Friday, January 5, 2001

------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerusalem and the Jews

by Joseph Farah

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21221

------------------------------------------------------------------



			  One of the many fanciful claims

              behind the Mideast crisis is that

              Jerusalem has always been an Arab

              city.



              The latest official rhetoric from Yasser

              Arafat's Palestinian Authority even

              goes so far as to suggest that there

              never was a Jewish Temple in

              Jerusalem.



              Such characterizations are hardly

              worthy of addressing, yet, as long as

              one of the principals involved in the

              dispute adamantly denies the

              historical facts, they must be

              addressed.



              The truth is that it is the Arab

              presence in the land before the nation

              of Israel was reformed by United

              Nations mandate in 1948 that is being

              exaggerated -- particularly in

              Jerusalem.



              A travel guide to Palestine and Syria,

              published in 1906 by Karl Baedeker,

              illustrates the fact that, even when the

              Islamic Ottoman Empire ruled the

              region, the Muslim population in the

              city was minimal.



              The book estimates the total

              population of the city at 60,000, of

              whom 7,000 were Muslims, 13,000

              were Christians and 40,000 were Jews.



              "The number of Jews has greatly risen

              in the last few decades, in spite of the

              fact that they are forbidden to

              immigrate or to possess landed

              property," the book states.



              Even though the Jews were

              persecuted, still they came to

              Jerusalem and represented the

              overwhelming majority of the

              population as early as 1906.



              Why was the Muslim population so

              low? After all, we're told that

              Jerusalem is the third holiest city in

              Islam. Surely, if this were a widely

              held belief in 1906, more of the devout

              would have settled there.



              The truth is that the Jewish presence

              in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy

              Land persisted throughout its bloody

              history, as is documented in Joan

              Peters' milestone history on the

              origins of the Arab-Jewish conflict in

              the region, "From Time Immemorial."



              First published in 1984, Peters' book

              was a best-seller -- and for good

              reason. It shatters many of the Middle

              East myths that are still shaping

              international public policy and the

              so-called "peace process."



              A vicious disinformation campaign

              followed publication of the

              monumental book. That's one reason

              you'll be fortunate if you can find one

              dusty, old copy today tucked away on

              the shelf of a large used book store.

              (The good news is that you can now

              get a freshly printed copy of the

              600-page tome from WorldNetDaily.)



              It is absolutely must-reading for

              anyone interested in understanding

              the conflict that threatens nearly

              every day to escalate into a world

              war. The truth is sometimes hard to

              accept. But truth is the only reliable

              foundation for peace.



              The Muslim claim to Jerusalem is

              based on what is written in the Koran.

              Unfortunately, the city is never

              mentioned by name. The closest it

              comes to a reference is in Sura 17:1,

              which refers to the "furthest mosque."



              Today, many Arabs claim this is a

              reference to the Al Aqsa Mosque --

              the place where Allah supposedly

              took Mohammed for a journey and

              the site from which the prophet of

              Islam reputedly ascended into

              heaven. The current Arab uprising in

              Jerusalem is called the Al Aqsa

              Intifida and centers around this claim.

              But is it legitimate?



              Mohammed died in 632 AD. At the

              time, Jerusalem was a Christian city. It

              was captured by Khalif Omar six

              years after Mohammed's death. Prior

              to the capture, the Church of Saint

              Mary of Justinian stood on the Temple

              Mount. There was no mosque in the

              entire city.



              The Dome of the Rock was built in

              691. Twenty years later, the Church of

              Saint Mary was converted into a

              mosque with the familiar dome on

              top. It was named Al Aqsa, so it

              would sound like the "furthest

              mosque" mentioned in the Koran.



              That's the basis of the Islamic claim to

              Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

              Yet, even some top Israeli officials, if

              ever so briefly, flirted with the idea of

              compromising on the Jewish claim to

              this historic and spiritual epicenter of

              Judaism in a fanciful bid for peace

              through appeasement.



              As Joan Peters reminds us in "From

              Time Immemorial," it was only

              "politically" -- through military force

              -- that the Jews ever lost their land.

              They never abandoned it physically,

              nor did they renounce their claim to

              the nation -- the only continuous

              claim that exists. Once again, only

              politics -- and the temptation to

              pursue a false peace at any price --

              threatens the Jews claim on their

              eternal capital.