718 Jewish push to build 3rd Temple on Al Aqsa/Dome site ignites Religious War

Jewish push to build 3rd Temple on Al Aqsa/Dome site ignites Religious War

Newsletter published on 29 November 2014

(1) Rabbi Yehuda Glick interview: priestly robes and vessels all ready
for 3rd Temple
(2) Glick plan of 3rd Temple: replaces Dome of the Rock, built on exact site
(3) Glick: Al-Aqsa mosque can stay; but we intend to build 3rd Temple
over Dome of the Rock
(4) TMF: Al-Aqsa Mosque & Dome of Rock must be removed, & 3rd Temple
built on the site
(5) 1990 riots erupted over Temple Mount Faithful attempt to lay
cornerstone of 3rd Temple
(6) TMF triggered riots, deaths in 1990 in attempt to lay Cornerstone of
3rd Temple
(7) Jewish push to pray at Temple Mount (Al Aqsa/Dome) prompts Muslim
unrest (May 18)
(8) Israeli police shoot Palestinian who wounded Glick for promoting 3rd
Temple on Dome of the Rock site (Oct 30)
(9) Netanyahu reinstates Home Demolitions as collective punishment (Nov 12)
(10) Jerusalem conflict spreads to Bethlehem, as Israel annexes 400 ha.
for Settlement
(11) Israel demolishes homes over synagogue attack in retaliation for Al
Aqsa provocation
(12) Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa are "leading the region and the world
into a devastating religious war” - Abbas
(13) Fear of  'religious war' between Jews & Muslims after synagogue attack
(14) Jerusalem synagogue attack sparks fear of religious war

(1) Rabbi Yehuda Glick interview: priestly robes and vessels all ready
for 3rd Temple

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2804930.htm

Orthodox Jews plan rebuilding of sacred temple

The World Today with Eleanor Hall

Anne Barker reported this story on Friday, January 29, 2010 12:34:00

ELEANOR HALL: Nearly 2,000 years ago the Romans under Emperor Vespasian
destroyed the city of Jerusalem and according to Judaism demolished the
second temple sacred to Jews.

Orthodox Jews have prayed ever since for the temple to be rebuilt and an
18th century rabbi even predicted that construction would begin in March
2010.

But one modern-day institution in Jerusalem has taken on the task of
preparing for the temple's reconstruction now.

Middle East correspondent Anne Barker has our report.

(Sounds from the Western Wall)

ANNE BARKER: Every day thousands of Jews in Jerusalem pray at the
Western Wall, said to be the last remnant of the second temple which was
demolished by the Romans in 70 AD.

Jews believe the second temple and Solomon's ancient temple before it
were both built on the same site that today houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque -
the third holiest site in Islam.

It's arguably the most contested piece of land on earth because of its
historic importance to Muslims and Jews.

And for nearly 2,000 years Orthodox Jews have recited daily prayers for
the temple's reconstruction in keeping with the biblical commandments.

Today one Jewish institution has taken on the job of turning the prayer
into reality.

YEHUDA GLICK: I believe that we're like 2,000 years late, but I'd say
that in our modern era, in 1967 when the state of Israel united
Jerusalem we should have immediately begun. And I think every single day
is a day late.

ANNE BARKER: Rabbi Yehuda Glick is a director at the Temple Institute
whose sole purpose is to plan the construction of the third temple which
many believe must be done in time for the coming of the Jewish Messiah.

YEHUDA GLICK: One of the 613 obligations in the Jewish Torah is an
obligation to build the temple and it exists every single day, whether
the Messiah has arrived yet or not.

ANNE BARKER: Already the Temple Institute has spent around $30 million
preparing for the temple's reconstruction.

Architectural plans have been drawn up and vast funds have been spent
employing the best craftsmen to make the priestly robes and vessels to
be used once it's built.

YEHUDA GLICK: We have the altar which is made of stone as you can see.

ANNE BARKER: Rabbi Glick shows me glass cabinets filled with dozens of
objects fashioned on those in the Bible - among them a pure gold
menorah, silver trumpets (sound of trumpet), an incense altar, even a
new Ark of the Covenant to hold the tablets of law given to Moses on
Mount Sinai.

YEHUDA GLICK: Actually it's very interesting because they were brought
from the exact location of the altar built originally by Joshua.

ANNE BARKER: There are even plans to produce a sacrificial red heifer
which the Bible says must be slaughtered before the temple can be built.

For all the biblical specifications though Rabbi Glick believes the
third temple will be a thoroughly modern building.

YEHUDA GLICK: The third temple doesn't have to be as was the second
temple or the first temple in terms of, I mean there can be air
conditioning, parking lots, computers. I mean just the fact that people
used it at the time used oil doesn't mean that today we can't use
electricity.

ANNE BARKER: There is of course one not-so-small problem. The temple
site has for around 1,300 years housed the Dome of the Rock and the
Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Many Muslims in fact say no Jewish temple ever existed here and that
Jews are yet to produce a single shred of archaeological evidence.

Not surprisingly some, like one Palestinian leader Mahdi Abdul Hadi,
warn of warfare if Jews try to build another temple over the Dome of the
Rock.

MAHDI ABDUL HADI: We will defend it, we will fight for it, whether we
are religious, non religious. It's our place. It's our holy place. And
this is bringing us back to the Middle Ages and the empowerment of self
with the idea of killing each other.

ANNE BARKER: For now though the mosques are safe. But if the 18th
century Rabbi Vilna Gaon was correct in his prophesies the temple's
construction would begin in about six weeks.

This is Anne Barker in Jerusalem for The World Today.

(2) Glick plan of 3rd Temple: replaces Dome of the Rock, built on exact site

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/buildng-third-temple-jerusalem.html

The Pulse of the Middle East

Israeli border police run in front of Dome of the Rock during a protest
after Friday prayers at a compound known to Muslims as al-Haram
al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City, Feb. 22,
2013. (photo by REUTERS/Muammar Awad)

Rebuilding Israel's Temple Mount

I went to visit the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem to see
how the preparations for the establishment of the new temple were
getting on. For hundreds of Israelis, the task of renewing the temple
has become the job of their lives. It is about time, so they believe, to
establish the Third Temple in its proper place — right on the site where
the First Temple and the Second Temple were once standing before being
destroyed.

For hundreds of Israelis, the task of renewing the Temple at "its
original place," has become a life mission.

by Daniel Ben Simon

June 7, 2013

Yehuda Glick is one of the “elite soldiers of the temple” who dedicate
their lives to the mission. Since moving to Israel, he has been
preparing for the great day, waiting to see the construction of the
edifice that is to become the holiest place on earth for the Jewish
people. A black skullcap adorning his head, his Hebrew flavored by an
Anglo-Saxon accent, Glick spends his time as a tourist guide, escorting
visitors to the Temple Mount.

I met Yehuda at the entrance gate to the Temple Mount. There is no
greater thrill in his life than to walk on the soil of the Temple Mount.
While he has visited the place hundreds or even thousands of times,, his
heart still beats with excitement on each visit. “As far as I see it, an
amazing divine move is manifested here,” he explained while we were
waiting in line at the gate. “The state of Israel is a part of this
divine move, which will culminate in the establishment of the Third Temple.”

How is it going to be built and who will build it? I asked him. A broad
smile spread across his face. He may have felt sorry for me or, perhaps,
considered the question to be out of place. “The notion that the Temple
will be built by itself, under divine directions, is the sort of idea
typical of Diaspora Jews,” my interlocutor noted. He had left New York
for Israel at the age of 8, settling with his family in Otniel, south of
Hebron. “When I started visiting the Temple Mount 15 years ago, you
could hardly gather a minyan — the quorum — for prayer. These days,
hundreds of thousands of Jews are coming to pray on the Temple Mount.
They expect us to rebuild the temple, and God willing, it will be built.”

Hundreds of tourists, most of them Christians, were standing in line
under the scorching sun, waiting for the security check that every
visitor seeking entry to the Temple Mount is required to pass. Jews are
not allowed to bring in scrolls of the Torah, prayer books, copies of
the Book of Psalms or any other article of worship that could be used to
establish a mystical association between the Temple Mount and the holy
Jewish Scriptures. Under the current arrangements agreed on between
Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, Jews visiting the Temple Mount are
banned from openly praying on the premises or swaying in worship. One
single event of deviation from the set rules could be enough to spark an
international incident.

In fact, precisely such an incident occurred while I was waiting at the
entrance gate to the Temple Mount. All of a sudden, shouts were heard
from inside the enclosure. The policemen standing on guard at the gate
went on alert and hurried to lock it. It turned out that a Muslim
worshipper accused an Israeli policeman of knocking down a Quran she was
holding in her hands. She started yelling "Allahu Akbar!" and within
minutes, dozens of worshippers at the scene rushed to her aid, and some
of them even tried to attack the policeman. The Temple Mount was closed
to visitors right away and the incident was promptly brought to the
attention of the top echelons in Israel, the Palestinian leaders in the
territories and the Jordanian king's palace.

The commanding officer in charge of the Temple Mount site told me that
incidents of that kind were an everyday matter. “The policeman on duty
reported that the worshipper had thrown down the book on purpose, to
stir up a provocation and, needless to say, I believe him,” he said,
adding: “Even a minor event is liable to trigger an international incident.”

As the gates to the Temple Mount were closed, Yehuda and I headed for
the Jewish Quarter, where the Temple Institute is located. Hundreds of
tourists visit the Temple Institute store daily to see at close hand the
preparations for the establishment of the temple. “Fifty percent of the
visitors are not Jewish,” recounted Reuven Cohen, the store manager, who
immigrated to Israel from England 34 years ago. “The Jews are coming
here to look for the roots of the temple, whereas the visiting
evangelists are deeply involved in the establishment of the temple. They
are well aware that their process of redemption is closely interwoven
with ours. They actually believe that the path of return of Jesus Christ
to this earth passes through our temple.”

The articles of worship intended for use in the new temple, once it is
erected, are on display in the store. Kits that include guidelines for
proper conduct in the holy site are offered for sale alongside a variety
of jigsaw puzzles of the temple — some comprising 24 pieces, for
3-year-old children, and others of 100 pieces and even 1,000 pieces —
for the older. Hundreds of books, neatly arranged on the shelves, tell
the history of the temples — those that were destroyed and the one that
is to be built. There are books on the sacred golden candelabrums, books
on the houses that served the Jewish priests who performed their duties
at the temple, and others on the ritual sacrifices and prayers, as well
as on the way of life that will prevail in Israel after the temple is
established.

“Last year we had 50,000 visitors,” David Schwartz, who heads the Temple
Institute, proudly stated. “The ever-growing interest shown by tourists
reflects the feeling that the days of the Messiah are around the corner.
You can sense it in the air — in schools, in synagogues, even in the
homes of the secular. Everyone feels it coming up.”

While we were talking, hundreds of visiting school students were
wandering around the Institute, impressed by the sights. “Yes, that’s
true,” Schwartz added. “As you can see, people are looking for meaning
to life. They want to achieve something. We are currently at the stage
of preparing people for the construction of the temple.”

On display, next to the architectural building plans, are models showing
pilgrims getting down from the light rail at the temple gate station.
Others are seen parking their cars in an underground garage to be built
beneath the temple. Sophisticated elevators would transport the
worshippers right into the temple.

Schwartz, Cohen and Glick are all confident that once the Third Temple
is erected, the world will become a fundamentally different place. The
Lord would then bestow on Earth great abundance and there would no
longer be anyone in need of charity.

“Those who do not feel what is going to happen are either blind or
stupid, or ungrateful,” Glick noted, clearly annoyed with me, having
noticed the skeptical expression on my face. “There has never been
anything like that in the history of the human race; the return of an
exiled people to its homeland is unique in human annals. It is all
written in the Torah. And the last, supreme stage will be the
construction of the temple.”

However, there is one far from marginal factor left out. In all those
plans and photographs and illustrations and puzzles and books put
forward by the Jewish believers, the Third Temple is seen at the center
of the Temple Mount, rising high up above it.

But there is no trace there of the Dome of the Rock, as if the earth had
swallowed it up.

Daniel Ben Simon is a former Knesset member from the Labor party. Prior
to his political career, he was a journalist with Israeli dailies
Haaretz and Davar. Ben Simon wrote four books on Israeli society and is
the recipient of the Sokolov Prize, an Israeli journalism award.

(3) Glick: Al-Aqsa mosque can stay; but we intend to build 3rd Temple
over Dome of the Rock

http://baytephraim.beytephraim.com/Temple/Temple_Institute_prepares_for_the_Third_Temple.html

Nov 29 2014

Temple Institute prepares for the Third Temple

Yehuda Glick is a 44-year-old American-born Jew who spends most of every
day preparing for the arrival of the Messiah in Jerusalem.

Since he became the executive director of the Temple Institute, Mr
Glick's main task has been to supervise the manufacture of the utensils
the high priests will need when the day arrives.

Crowns and other instruments made of solid gold fill glass cases in the
Temple Institute museum in Jerusalem's Old City.

Other artefacts include an array of copper urns, trumpets made of silver
and garments to be worn by the High Priest, woven from golden thread.

Musical instruments, including hand-made harps and lyres, lie ready to
be brought to life upon the Messiah's appearance.

So, when can we expect this momentous event?

"That is a very good question," Mr Glick told the Herald.

"All that we know is that we are now living in the age of miracles and
all of those miracles are predicted in the Book as happening on the eve
of the end of days. It could well be tomorrow, but it might be another
100 years, or even 400 years."

We were in the Quarter Cafe in the Jewish sector of Jerusalem's Old
City, high on an embankment that overlooks the most contested religious
site on Earth.

Jews call it the Temple Mount, or Mount Moriah, and believe it to be the
site of the Foundation Stone, the Holy of Holies from where God gathered
the dust to create Adam.

Muslims call it Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and believe it
to be the third-holiest site in Islam, from where the prophet Muhammad
ascended to heaven.

To Jews the Temple Mount is also the site of the first temple built by
King Solomon. After it was destroyed, a second temple was built about
500BC, and stood for 500 years before the Romans destroyed it. Their
religion holds that a third temple will be built upon the arrival of the
Messiah.

"That is why we have engaged two architects," Mr Glick said. "It will be
a modern building, with car parks and elevators, but it will look very
much like the Second Temple."

The Temple Institute museum contains a large-scale model of what the
Third Temple will look like, with its main building set to reach a
height of 60 metres.

Today, the Temple Mount is dominated by the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the
gold-topped Dome of the Rock.

"Al-Aqsa can stay," Mr Glick said, pointing to the mosque. "It's not
even on the Temple Mount proper. But we intend to just build over the
Dome of the Rock. We might be able to find a way to include it in the
Third Temple."

Mr Glick envisages a house of prayer open to all believers in the
monotheistic faiths, Christians, Muslims or Jews.

The Temple Institute has become a fixture on American evangelical tours
of Israel. Thanks largely to their donations, it has so far spent $US27
million ($29 million) on preparations.

"We started with $US100," Mr Glick said. "There are 70 million
evangelical Christians around the world, and most of them have become
Israel's strongest supporters."

(4) TMF: Al-Aqsa Mosque & Dome of Rock must be removed, & 3rd Temple
built on the site

http://templemountfaithful.org/articles/build-the-temple-now-no-need-to-wait-for-the-messiah.php

Temple Mount Faithful to Israeli Government: Build the Temple Now; No
Need to Wait for the Messiah

The Holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem is again in the midst of critical
events in Israel. The Temple Mount will continue to be like a "volcanic
mountain" as long as the Israeli government is not removing the
Arab-Islamic shrines from the Holy Temple Mount and allows them to
continue to desecrate the Holy Mountain of the G-d of Israel.

G-d is expecting the government of Israel to immediately remove the
enemy from the Temple Mount and to rebuild the Temple with no delay. The
Arab-Islamic occupation of the Temple Mount and their presence upon the
location of the Holy Temple, which is an abomination of the Name of G-d,
is soon to be finished under the judgment of G-d.

Israel is now in the midst of the end-time, when the G-d of Israel is
fulfilling literally each of the end-time prophecies word by word. It is
a true privilege to be born during such a significant G-dly time.
Hundreds of generations dreamed, desired and prayed to be born during
such a great time. The prophets of Israel that prophesied about 'this
time' thousands of years ago gave us all the details about G-d's
end-time plan. Everyone should just open the Holy Book and recognize
immediately that Israel today is a clear re-creation by G-d to be the
focus of all the end-time events for the entire world. What G-d is doing
with Israel during these exciting days is an opening and a condition for
the redemption of all of humanity.

At the same time it is a very critical time in the history of Israel
when the Arab-Islamic enemies of Israel with the backing (support) of so
many powers all over the world are trying to stop what G-d is doing
within Israel at this special time. The present riots against Israel are
a part of their efforts to remove Israel from the map of the world. They
have no chance to fulfill even one iota of their evil desires. G-d is in
control and He is going to judge them terribly. Nothing can stop the
Almighty G-d of Israel in completing His exciting plans of end-time
redemption with Israel and 'through Israel' for the entire world.

The most important and the climax of all of these exciting and godly
end-time events is the rebuilding of the Temple of G-d on the Temple
Mount (Mt. Moriah), the place that He chose thousands of years ago to
dwell among His people Israel and at this special time among all of His
creation in Jerusalem. G-d called His people to build the Temple (Exodus
25:8) with no delay and as we see Israel is very close to making this
call of G-d a reality in our lifetime. The G-d of Israel called the
Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement to be His vessel for
the fulfillment of this most major cause ever.

In this special end-time godly era when G-d is revealing to His people
Israel and to the entire world that His prophetic Word is being
fulfilled literally and so clearly, it is so strange and not
comprehensible how there is confusion and mistaken ideas among some
people regarding the rebuilding of the Temple of G-d and the coming of
Mashiach Ben David. It is even worse when people share their mistaken
ideas with others who live outside of Israel and advise them to make the
same fallible mistakes. These mistaken ideas are standing against the
Word of G-d and His commandments to Israel regarding the rebuilding of
His Holy Temple. It is our duty to explain the correct godly principles
of the building of the Temple of G-d especially during this critical time.

Just recently we read an interview with the former executive-director of
the Temple Institute, Yehuda Glick, that brought forth incorrect
information and details regarding the building of the Third Temple that
do not correspond with the commands of G-d. Such ideas are actually an
abomination of both the Word of G-d and His Holy Hill.

What is most appalling is when, according to this interview, Mr. Glick
said that the al-Aksa Mosque does not need to be removed in order for
the Third Temple to be built. "Al-Aksa can stay. It is not even on the
Temple Mount proper. But we intend to just build over the Dome of the
Rock. We might be able to find a way to include it in the Third Temple."
For your basic information, the Dome of the Rock was constructed by
Muslims on the site of the Holiest Temple and upon the rock of Abraham
and Isaac. Al-Aksa mosque was built inside the perimeter of the Holy
Temple Mount.

We were surprised to read these strange and incorrect ideas that are in
opposition to the Word of G-d throughout the Tanach (Bible). According
to the law of G-d on the Temple Mount should be, can be and will be
again only one house: the House of G-d, the Holy Temple, and not any
other building, especially not a strange pagan shrine. Throughout the
history of the biblical Jewish Kingdom, foreigners that occupied the
Land of Israel placed their idols inside the Jewish Temple or built
their shrines on the location of the Temple. All of them were an
abomination to the Name of G-d and a desecration of His Holy Hill and
were removed from the Temple Mount under the judgment of G-d and the
same will be done now by the G-d of Israel to all that were built as the
result of an imperialistic Arab-Islamic occupation of the Land of Israel.

As we said, the Dome of the Rock was built by the Muslims on the most
holy place of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. This is the place where
Israelis and even Jewish priests were not allowed to enter. Only the
high-priest was permitted to enter this holy place once a year on the
holy day of Yom Kippur. All the area of the Temple itself was forbidden
for any strangers to enter there. On the inner-wall that surrounded the
Temple was a stone banner engraved in both Hebrew and Greek that stated
according to the commandment of G-d: "the foreigner that will come close
to this holy place will die". More than this, even Israelites that were
not clean had to purify themselves by immersion into a mikveh and purify
themselves through the ashes of the red heifer before they could enter
the Holy Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount has been desecrated for a long time by the Arab
foreigners that occupied the Temple Mount in the 7th century CE and
built their shrines on the holy hill of G-d against the Word of G-d. The
Dome of the Rock was built as we said on the location of the Holy of
Holies, which attempted to prove and to show their domination over the
G-d and the people of Israel and all over the world. G-d returned His
people Israel back to the Promised Land, to Jerusalem and the Temple
Mount in order to stop this terrible abomination of His Name and the
desecration of His Holy Hill. G-d is expecting the Israeli government to
do what His people did in the past when His Holy Mountain was desecrated
by foreign shrines: remove the Arab Islamic foreign shrines from His
Holy Hill without delay. It should be done only by an official Israeli
government that will demonstrate that the people of Israel trust the G-d
of Israel and His Word and do not fear any human or physical power.
These shrines can be carried to Mecca from where they originated by the
Muslim occupiers.

The ideas of Yehuda Glick are not only incorrect but also are offensive
against G-d and His Holy Word and no one in Israel will accept them.
They represent weakness which is a result of the situation of the
presence of the Muslims on the Temple Mount and fear from more than a
billion Muslims instead of trusting in the Almighty G-d of Israel who
promised His people that He will always stand with them and that they
should not fear any worldly power.

Mr. Glick's ideas are also a result of misunderstanding the words of
Isaiah who prophesied: "My house will be a house of prayer for all
nations." (Isaiah 56:7) The meaning of these words is abundantly clear:
"My house" says the G-d of Israel, will be a house of prayer for all
nations and not any other foreign house. More than this, only "the sons
of the strangers, that join themselves to the L-rd, to serve him, and to
love the name of the L-rd, to be his servants, every one that keeps the
Sabbath and does not profane it, and all that hold fast to my covenant,
even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my
house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be
accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for
all peoples." (Isaiah 56:6,7)

The prophet Isaiah clarified this prophesy with even further details. He
is speaking about just one house, the House of the G-d of Jacob, that
all of the nations will flow toward to learn His ways:

  "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
L-rd's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall
be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many
people shall go and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the
L-rd, to the house of the G-d of Jacob; and he will teach us of his
ways, and we will walk in his paths; for from Zion shall go forth Torah,
and the word of the L-rd from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the
nations, and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any
more. O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the
L-rd.'" (Isaiah 2:2-5)

We must clarify another important point. According to Glick, the Temple
will be built '... when the Messiah shows up ... it could well be
tomorrow, but it might be another 100 years, or even 400 years.'
However, none any of the Scriptures show that the Temple should be built
only when the Mashiach comes. In the Torah G-d commands His people
Israel: "Build me a temple and I will dwell among you" (Exodus 25:8)
with no condition that it should be built after the coming of Mashiach
Ben David. The first Temple was built without any condition to wait for
the coming of the Mashiach. The second Temple was built after the
destruction of the first Temple and the regathering of the Jews back to
their land by G-d with no waiting for the coming of the Mashiach. In a
similar time to our era when the people of Israel did not want to
rebuild the Temple and perhaps were waiting for the coming of the
Messiah, the prophet Haggai called the people of Israel to listen and
obey the Word of G-d to immediately rebuild the Temple:

  "Thus speaks the L-rd of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is
not come, the time that the L-rd's house should be built. Then the word
of the L-rd came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you,
yourselves, to dwell in your well timbered houses, whilst this house
lies waste? Thus speaks the L-rd of hosts, saying, This people say, The
time is not come, the time that the L-rd's house should be built?. Thus
says the L-rd of hosts; Consider your ways, Go up to the mountain, and
bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I
will be glorified, says the L-rd." (Haggai 1:2-4,7)

Even the Jerusalemite Talmud indicates that when the Mashiach comes, the
Temple already has been rebuilt and he will go up to the roof of the
Temple, calling to the people of Israel: "Awake! The time of your
redemption has come!"

According to the prophets of Israel, three events should take place
before the coming of Messiah Ben David:

  First, is the regathering of the twelve tribes of Israel from the four
corners of the world to the Promised Land.

  The second event is the rebirth of Israel as a nation and again as the
kingdom of G-d in the Land of Israel.

  The third event is the rebuilding of the Temple on the Temple Mount in
the same location as the first and second Temples.

The first two events have already come to pass in Israel during this
exciting time of redemption. Now the third Temple should be immediately
built, says the G-d of Israel, with no delay and then the Messiah will come.

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(5) 1990 riots erupted over Temple Mount Faithful attempt to lay
cornerstone of 3rd Temple

http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/messianic-sect-allows-peek-into-battle-to-build-third-temple-1.448410

Messianic sect allows peek into battle to build third Temple

Messianic right-wing activists offer Haaretz a rare glimpse into efforts
to Judaize the Temple Mount - including with a flood of lawsuits.

By Oz Rosenberg

Jul. 3, 2012

For quite some time, Temple Mount activists have been barred, one after
the other, from the mount in Jerusalem's Old City, uncertain whether
they will be permitted to return. The reason for their stay-away order
is the same: conducting Jewish prayer services at the site - from
mumbling verses while appearing to have a conversation to actual
prostration when officials from the Waqf, the custodians of the mount,
are not looking. In most cases the activists accept the judgment, but a
police decision last Wednesday to permanently bar the man considered
their spiritual leader - the head of the Temple Institute, Rabbi Yisrael
Ariel - was for them the last straw.

Last week, in a small beit midrash (study hall) named after Rabbi Meir
Kahane in Jerusalem's Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood, an emergency meeting
was convened to discuss instigating freedom of religion and worship on
the Temple Mount. It was a closed meeting attended by representatives of
the Temple Institute, HaTenu'ah LeChinun HaMikdash (the Movement to
Rebuild the Holy Temple) and the Temple Mount Faithful, as well as two
representatives of Women for the Mikdash, and others. The activists met
to try to understand how they could overcome the authorities, who they
believe are plotting against them, and return to the Temple Mount. At
this meeting, Haaretz was offered a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of
the most ardent activists in the battle to Judaize the Temple Mount.

At the session, a signal was given and the activists burst into fervent
song in honor of Rabbi Ariel, who sat among them and clapped. He told of
the ban on his entering the mount, which he said was a result of a
prayer he uttered there on Jerusalem Day, and his recent summons for
police questioning. "The summons is signed by one Sa'ad. You call them
up and some Mustafa answers, you show up there and Ahmed's waiting for
you," he told the activists, smiling. "I'm just relating the facts.
There's something here that intensifies the pain. We're under Arab rule.
This is a serious matter that people should be aware of." Everyone
present looked at him admiringly. Most of them also had been barred from
the Temple Mount.

'Evil decree'

In 1987, Rabbi Ariel established the Temple Institute out of a desire to
prepare for the day when he believes the Messiah will come and the
Temple will be rebuilt. Consequently, for more than 20 years he has been
working diligently on building vessels for the Temple and sewing
garments for the high priest. There is no real difference between the
Temple Institute, HaTenu'ah LeChinun HaMikdash and the Temple Mount
Faithful, and the other two organizations are also working tirelessly
toward the hoped-for day. As part of their activities these
organizations sought to dismiss yeshiva heads and rabbis who oppose
prayer service on the Temple Mount, contacted the Italian government
with a request for the return of the Temple vessels Titus took from the
Jews, and announced that they had found a kosher red heifer (for use in
purification ceremonies ). The rejoicing, incidentally, turned out to be
premature.

"There is a worrying phenomenon that is steadily gaining ground," said
Yehuda Glick, chairman of The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation,
referring to the banning of the activists from the Temple Mount. He
believes those responsible are Public Security Minister Yitzhak
Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu), the leader of that party - Avigdor
Lieberman, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "who is aware of this
policy and is allowing it to continue ... they didn't let [right-wing
activist Yosef] Elboim and [activist Eliezer] Breuer enter the Temple
Mount. If those Knesset members would have fought the way they did for
[social-justice protest leader] Daphni Leef perhaps we might not have
reached this point."

Elboim, the secretary of HaTenu'ah LeChinun HaMikdash and the most
senior figure barred from the Temple Mount, sat opposite him and was
quiet most of the time. Occasionally he tried to refine a point raised
by someone else, all with the aim of preventing the "evil decree" from
taking effect, and bringing the activists back to the Temple Mount. "Is
it possible to get the chief rabbi to issue a halakhic ruling?" he asked
the person who suggested a din torah (rabbinic legal decision ) against
the Chief Rabbinate for speaking out against visiting the Temple Mount.
"We had many other High Court of Justice motions that were better and we
lost, so will we win this one?" he questioned in response to a
suggestion of suing people in senior positions connected to the barring
of activists from the Temple Mount.

Elboim himself was barred from the mount around a year ago, after he
called on the right-wing pirate radio station Arutz Sheva for the
establishment of a kollel (yeshiva for married men ) on the mount. He
left the meeting feeling encouraged.

Winning card

In 1990, after Muslims became concerned that the Temple Mount Faithful
would come to lay the cornerstone for the Third Temple - as they had
several times in the past - the muezzin of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the
mount called on the thousands of worshippers there to defend the site
against such a move. This led to what became known as the Temple Mount
riots, in which 17 Palestinians were killed and several Jewish
worshippers at the Western Wall were injured. The riots led to a serious
toughening of the police stance regarding the Temple Mount, but it did
not stop attempts by the various right-wing organizations to restore a
full Jewish presence there.

After about an hour-and-a-half of discussions in the Rabbi Kahane study
hall the potential winning card was laid: a documented December 2011
statement by the Temple Mount officer, Chief Superintendent Avi Biton,
during a court hearing. "There are no procedures regarding the entry of
visitors to the Temple Mount," Biton said. "There are procedures and
rules that are unwritten." These procedures, he explained, are
determined based on the situation at a given time and are passed on
ad-hoc to the security staff on the mount.

Temple Mount activists hope this will work in their favor. Attorney
Aviad Visoly, who has been working with the activists, explained at the
meeting, a moment after he instructed the activists on what to do if
arrested and summoned for questioning, "it is inconceivable that there
be a situation where it is dangerous to pray all the time. All of their
claims of violations of procedures are a lot of nonsense after all;
there are no procedures!" He believes this allows for the possibility of
suing the police force and its leaders. "We must wear out the system,"
he said. Visoly suggested setting up a fund for personal lawsuits that
would enable activists to file endless suits, individual and class
actions, against organizations and people responsible for what happens
on the Temple Mount. "It's clear to me that if we file a wave of
lawsuits it will wear them down," he said. "This is what wipes them out
the most - the summons to give testimony and the questionings. They hate
it." The activists nodded in agreement.

National Union MK Michael Ben Ari, the parliamentary hope in the matter,
suddenly appeared in the doorway. Unfortunately, he said despairingly
after he sat down, he was not the bearer of good news that day. "Don't
look at me here as a Knesset member; I have less power than you. I can
only shout, curse, but nothing will change. We are treading water. I
don't see any kind of stir surrounding the issue of the Temple Mount.
This issue is dead and it's not even a death that will spur others to
action. It's a forgotten issue." A change in attitude, he said, would
only come after a critical mass had formed - a large number of activists
who will visit the Temple Mount every day to wear down the system.

"What about the State Control Committee?" someone asked. There was a
momentary spark in the eyes of the people at the meeting. One said:
"Let's get [the committee chairman and National Union Knesset member]
Uri Ariel to make the police provide some answers at last." But Ben Ari
was quick to dampen the enthusiasm. "It won't help. Life goes on as
usual," he said. In the end it was decided that he would work in the
coming weeks to convene a special Knesset session on Jewish prayers on
the Temple Mount.

"Maybe we will arrange some kind of protest vigil," said Elboim's son,
who had stood quietly at the back until then. But this suggestion was
also rejected outright. "We organized an international conference across
from the Old City walls and a handful of people came," Glick said. "If
only a few people come again we will have made a joke of ourselves. It's
probably better not to do anything." But Prof. Hillel Weiss wasn't so
sure: "It depends on the extent of the provocation."


(6) TMF triggered riots, deaths in 1990 in attempt to lay Cornerstone of
3rd Temple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount_and_Eretz_Yisrael_Faithful_Movement

The Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) Faithful Movement is
an Orthodox Jewish movement, based in Jerusalem, Israel whose goal is to
rebuild the Third Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and
re-institute the practice of ritual sacrifice.

The Movement was founded by former Israel Defense Forces officer and
Middle Eastern studies lecturer Gershon Salomon.[1] Members of the
movement are referred to as the "Temple Mount Faithful." The group was
established in 1967.[2]

On 8 October 1990, seventeen Palestinians were killed and over 100
others injured by Israeli Border Police in the 1990 Temple Mount riots
triggered by an announcement by the Temple Mount Faithful that they were
going to lay a cornerstone for a Third Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem.[3] After the riots the police prohibited Salomon from
entering the Temple Mount; his appeal of that decision was subsequently
denied by Israel's High Court of Justice.[4]

This page was last modified on 30 October 2014 at 13:34.

(7) Jewish push to pray at Temple Mount (Al Aqsa/Dome) prompts Muslim
unrest (May 18)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4520843,00.html

MKs propose bill to allow Jewish prayer on Temple Mount

Labor and Likud members join bid to push controversial legislation to
open up Temple Mount compound for Jewish prayer, currently permitted for
only for Muslims.

Akiva Novik

May 18, 2014 Published: 05.18.14, 23:52

Labor and Likud MKs have joined forces on a new bill that proposes to
allow Jews to pray at the Temple Mount compound - for the first time
since the destruction of the Second Temple, as Jews are currently barred
from praying at the site.

MK Miri Regev (Likud) and MK Hilik Bar (Labor) are expected to introduce
the bill for discussion in the Knesset. It aims to extend freedom of
worship on the Temple Mount to the level allowed in Hebron's Cave of the
Patriarchs, where Jews and Muslims share the holy site.

Last April, dozens of Arab youths, some masked, rioted on the Temple
Mount, throwing stones and fire crackers at security forces deployed to
the scene. The clashes led to the compound being closed to visitors and
the arrests of dozens suspected of violent acts. Such scenes constantly
reoccur in the compound.

Given that any development related to the flashpoint location could
result in wide-spread Palestinian unrest, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu will likely try to torpedo the proposal.

If that were to happen, Regev, who heads an Knesset's Internal Affairs
committee, will turn to the High Court of Justice for resolution of the
sensitive issue.

Initially, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan
attempted to change worshipping rights on the Mount through regulations,
but delay in their implementation led Regev to seek a quicker resolution.

(8) Israeli police shoot Palestinian who wounded Glick for promoting 3rd
Temple on Dome of the Rock site (Oct 30)

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/tension-jerusalem-after-shooting-rabbi-palestine-aqsa-i-2014103055714931193.html

Clashes in Jerusalem after shooting of rabbi

Palestinian president condemns closure of al-Aqsa mosque as a
"declaration of war" while clashes rage in east Jerusalem.

Last updated: 30 Oct 2014 21:01

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the Israeli closure of
the al-Aqsa mosque compound as a "declaration of war", while clashes
raged in east Jerusalem after Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man
suspected of shooting and wounding a far-right rabbi.

Israel temporarily shutdown the flashpoint religious shrine on Thursday
in what police called a temporary measure aimed at calming tempers
following Wednesday's shooting of Yehuda Glick, which they called an
attempted assassination.

The rabbi survived the attack, and the hospital where he was being
treated said he was in a serious but stable condition.

Glick is a member of the Temple Mount Faithful, a group which calls for
"liberating the Temple Mount from Arab [Islamic] occupation".

The group advocates rebuilding a Jewish temple at the
religiously-important site, including the area containing the mosque.

The mosque will be open for Friday prayers but police will only allow
access to Muslim men over the age of 50, with no restrictions for women.

The earlier closure prompted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to
declare the move as tantamount to a "declaration of war".

"This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the
Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic
nation," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina quoted him as saying.

Israeli police on Thursday shot dead Mutaz Hijazi, a Palestinian whom
the police claimed was responsible for firing at the US-born rabbi, who
is known for his lobbying to secure Jewish prayer rights at the al-Aqsa
mosque compound.

Sources told Al Jazeera that Hijazi, 32, was killed in the al-Thori
neighbourhood of East Jerusalem during an attempted arrest.

'Opened fire on police'

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Hijazi was "armed… and opened fire
on the police". [...]

Last week, a resident of neighbouring Silwan district drove his car into
a crowd of passengers disembarking from the city’s light rail, killing
two and injuring seven others. He was also shot dead by police.

"This is how they deal with Palestinians," said Samir Natsheh, a
neighbour of Hijazi. "They don’t arrest us."

Jewish encroachment

Glick's shooting took place outside a conference promoting Jewish access
to the holy site, a hilltop compound in Jerusalem's old city.

Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin said a man approached Glick outside the
conference and spoke to him in "heavy Arabic-accented Hebrew". He then
opened fire at point-blank range and fled.

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound houses Islam's third holiest site, but is
also revered by Christians and as the most sacred spot for Jews who
refer to the site as the Temple Mount.

Although non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site, Jews are not allowed
to pray there. [...]

(9) Netanyahu reinstates Home Demolitions as collective punishment (Nov 12)

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11/controversial-demolitions-collective

Netanyahu announces return of controversial punitive home demolitions
widely viewed as collective punishment

November 12, 2014

Allison Deger

As tensions seethe in Jerusalem the Israeli government has resurrected
polices from the Intifada-era including punitive home demolitions as a
measure of deterrence against attacks on its citizens. Over the past
three weeks five Israelis have been killed in hit-and-runs and stabbings
while four suspected Palestinian assailants have been shot by police.

Speaking in a security cabinet meeting Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the controversial policy to raze
houses will be reinstated on a broad scale to quell violence that has
centered in Jerusalem. “These steps include increasing forces on the
ground throughout the country in order to boost your security, citizens
of Israel; the demolition of terrorists’ homes,” he said.

Netanyahu added fines would be imposed on the parents of Palestinian
children suspected of stone throwing, a crime that as of last week has
become punishable with up to 20 years in prison. His security cabinet
meetings followed Monday’s deadly knife attack on two Israelis—one in
Tel Aviv and another in a West Bank settlement. Israeli Sgt. Almog
Shilony, 20, was stabbed to death while in uniform at the Haganah Train
Station in Tel Aviv by Maher al-Hashlamu, 30, a Palestinian from Hebron.
Hashlamu was taken into police custody. Hours later settler Dalia
Lemkus, 26, an occupational therapist at a kindergarten from the
settlement of Tekoa was also attacked with a knife by an unidentified
Palestinian man at a bus stop in Alon Shvut in the Gush Etzion
settlement bloc. The Israeli news outlet YNet noted, “The attack
occurred some 100 meters away from the hitchhiking stop from which three
Israeli yeshiva students–Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali
Frenkel–were kidnapped in June.” [...]

Punitive home demolitions were once a staple of Israeli policy during
the first and second Intifadas. The Israeli military abandoned home
razing in 2005 citing its ineffectiveness. It was used as a punishment
on the family members of Palestinians whose relatives committed violent
acts against Israelis. Critics have cited the practice as collective
punishment and in contradiction to international law, which Israeli
courts have held up at times when overturning individual cases of
demolition orders.

The Israeli human rights group B’tselem reported between from October
2001 and February 2005, “The IDF has demolished as punishment 675
housing units, which were home to 4,239 persons,” adding, “From 1967 to
the outbreak of intifada, Israel demolished more than 1,800 homes as
punishment.” Since 1967 more than 27,000 homes have been razed, however,
demolitions as punishment or criminal deterrence constitute two-percent
of that amount.

Even before the first Intifada punitive home demolitions had existed in
Israel’s arsenal of force in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Codified by a military order in 1967 that was rooted in hangover codes
from the British Mandate, the law went relatively unchallenged until
1979 when Israel’s High Court debated the legality of the practice.
Ultimately jurists approved the practice as a legitimate mode of
deterrence.

(10) Jerusalem conflict spreads to Bethlehem, as Israel annexes 400 ha.
for Settlement

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/11/jerusalem-conflict-spreads-bethlehem-201411197130293973.html

Jerusalem conflict spreads to Bethlehem

Jerusalem tension is spilling over into Bethlehem where Palestinians
fear 'something big coming'.

Last updated: 20 Nov 2014 05:16

Bethlehem - For months, the world has been fixated on Jerusalem. Car
attacks, revenge killings, settler violence, demolition of Palestinian
homes, and the fate of the Al-Aqsa compound, The third most holy site in
Islam, have kept the city planted on the edge.

Just yesterday, the killing of five Israelis in a Jerusalem synagogue -
three Americans and a Briton who all held Israeli citizenship - by two
members of the leftist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, may have succeeded in pushing things over the edge it has
been sitting on.

However, Jerusalem is not the only holy city experiencing daily unrest.
Bethlehem and the surrounding area, home to both ancient biblical
villages and refugee camps set up after the creation of Israel in in
1948, have been host to intensifying clashes between Israelis and
Palestinians.

"What happens in Jerusalem, happens here," Mustafa al-Araj, a 27
year-old resident of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, told Al
Jazeera. He believes that the events of Jerusalem and those of Bethlehem
are inseparable. "When there's a problem there, we deal with it in Aida."

Al-Araj said that confrontations increased during Operation Brother's
Keeper, a widespread military crackdown and search for three kidnapped
Israeli settlers conducted by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank
this past summer.

"Over the last month, things have been very bad," he reflected on the
state of affairs in Aida refugee camp as tensions from Jerusalem have
spilled over into Bethlehem. Al-Araj said that clashes now take place
more than three times a week.

"The [Israeli] military base is there," al-Araj said, motioning from the
roof of the Aida Youth Centre, littered with spent tear gas canisters,
towards a watchtower less than two kilometres away. "When Israel comes
into the area surrounding Bethlehem, they come through here."

Israeli incursions have been numerous over the past months. On August
31, Israel announced it would annex 400 hectares of land west of
Bethlehem for the Gush Etzion settlement block. The Israeli army has
since increased its presence in the area, restricting several villages'
access to the rest of the West Bank.

On Tuesday, November 11, restrictions worsened. The Israeli army used
sizable concrete slabs to block the tunnel that connects several western
villages, including Wadi Fukin , al-Khader and Nahalin, to Bethlehem.

The closure caused the residents of these communities to express
concerns that it was another step in Israel's plans to annex the area,
stoking frustrations.

According to Baha' Hilo, an activist from Bethlehem, when Israel closes
part of the West Bank, Palestinians "know that annexation is coming."

"Residents don't have access to schools, hospitals, and their friends
and families," Hilo said, referring to the villagers' circumstances.
"After a period of isolation, they start to consider moving."
Palestinians leaving annexed land is "exactly what Israel wants."

Settler violence is also increasingly common in the area. The
agricultural lands of Nihilin come under frequent attack, with religious
Jewish settlers "torching" olive trees and hassling residents. "There
are no consequences for these people," Hilo concluded. [...]

Simon Reynolds, the legal advocacy officer for Badil, the Resource
Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights , a Bethlehem based
NGO that focuses on the rights of refugees in the surrounding refugee
camps, agreed that things have become more difficult recently.

Bethlehem's "situation, on the whole, is getting worse," he continued.
Night raids and arrests are "all occurring with greater frequency.
There's not a single member of the community that's not affected by it."

Israeli soldiers operate with impunity in the occupied West Bank and the
Palestinian Authority takes a passive stance, leaving "people to their
own devices."

When asked if he believed conditions were deteriorating in part due to
tensions in Jerusalem, Reynolds said there is a "situation that is
already horrific," and the structural disenfranchisement and regular
rights violations of Bethlehem's residents were already cause for concern.

Measuring whether or not it's gotten more or less horrific over the past
months is "missing the point." [...]

(11) Israel demolishes homes over synagogue attack in retaliation for Al
Aqsa provocation

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/11/cloneofisraeli-forces-destroy-home-palestinian-2-20141119133010412400.html

Israel begins demolishing homes over attacks

Contentious punitive tactic resumed with razing of building housing
family of Palestinian man blamed for October attack.

Last updated: 19 Nov 2014 15:28

Israel has demolished the East Jerusalem home of a Palestinian who
carried out a deadly October attack, just hours after Benjamin
Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, warned of strict security measures in
response to Tuesday's synagogue killings in Jerusalem.

The house demolished on Wednesday in the Silwan neighbourhood near the
Old City belonged to Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi, who last month killed two
people among a crowd standing on a light rail platform in Jerusalem.

Four families who lived in the building - including that of al-Shaludi -
had to evacuate, Al Jazeera's Dalia Hatuqa reported from East Jerusalem,
adding that the entire neighbourhood was closed off by Israeli security
forces.

Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from outside the demolished
house, said people in the area considered the Israeli action as a form
of collective punishment - "a wider way to punish - even the extended
family".

Punitive demolition was a tactic frequently employed by Israeli security
forces before defence chiefs decided to suspend it in 2005 after
concluding that it was not an effective deterrent.

Since then the policy has been used occasionally - three times in East
Jerusalem in 2009, and three times over the summer in response to the
killing of an Israeli policeman and the murder of three Israeli
teenagers. [...]

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from West Jerusalem,
said that the local council announced that there would be 78 new homes
built in the occupied East Jerusalem.

"This had not been publicised prior to this. It is a final approval and
they will be put out for tender," said Simmons. [...]

(12) Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa are "leading the region and the world
into a devastating religious war” - Abbas

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/11/israel-palestine-religious-war-attacks-holy-sites.html

After attacks in Jerusalem, growing fears of religious war

Author: Ahmad Melhem

Posted November 18, 2014

RAMALLAH, West Bank — An attack on a synagogue in western Jerusalem on
Nov. 18 left four Israelis dead, as well as the two Palestinian
perpetrators. This attack came a day after Israeli settlers strangled a
Palestinian bus driver in East Jerusalem — an event described by the
Israeli media as a suicide. Several Palestinian factions, including
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, gave their blessing to the synagogue attack,
which considered it a normal reaction to Israeli violations of holy
sites and aggression of Jerusalemites.

During a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council on Nov. 18,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the synagogue attack and
the targeting of all houses of worship including Christian and Muslim
holy sites.

On Nov. 12, settlers set ablaze a mosque in the village of al-Mughayir,
northeast of Ramallah, against the backdrop of the Israeli attacks on
Al-Aqsa Mosque, which have been going on for months. The incident
heightened fears of a possible religious war.

Commenting on extremist Jewish groups raiding Al-Aqsa Mosque, Abbas said
on Nov. 11: “The Israeli acts are leading the region and the world into
a devastating religious war.” In this regard, far-right parties in the
Knesset proposed laws to divide and impose Israeli sovereignty on the
mosque.

Mahmoud al-Habbash, Abbas’ adviser and chief judge, explained that “the
Palestinian-Israeli animosity is political and was never religious. The
current violations, however, will drag the region into a world religious
war.”

A Palestinian Authority (PA) official, who spoke to Al-Monitor on
condition of anonymity, said that the “Palestinian warnings aim to
pressure the international community into interfering and stopping
Israel. [These warnings] carry concerns about Israeli attempts to turn
the conflict into a religious one, which will have serious consequences,
especially on the Palestinian cause. [This is particularly true] amid
the war on the Islamic State (IS) in the region, and talks about the
possibility of establishing a religious state.”

In an interview with Al-Monitor, member of parliament Hanan Ashrawi,
member of the PLO’s executive committee, accused Israel of “dealing
[with the situation] from an ideological viewpoint to impose control and
sovereignty on Islamic and Christian holy sites, close the door on any
political solution and fan religious strife.”

On Nov. 13, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced an agreement
between King Abdullah of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. The agreement includes steps to defuse tension between
Israelis and Palestinians, and preserve the status quo of Islamic holy
sites in Jerusalem.

It seems that the Palestinian warnings were well received by some
European countries. During his meeting with Abbas on Nov. 15 in
Ramallah, German Foreign Minister Frank Steinmeier warned of
transforming the conflict into a religious one.

The grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, told Al-Monitor:
“Muslims attach great importance to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Attacking it and
torching mosques and churches will ignite religious conflict, thus
turning the region into a ticking time bomb.”

For his part, Secretary-General of the Islamic-Christian Committee in
Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites Hanna Issa told Al-Monitor, “The
Palestinians are worried about their situation and political rights, due
to the developments taking place in the world, amid the war on IS and
emerging signs of a new sectarian Sykes-Picot agreement.” This means
that the Palestinian cause is not on top of international priorities.

Samih Hammouda, a lecturer at Birzeit University, relayed his
impressions to Al-Monitor, saying, “Palestinians are afraid of a
religious war, as they would be unable to control it and tame popular
angst, especially in the absence of political and diplomatic standards
to confront [such a war].”

Palestinians believe that Israel is pushing for a religious war, with
the extremist right wing currently ruling Israel. It is trying to build
the third Jewish temple in Al-Aqsa’s place, and establish the Jewish
state that Netanyahu called on Palestinians to recognize. This means
expelling Palestinians from their land, and marginalizing Christians.
Israel will portray the conflict as a Muslim-Jewish war by benefiting
from the unrest in the Middle East.

“Israel aims to create a rift through the policy of divide and rule
among Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, in historic Palestine and
redefine the Palestinian entity according to religious considerations,”
Ashrawi said, adding: “Israel introduced the ideological dimension to
the political course. It wishes to turn us into Zionist Palestinians by
having us recognize the Jewish state, which we strongly reject.”

“Israel is trying by all means to displace Christians from the
Palestinian territory through voluntary migration, and push them out of
the conflict, to avoid international criticism. It wants to allude that
the conflict is between Muslims and Jews, and we completely refuse this
approach because we, as Christians, are part of the Arab Palestinian
people.” [...]

(4) right-wing activists to Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. Defending
Al-Aqsa Mosque provides an appropriate excuse for the recent terror
perpetrators. Tuesday's attack reinforces the concern that the terror is
taking on the trappings of a religious war

(13) Fear of  'religious war' between Jews & Muslims after synagogue attack

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/worshipers-return-to-synagogue-israel-begins-razing-homes/2014/11/19/b26b6d1e-6f7e-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html

Fear of deadly 'religious war' between Jews and Muslims raised after
synagogue attack

Israel said it demolished the east Jerusalem home of a Palestinian
involved in a deadly attack on a train stop from October. The demolition
came a day after two Palestinians attacked a synagogue in Jerusalem. (AP)

By William Booth and Ruth Eglash

November 19 at 6:36 PM

JERUSALEM -- Israelis and Palestinians expressed fear Wednesday that
their decades-old conflict was moving beyond the traditional nationalist
struggle between two peoples fighting for their homelands and spiraling
into a raw and far-reaching religious confrontation between Jews and
Muslims.

The threat -- perhaps more accurately the dread -- of an incipient but
deadly "religious war" was expressed by Muslim clerics, Christian
leaders and Jewish Israelis one day after a pair of Palestinian
assailants, wielding meat cleavers and a gun, killed five Israelis,
including a prominent American Israeli rabbi, in a Jerusalem synagogue.

"All of us are scared that there will be a religious war, that
extremists from both sides will start fighting each other," said Oded
Wiener, an Israeli Jew from the Council of Religious Institutions of the
Holy Land.

For weeks, Jerusalem has been a center of clashes, protests and deadly
attacks that began over one of the city's major flash points: a
contested religious site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to
Jews as the Temple Mount.

Jewish activists have been pressing the Israeli government to insist
that Jews be allowed to pray on the raised esplanade, which also harbors
the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

(14) Jerusalem synagogue attack sparks fear of religious war

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/19/jerusalem-synagogue-attack-fear-of-religious-war

Jerusalem synagogue attack sparks fear of descent into religious war

Fears spread that peace cannot prevail in aftermath of murder of four
rabbis and a Druze policeman

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem

Thursday 20 November 2014 06.40 +11:00

On the stairs into the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue in west Jerusalem
on Wednesday - where four rabbis and a Druze policeman were killed by
two Palestinian cousins in a morning attack the day before - the
bloodstains had not quite been expunged.

A bullet hole was visible inside the synagogue, while four memorial
candles burned for the four rabbis as worshippers and politicians came
and went.

Inside David Herscowitz, who moved to Israel from Gateshead in the 1990s
and is a member of the local neighbourhood watch, insisted the
ultra-orthodox community in Har Nof district would emerge stronger from
the tragedy.

"People are concerned," he said, "and people will take precautions. No
one expected this to happen here. We are religious here. And we believe
God has a plan. Which is why you will not hear people here shouting for
revenge and arguing about whether we should talk peace or not talk peace
or fight. We leave that to the politicians."

While those like Herscowitz - including many at the synagogue - have
responded to the killings by insisting on their faith as a bulwark
against the recent deadly violence in Jerusalem, there have been others
warning that the recent escalation is in danger of being ever more
coloured by religious differences.

And it is a sense of alarm that is spreading. On Wednesday, Pope Francis
voiced dismay at the "alarming increase in tension in Jerusalem" and
appealed to both sides to take the "courageous decisions" needed to
achieve peace.

Jordan, custodian of Muslim holy places in east Jerusalem, said it was
following "the serious situation" in the city, condemning all acts of
violence and calling for "restraint and calm".

In Israel too, the justice minister, Tzipi Livni, has warned of her
fears that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is becoming
religious: "And a religious war cannot be solved."

In the aftermath of the synagogue attack deputy finance minister Mickey
Levy, a former police commander, warned of the same risk.

The head of Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet chief Yoram
Cohen, has also weighed in. On Tuesday he told an Israeli parliamentary
committee that much of the tension since the summer was being driven by
still strong anger among Palestinians over the murder of teenager
Mohammed Abu Khdeir, as well as a deep anxiety over perceived Jewish
encroachment into the Noble Sanctuary, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The situation is worsening already hostile relations between Israel's
prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian president,
Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu has accused Abbas of inciting recent violence
by calling on Palestinians to defend the religious site, while Abbas has
accused Netanyahu of fanning the flames by allowing provocative visits
by members of the Knesset and his own party as part of their campaign
for prayer rights there.

The theme has been taken up in the Israeli media. Under the headline
"wave of Palestinian terror starting to resemble a religious war", Amos
Harel in Haaretz has blamed both sides, the Israeli government for
contributing "to the emphasis on the religious component of the conflict
by demonstrating helplessness in the face of recent efforts by
right-wing [Jewish] activists to change the status quo regarding Jewish
prayer on the Temple Mount". On the Palestinian side, he added:
"Defending Al-Aqsa Mosque [on the holy site] provides an appropriate
excuse for the recent terror perpetrators."

The same language was echoed by Ben Caspit in Ma'ariv, who criticised
Netanyahu's response on Tuesday. "The true danger," wrote Caspit, "which
Netanyahu did not mention yesterday is that the wave of terror will turn
into a true religious war, such as has not yet occurred here: they will
kill Jews in a synagogue, Jews will burn mosques in their towns, and the
next big thing could be a terror attack on the Temple Mount."

The reality is that a religious subtext to the violence has become
increasingly difficult to ignore.

In interviews with the families of the men behind a string of recent
deadly Palestinian attacks, relatives - talking to the Guardian - more
often than not have emphasised how "religious" the men were, and the
importance to them of Al-Aqsa mosque.

On Wednesday, in the ruins of the apartment in the east Jerusalem
neighbourhood of Silwan once occupied by Abdelrahman al-Shaludi, 21, who
was shot dead by police after killing a three-month-old baby and a woman
in a hit-and-run attack, someone has painted graffito on the wall. The
message, written in the home demolished with explosives a few hours
earlier by Israeli forces in retribution for the attack, read: "God will
supersede above all of the arrogant."

Sitting opposite the house the imam of the local mosque, Moussa Odeh,
supplied his own interpretation of recent events. "Five years ago the
conflict in Silwan was about settlers coming in. The issue today is
Al-Aqsa. Al-Aqsa is our faith. It is our essence. People are willing to
give up everything for it."

The issue of Al-Aqsa - important as it is - has become the metaphor and
distillation of a wider mistrust on the Palestinian side that has
accrued a visceral meaning in recent months. A campaign by far-right
Israeli politicians to change the status quo at the sensitive holy site
in the Old City has been accompanied by increased visits that until
recently Netanyahu's government has been unwilling or unable to control.
That in turn has led to friction, restrictions and a controversial
closure that has contributed to a cycle of tension.

Reassurances by Netanyahu and senior ministers that Israel has no
intention of changing the status quo that allows Jews to visit but not
pray have not been believed. When you speak to Palestinians in
Jerusalem, from the grand mufti of Al-Aqsa to imams such as Odeh and
ordinary people, many will insist that - to the contrary - they believe
an Israeli plan exists to divide the Noble Sanctuary, and rob them of
their patrimony.

For those such as Odeh - who does not believe that peace can prevail -
that implies an inevitable conflict that can only get worse until one
side prevails.

Back at the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue, Herscowitz was fearful that
more violence might be ahead he did not believe it was inevitable. "I
think it can be pulled back. It does not have to get worse. It doesn't
need to continue. I am hopeful," he added.

His message was echoed in a visit to the synagogue by an interfaith
delegation of Christians, Jews and Muslims who visited the scene of the
murders, although absent from the meeting were Muslim authorities from
Jerusalem and senior Israeli rabbis.

"People from all religions which are here in the Holy Land want to
express the common belief that this is not the way," said Rabbi Michael
Melchior, a former Israeli legislator active in interfaith efforts. "We
can have our differences, political differences, our religious
differences, but this is not the way." [...]