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Turkish PM: Rachel’s tomb is Muslim, was never Jewish

March 8, 2010

In a statement that reveals what’s really at stake in the ongoing controversy–and PA-stoked violence–over Israel adding some religious sites to a list of Jewish heritage sites, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Saudi newspaper Al Wattan that al Aksa Mosque, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb “were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites.”

The al-Aksa Mosque is the black-domed mosque that sits at the southern end of the Temple Mount, which was not included (some Israelis have said, scandalously) on the list of national heritage sites.

As a reminder, Rachel was one of the Jewish people’s four matriarchs and lived several thousand years before the Islam was founded. Her grave, which is described in Genesis 35:19, has been a pilgrimage site for Jews (and, later, Christians) for thousands of years.

Waqf, PA leadership attempt to rewrite biblical history

We told you before about the ongoing (low-burn) violence and media circus surrounding the Jewish state’s adding two major tourist and spiritual pilgrimage spots to a list of sites of “Jewish cultural heritage.”

Well, on Friday, worshipers at the Western Wall were stoned by rioters on top of the Temple Mount and 15 Israeli policemen and dozens of the rioters were injured in the resulting scuffles. (Don’t Islamic leaders mind their followers using the high ground of what is ostensibly a holy site to attempt to maim worshipers below?)

So let’s go over this again: Israel added two spots to a list that designates sites of historical and cultural relevance. And this caused Palestinians to riot? (Continuing the long tradition of the Palestinian Authority using violence or threats of it where other governments use diplomacy.) And countries ranging from Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab league states, to–predictably– the UN felt the need to condemn the list-making (while not condemning the violence fomented by the PA). And, of course, the U.S. hasn’t retracted the State Department’s comments on the matter, which were that the Israeli list was “provocative and unhelpful.”

So what are these sites anyway?

What exactly are these sites? One is Rachel’s Tomb, which sits on the edge of Bethelehem close to Jerusalem. The second is the Cave of the Patriarchs, which sits in the middle of Hebron. Just how “provocative” is it to add these to the list of sites of Jewish cultural import?

Rachel’s Tomb is identified in Genesis 35:19-20: “So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.” As the Bible relates, the site has been holy to Jews for thousands of years — more than a thousand years before Islam even came into existence! (And holy to Christians hundreds of years before…)

The case of the Cave of the Patriarchs is even more ironic: Genesis 23 records how Abraham insists on purchasing a burial cave near his home in Kiryat Arba (next to modern-day Hebron) from Ephron the Hittite, even when Ephron offers it to him as a gift:

Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” (Genesis 23:3-4)

The Hittites offer him “the choicest of our tombs,” but Abraham asks them to “intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.”

Ephron offers to give Abraham the cave for free: “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.” (Genesis 23:11-12)

A recorded real estate transaction

But Abraham insists on paying for it:

Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.”

Ephron answered Abraham, “Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.”

Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.

So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site. (Genesis 23:12-20)

The Jewish Sages comment that part of the reason that Abraham was so eager to pay for the burial cave was so that no one could ever dispute that fact that the Jewish people owned it. (The only other sites so recorded are the Tomb of Joseph, which is near the Biblical Shechem, now present-day Nablus, and the site of the Holy Temple, the Temple Mount – both of which Palestinians claim as being of dubious import to the Jewish people.)

Commentator Michael Freund says it best:

Sites such as Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are part of the national and religious patrimony of the Jewish people, and we do not need anyone’s permission to renovate and maintain them. Our reverence for these sites and attachment to them predates Muhammad and precedes Jesus, and no one has the right to lecture us about where and how we choose to serve God.

In fact, this entire episode provides a revealing glimpse of just how transparently hypocritical our critics have become. After all, it was nearly 15 years ago, in the September 1995 Oslo II Accords, that the Palestinians themselves recognized Israel’s attachment to Rachel’s Tomb. In Article V, Annex I to the agreement, the Palestinians agreed that “the present situation and existing practices in the tomb shall be preserved,” meaning that they clearly consented to Israeli control and use of the site, which has never been anything other than a place of Jewish worship.

So for chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to say last week that Israel’s move amounts to a “unilateral decision to make Palestinian sites in Hebron and Bethlehem part of Israel” is not only absurd, it is patently false.

And since the accords were signed on the White House lawn in front of the world, and were formally witnessed by representatives of both the US administration and the European Union, one would expect them to see right through the Palestinians’ shenanigans.

Worse yet, by playing along with the feigned outrage of the Palestinian leadership, the international community is merely giving credence to their boorish denial of the Jewish essence of these sites.

You don’t have to be a Biblical scholar or a learned archeologist to recognize the long-standing and incontestably Jewish nature of Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs. Arguing otherwise is akin to asserting that the earth is flat, Elvis is still alive and the moon is made of cheese, and that is how the Palestinian claims should be viewed.

Is it offensive to call Jesus’ birthplace a Christian site?

Can the world imagine a case in which Israel would list the Church of the Manger (Jesus’ birthplace) in Bethlehem and Jesus’ family home in Nazareth as sites of historical importance to Christians — and the Palestinians would protest?

Unfortunately, I think we can. But that doesn’t make it any more crazy.

UK’s Guardian gives an amen to indignation over “heritage sites” violence and historical revisionism

March 6, 2010

London’s Guardian rails against the attempt to blot out Jewish history via the fracas over the “Jewish historical sites”:

Palestinian protests against the restoration of Jewish heritage sites are part of a campaign of delegitimization against Israel. The inclusion in Israel’s heritage restoration project of two of the most sacred Jewish sites, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, has sparked riots and led supposedly moderate Palestinian leaders to burst forth with disturbingly inflammatory rhetoric, with the U.S. State Department and the UN secretary general both reprimanding Israel for the decision as well.

This latest uproar is another example of the general Palestinian unwillingness to accept and acknowledge the deep-seated historical roots of the Jewish people in the region. The Cave of the Patriarchs is mentioned in the Bible and has been a focus of Jewish pilgrimage for more than 3,000 years as the burial place of the people’s three forefathers. The refurbishment of two shrines central to Jewish history in no way threatens Palestinian political ambitions. What it does do is present an obstacle to those who wish to erase Jewish history in the region.

Historical preservation triggers Hebron violence

February 25, 2010

Jewish communities in Hebron have faced violence this week, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of two new additions to the official list of Israeli national heritage sites.

The sites are Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, both located in the contested West Bank zone (where Hebron is the largest city). “People must be familiar with their homeland and its cultural and historical vistas,” Netanyahu said on Sunday of his plan to dedicate $100 million to rehabilitate the two sites.

Rioting started in Hebron following the announcement, with further violence after a statement made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday. In what Netanyahu called “a dishonest, hypocritical campaign,” Abbas claims the move illustrates that Israel’s leadership has no desire for peace.

Abbas also warned of a “war of religions” that could be triggered by enshrining Israel’s faith heritage at the sites. Netanyahu pointed to to Israel’s demonstrated freedom of religion policy in response.

The U.S. also criticized the move. “US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the administration viewed the move as provocative and unhelpful to the goal of getting the two sides back to the table,” reported the Jerusalem Post.

But the Palestinian response is ongoing: “Dozens of Palestinians are burning tires and are throwing stones at IDF soldiers,” according to the IDF. “Soldiers responding to the violence are doing so with demonstration dispersal methods. No casualties or damage to property have been reported.”

Pottery shard strengthens case for David’s kingdom

January 10, 2010

A pottery shard uncovered in an archaeological dig in Israel’s Elah Valley (which lies between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv roughly in the area of the modern city of Beit Shemesh) may provide important information in the ongoing academic dispute over whether or not the Biblical account of the Holy Land’s history can be considered accurate.

The shard’s inscription is earliest known Hebrew writing, the University of Haifa’s Prof. Gershon Galil says. The inscription itself was written in ink on a 15 cm X 16.5 cm trapezoid pottery shard. The inscription will likely become part of the academic debate over whether the kingdom of King David existed.

In recent decades, different schools of archaeology have battled over the “historicity” of the Bible, whether or not it can be considered a reliable source of information. Those who say it is unreliable–called Biblical Minimalists–have been ascendant (and they have focused especially on David and the 10th century BCE). Some recent discoveries have called their theories into question, though, including the large stone structure unearthed by archaeologist Eilat Mazar, which she believes is King David’s palace.

While people of faith won’t be moved by whether or not academics believe in the veracity of the Biblical account, the ongoing research not only affects many unsure of their beliefs. It also profoundly affects attempts by Palestinians to erase Jewish claims to the Holy Land.

Helping erase Biblical history

November 18, 2009

We could hardly say it better than Commentary’s incomparable Evelyn Gordon on the dust-up over building in the “settlement” of Jerusalem”:

… labeling half of Israel’s capital a “settlement,” as Jonathan has pointed out, may be hard to beat. But a New York Times report of a new book about the Temple Mount is definitely in the running. Seeking to give readers some background, the report offered the following gem: “The lack of archaeological evidence of the ancient temples has led many Palestinians to deny any real Jewish attachment or claim to the plateau.”

We’ll ignore the fact that the Second Temple is actually well-documented in extant writings from the period, and that several sections of the Temple compound’s outer walls, as described in these writings, have been uncovered (the Western Wall being one of them).

Instead, let’s discuss why there is a dearth of findings from the Temples themselves. (1) There happens to be a mosque on the exact site where, according to tradition, the Temples once stood. (2) Israel, contrary to Palestinian propaganda, is not out to “destroy al-Aqsa”; indeed, it scrupulously avoids any action that might endanger the mosque. (3) Israel is so deferential to Muslim sensibilities that, after capturing the Mount in 1967, it handed control of the site back to the Muslim waqf. Which brings us to (4): for all these reasons, Israel has never excavated the only place in the world where remnants of the Temple could possibly be found. Nor were any digs conducted there before 1967: al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock have stood undisturbed for hundreds of years. And yes, it is hard to produce archaeological evidence if you never even conduct a dig.

What is outrageous about this report is not just the way it abets Palestinian falsifications of history, though it certainly does that: since the reader isn’t told that this “lack of evidence” stems from the fact that nobody ever looked, he naturally assumes that archaeologists did, in fact, look and found nothing.

Even more outrageous, however, is the way Israel’s generosity is being used against it: its very restraint in eschewing excavations on the Mount — its concern, again, for Muslim sensibilities, its desire to avoid even the appearance of harm to the mosques — has been twisted into “evidence” that no Jewish connection to the Mount ever existed.

This is a standard Palestinian tactic: Israel’s refusal to let Jews pray on the Mount, also in deference to Muslim sensibilities, is similarly used as “proof” that Jews have no connection to the site. After all, Muslims pray there; Jews don’t; QED. And this tactic has been wildly successful: most of the world is completely convinced that Israel lacks any rights on the Mount.

But if Israel’s generosity is being exploited in this fashion, perhaps Jerusalem needs to rethink its tactics — and start demonstrating the Jewish connection to the Mount in actions rather than words. Excavating under al-Aqsa would be too drastic a first step. But letting Jews pray on a designated section of the Mount devoid of mosques would be an excellent place to begin.

More on attempts to erase Biblical history

November 9, 2009
The Temple Mount with the new city behind it (by David Hoaks)

The Temple Mount with the new city behind it (by David Hoaks)

Rabbi Leibel Reznick is writing from a Jewish perspective, but the Palestinian attempts to erase Biblical history are trying to erase Christian history as well:

In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, Adolph Hitler wrote that people would assume that an outrageous lie must be true because no one would have the audacity to have made it up. Later, that propaganda technique evolved into: If a big lie is repeated enough times it will become widely accepted as truth.

This bit of Nazi propaganda is being used today by the Palestinians. Their Big Lie is preached from the pulpits of the mosques and in the classrooms of their madrasas – and more and more of the untutored masses are believing it.

What is the Palestinian Big Lie? Palestinian Authority Mufti Ikrama Sabri was quoted in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam (November 22, 1997) as saying that the Western Wall is part of the Al-Aksa Mosque and the Jews have no connection with it. …

In other words, the Jewish people have no historical connection with the Temple Mount, including the Western Wall, or with any part of old Jerusalem. No archaeological evidence has ever shown otherwise. So they claim.

Read the rest here.

There they go again…

November 5, 2009
Elaborate forgeries...

Elaborate forgeries...

This time, a senior PLO official and a Palestinian historian are denying that the Jewish people have any historical connection to the land of Israel at all. (The Bible? Apparently, a very well-planned forgery.)

In an interview on official PA television earlier this month, historian Nabil Alqam accused Israel of faking archaeological finds in order to manufacture Jewish history and blot out the “real” history, which he says shows Palestinian culture stretching back 4,000-5,000 years, reported the Jerusalem Post.

In addition to that, according to PLO Executive Committee Member Saleh Rafat, Israelis are also stealing Palestinian ”cuisine, clothing [and] architecture.” Rafat also denied that the holy Temples ever existed, dismissing the huge archaeological remains around Western Wall of the Temple as the remains of old aqueducts.

Denial is apparently also a river in… Palestine.

(The invaluable Palestinian Media Watch produced the report on the program.)