF, has overseen the digging and unauthorized removal of dirt from the Har Habayis. Normally, any digging in areas where there are ruins must be supervised, but these actions have gone unchallenged. The dirt carted away likely contains archaeological proof of the Bais Hamikdash and historical Jewish sovereignty over Har Habayis. But it’s been destroyed in a deliberate attempt to undermine Jewish historical claims to the area.

As Iran continues its belligerent posture towards the West, we will no doubt see a continued effort to use Jerusalem and its history as a wedge separating the Islamic world from the West.

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Article List - April 2007