Israel To Give Up Temple Mount?
Israel - Middle East
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has evidently decided to surrender not just the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians, but also plans to give up claims to Jerusalem AND the Temple Mount.
Olmert did not dispute the accuracy of a Hebrew draft document published in the Palestinian press by the Maan news agency, and refused to discuss the substance of the document, which indicates a wholesale collapse of longstanding Israeli diplomatic red lines on a variety of fundamental issues.
The draft declaration calls for a full handover of Arab East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. Olmert has evidently agreed -- in advance of a scheduled peace conference in Washington this November -- to surrender 100% of the West Bank territories demanded by the Palestinian side and to completely withdraw to within the Green Line (or pre-1967 borders).
Olmert, according to the (undisputed) draft, is also planning to water down Israeli objections to the "Right of Return" demanded by Palestinians who fled Israel in advance of the Arab attack on Israel when it declared its independence in 1948.
The 'Right of Return' -- as articulated by the Palestinians - would allow the Arabs who fled, and their descendants, to move to Israel as full citizens of the Jewish State.
In that event, Israel would instantaneously become a majority Arab-Muslim state and would be voted out of existence at the very next election. But the terms of Olmert's declaration would mean Israel wouldn't even have to wait for an electoral coup de gras.
Olmert's declaration also evisions the creation of a land bridge from the West Bank to Gaza, effectively cutting Israel in half, and allowing unrestricted movement of terrorists and weaponry from one side to the other.
This isn't merely rumor, anymore. Olmert admitted that he and Abbas are negotiating a document to be at the forefront of a proposed US-sponsored conference scheduled for November in Washington.
"We are discussing a joint declaration that we hope will be the centerpiece of the international peace conference in Washington in November," he reportedly told ministers of his Kadima party.
The draft contains explicit calls for immediate implementation of steps that must be performed by Israel FIRST. After Israel has complied with its obligations, the PA side will purportedly stop attacking Jewish targets.
(Sure. And the sun will start rising in the west.)
By any reasonable measurement, the Olmert declaration is nothing less than Israel's suicide note. It not only repudiates the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, which is the heart and soul of Israel's Jewishness, but it accomplishes what five wars could not.
Once Israel has returned to pre-1967 borders and allowed itself to be cut in half, the Arabs could simply drive their tanks into the Palestinian corridor, turn north and south, and push the Jews into the sea, as they attempted in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973.
Modern-day Israel is a miracle nation. Olmert seems determined to despise its miraculous nature, and the God that brought the miracle to fruition.
After almost 2,000 years in exile, from ghettos and enclaves within host countries, without land or flag, the Jews remained one nation, maintaining their unique culture, religion, dietary laws and racial purity.
This, despite endless pogroms and persecution designed to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth.
And after all those centuries, and all the countries to which they had been scattered, when the Land was ready for the Jews to return, there were still Jews to resettle it, as Jewish prophets like Zechariah, Zephania, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea, Isaiah and even Moses had predicted.
It was God that brought them back into their own land, and the world marveled as God granted Israel victory after victory against overwhelming odds as they slowly reclaimed their Biblical inheritance in Arab-launched wars aimed at their annihilation.
And now, Olmert seems prepared to reverse those gains, effectively turning both his -- and his country's - back on Him.
Of all the 'concessions' being contemplated by Olmert's government, the most astonishing of all is his willingness to surrender any Israeli claim to the Temple Mount.
Israel regained sovereignty over the Temple Mount when it captured it from Jordan in 1967.
Although Moshe Dayan agreed to allow the Muslim Waqf to administer it shortly after it fell into Jewish hands, Israel retained overall sovereignty, if not operational control, over Israel's holiest site.
The Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 300 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, said in a statement that Olmert "does not have the moral or historic right to hand over even one inch of Israeli territory to foreigners."
"The mere fact of giving up sovereignty of the Temple Mount – the holiest site of the Jewish People – is an indication of how far the Israeli government has deteriorated and is prepared to forfeit Jewish rights and ownership of Israel granted in our holy Torah, the most authoritative book in the world," the rabbis said.
Twenty five hundred years ago, the Psalmist wrote, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (Psalm 137:5,6)
It is unlikely that the Lord God, having granted Israel's oldest and most plaintive prayer, will forget the terms set forth by the Psalmist.
Israel's right hand has already begun to lose its cunning, as evidenced by its near defeat at the hands of Hezbollah in June, 2006.
Recently, a Hezbollah official admitted that, had Israel's offensive continued for another ten days, Hezbollah would have had no choice but to lay down its arms and surrender. But Olmert pulled out leaving Hezbollah intact. A year later, they are stronger than they were before the war.
Surrendering to the Palestinians will not bring peace. It is impossible to imagine that anybody in Israel's government believes that it will. Israel has been steadily surrendering territorial sovereignty since 1993. The more territory Israel cedes, the more violence is visited upon them.
Sharon surrendered Gaza two years ago. Instead of bringing peace, Gaza elected Hamas to represent them, and Palestinian rockets have rained down on Israel non-stop from Gaza ever since.
The Palestinian goal is an Arab state INSTEAD of Israel, not BESIDE Israel. There is zero reason to believe that, once Israel has so weakened itself that it can no longer defend itself, the Arabs will suddenly settle for half of Israel.
The prophet Zechariah predicted that "in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:3)
Given Olmert's intentions for Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, it would appear 'that day' is fast approaching.
...............................................benny
