Jewish Bubba: Dome of Rock

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Sunday, December 20, 2020

King David's Jerusalem From 1948 to the Present Part III

Nadene Goldfoot

Golda Meir (1898-1978)born in Russia and settled in Palestine in 1921. 1969 she became Prime Minister of Israel and was in the helm during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. She wrote "MY LIFE." Everyone should read it. It's the best bio. David ben Gurion is also pictured-with the white hair. He was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel. He was the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British Mandate Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which he led until 1963 with a short break in 1954–55. You see them both getting to make the radio announcement of the birth of their nation.

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day. Despite growing conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews and despite the Department of State’s endorsement of a trusteeship, Truman ultimately decided to recognize the state Israel, but his advisors were against it. He had to be very sure of his feelings to go against his surrounding people. It's like a miracle to get a president to back us Jews. Truman was the first, and didn't do it for his own gain. He did it because his old partner in the haberdashery business was Jewish and was a good friend. Truman, a politician, felt it was the right thing to do. Bess, his wife, was not of the same ilk, making this even more of a miracle.

On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.

After 2,000 years of waiting for the right time, the possibility, the miracle, a little piece of the original Israel Empire was rebirthed; and renamed "ISRAEL", of course! The Jews hadn't forgotten it. In fact, they had been praying 3 times a day to have it again and be able to live there. May 14, 1948 was its birthdate.

At the end of WWI in December 1917, Jerusalem was again occupied by an alien force, but it was by General Allenby at the head of a British army this time. British rule under a 30 year mandate through the League of Nations was decided on by all the countries. it became a period of rapid growth, especially due to Jewish immigration. In 1946 the population reached 165,000 of which 100,000 were Jews. Then the British backed off its support by limiting severely the Jews' entrance while allowing all the Arabs to enter. " Great Britain wanted to preserve good relations with the Arabs to protect its vital political and economic interests in Palestine."

During Jerusalem's expansion, the Hebrew University was erected on Mt. Scopus. Arabs had been rioting in 1922, 1929, and from 1936-39 which claimed many Jewish deaths among the Jewish population, which possibly acted as an impetus a spurt of building and consolidation. There was a period of Jewish resistance to the Mandatory government from 1945-1948 and several buildings were damaged and the city outside the walls were transformed into a patchwork of "security" zones. The British were not allowing the Jews to defend themselves against the Arab attacks, and so resistant groups were being created.

Jerusalem was divided into 2 parts in 1948. The armistice line drawn at the end of the 1948 war divided Jerusalem into two. Between 1949 and 1967, Israel controlled the western part of Jerusalem, while Jordan took the eastern part, including the old walled city containing important Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites. The Israel section included the whole of the Western and Southern part of the New city of Jerusalem, including "Mount Zion" and an enclave on Mt. Scopus. It extended westward by the construction of the Knesset and Government quarter (Ha-Kiryah) with the National Museum and University campus nearby. New housing projects were constructed like the Kiryat Yovel. As for graveyards, Herzl and other Zionist leaders were reinterred on a mountain west of the city on Mt. Herzl. Jerusalem was the administrative center of the country as expected.

"During its first 25 years, Israel has never known real peace. from its first day, it has been confronted by neighboring States which refuse to accept its very existence, and have forced it to fight 5 wars: (1) The War of Independence which started on 29 November 1947 when Arabs responded with violence to the UN resolution on Palestine, and lasted until the signing of the armistice Agreements in 1949, (2) The Sinai War which lasted from 29 October until 5 November 1956, (3) The Six- Day War which lasted from 5 to 11 June 1967, (4) The War of Attrition which lasted from 1968 until the resumption of the cease-fire on 7-8 August 1970, and the Yom Kippur War of October 6-25, 1973 that started on the most holy day of the year when all were in synagogues and fasting for 25 hours. They may have been short, very short wars, but deadly ones, the many armies against one little one of Israel.

Then there have been the intifadas, where only the Palestinians have bombarded the Jews, and continued bringing the country to a standstill that would never end, with the result that Israel was forced to put an end to it, and of course they would go into Judea/Samaria with more than King David's famous slingshot that he used when a young lad against the giant, Goliath, and then the West would only see an army against the poor Palestinians and Israel would get the bad press and more condemnation at the UN.

IDF seeing the Wall for the first time, liberating Jerusalem after being kept away from this place for 20 years...a whole generation,

Jewish soldiers and civilians danced in Joy at the wall after the 1967 War. These young men and women had never been able to see it. Israel didn't start this war, and it was a miracle that they won; but they benefit from it by having liberated the most precious part of Jerusalem to them in the process!

The Six Day War of June 5, 1967, the 3rd defensive war Israel had to fight, was when Jordanian troops in the Old city and Jordanian sections of the city bombarded the new part of Jerusalem where the Jews lived. this was just where Jerusalem was being attacked. The whole country was being attacked by all the surrounding Moslem countries. In 2 days the entire city came under Israel control by the Israeli army. One of the first reactions of the IDF was to go to the Western Wall (Kotel) as they were not allowed there since 1948 when it was under Jordanian hands, and that was a 20 year withdrawal from the most important feature of their religion.

On June 29, 1967, the Israel government formally united the 2 sections of the city and the barriers that had divided them were removed. The population of the eastern Arab quarter---included 139,600 Moslems and Christians, have been incorporated into the total population of 493,500 as of 1990. the proportion of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the population has grown rapidly as has the number of immigrants.

"Jerusalem's 2020 population is now estimated at 931,756. In 1950, the population of Jerusalem was 120,895. Jerusalem has grown by 12,349 since 2015, which represents a 1.34% annual change. These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Jerusalem, which typically includes Jerusalem's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas."

Apartments in Jerusalem. Most Israelis have to live in apartments as there is a shortage of space in such a small country. I lived in an apartment in Safed. We had a lucky friend who actually lived in a house, one that had been dug out of the rubble from an old earthquake. it was lovely. Notice the lack of trees. Trees are found in forests that Jews have planted. We were near one in Safed. Both Safed and Jerusalem are up high on mountains. Both contained many Orthodox Jews.

Arial view of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and Wall left from King Herod. The Mosque, The Dome of the Rock sits over the Jews' 2nd Temple remains.

"Jerusalem is one of the oldest and most well-known cities in the world, as well as being a significant city to many religions. Both Israel and Palestine claim the city as their capital, but neither claim is recognized while the area continues to experience upheaval." This means that only the USA recognizes Israel's right to Jerusalem as its capital as it had been for thousands of years before; king David's capital. "The population of Jerusalem has had its ups and downs. The lack of available housing for residents keeps thousands from living in the city, but the community continues to grow substantially each year."

The status of Jerusalem is disputed in both international law and diplomatic practice, with both the Israelis and Palestinians claiming Jerusalem as their capital city, even though the name of Jerusalem is not found once in the Koran. The dispute has been described as "one of the most intractable issues in the Israel–Palestine conflict", with conflicting claims to sovereignty over the city or parts of it, and access to its holy sites.

The main dispute revolves around the legal status of East Jerusalem and especially the Old City of Jerusalem, while broader agreement exists regarding future Israeli presence in West Jerusalem in accordance with Israel's internationally recognized borders. The majority of United Nations (UN) member states hold the view that the final status of Jerusalem should be resolved through negotiation, and have therefore favored locating their embassies in Tel Aviv prior to a final status agreement.

However, in the late 2010s, the international consensus to abstain from expressing a viewpoint on the city's final status has shown signs of fragility, with Russia, the United States and Australia adopting new policy positions. Furthermore, the proposal that Jerusalem should be the future capital of both Israel and Palestine has also gained international support.

It's an old idea, first offered to the Arabs who rejected it. The idea came with endorsements coming from the UN which is heavy with Arab representation. Also, the European Union are for it. Some played an active part in helping the Nazis in the Holocaust.

It's been a rigged group from the beginning, spending the majority of their time finding fault with Israel while ignoring real human rights law-breakers. Anti-Semitism hasn't changed.

What's odd is that the Jews were not only people of the book, but a law book-of which the laws were thrown out by all the other nations. Now these same nations are coming up with laws that are obscene, ignoring facts and not recognizing Israel's laws about its own country.

Today, I see PMs Netanyahu and Benny Gantz in disagreement over Jerusalem. Benny Gantz, a onetime rival turned partner, who will serve in the specially created role of alternate prime minister, as well as defense minister, for the first 18 months of the term before taking over the top job for an equal period. To gain votes, Gantz is now for having the Palestinians sharing their capital of Jerusalem with the Palestinians who have done nothing to deserve it such as showing any peaceful step. Gantz, like Trump, is anxious to gain for votes and get to be the Prime Minister, I am sure, because he knows this is a dangerous step and wasn't for it before now. I feel that Trump did the same thing with such groups as Skinheads, Proud Boys, etc, people who were anti-Semitic, but he excused them in gaining votes. It's only hurt him. Has Gantz forgotten all we've gone through? Gantz's excuse is that this is the way Trump has his plans for peace.

Palestine, recognized officially as the State of Palestine by the United Nations and other entities, is a de jure sovereign state in Western Asia claiming the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as the designated capital, a claim Israel does not accept, although its administrative center is currently located in Ramallah, located 10 km north of Jerusalem at an average elevation of 880 meters above sea level, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority.

Egypt's Sadat, President Carter of USA and Begin of Israel in Accords

The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States in Maryland. On March 26, 1979, the two countries signed a peace treaty on the White House lawn. Sadat, having gone out on a limb for the peace treaty, was vilified in the Arab world, and was assassinated in 1981.

The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 and was an effort to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Ehud, from the Left of politics, offered more than most would have. Barak entered the summit convinced that a final agreement with the Palestinians was reachable. According to first-hand accounts, he offered Palestinians an ambitious peace package which included far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees and other issues. Barak’s offer reportedly included: an Israeli redeployment from as much as 95 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of the Gaza Strip and the creation of a Palestinian state in these areas; the uprooting of isolated Jewish settlements in the areas to be transferred to Palestinian control; Palestinian control over parts of Jerusalem; and “religious sovereignty” over the Temple Mount. In return, Barak wanted the final status agreement to include an “end of conflict” clause under which the parties would pledge that all issues between them were now resolved and further claims would not be made at a future date.

According to the accounts of the participants, Chairman Arafat refused Israel’s offer and clung to maximalist positions, particularly on Jerusalem and refugees. The Palestinian delegation did not offer any counter-proposals.

Must Israel always be the scapegoat of the world, especially at the UN?

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://honestreporting.com/land-of-israel-before-1948/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAifz-BRDjARIsAEElyGJVgb_p_YXXlQRuTUFbT3Ll8fTCGXLCEchX4JMR9qumV8zsWzm636QaAjQNEALw_wcB

TV7,

https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/jerusalem-population

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel#:~:text=On%20May%2014%2C%201948%2C%20David,nation%20on%20the%20same%20day.

https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx#:~:text=On%20May%2014%2C%201948%2C%20on,of%20the%20State%20of%20Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/camp-david-accords-israel-egypt-peace?gclid=Cj0KCQiAifz-BRDjARIsAEElyGKGlM-ygMtKA2VGBQqjW8rl3fc5fd0XQpc3qlcba70VGsGKNsdLF9caAs8HEALw_wcB

https://www.adl.org/resources/glossary-terms/camp-david-summit-2000?gclid=Cj0KCQiAifz-BRDjARIsAEElyGJjg6Sj67JGax7bPlbb7h0AitX8r0L3SNozAKElh5fvBxPKzP0Iwl4aAmpbEALw_wcB

Saturday, December 19, 2020

What Transpired After 70 CE to King David's Jerusalem Part II

Nadene Goldfoot

It all started with our heroes of Chanukah, Judah, the Maccabee and his descendants. Remember that Mattathias of Modiin Hashmonai (HASMONEAN) and his five sons, Judah, Jonathan, Simon, John, and Eleazar led a revolt against the Greek Syrians and their hellenizing policy of the Syrian king ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES . The Hasmoneans fought against them in 166-164 BCE who had also occupied Jerusalem and had taken over the Temple and placed their idols in it and tried to rub out Judaism.

Rome had occupied Jerusalem a good 100 years before its destruction in 70 CE by them. It was in 63 BCE that the Roman General Pompey had profited from war between the 2 Hasmonean Jewish half -brothers, went into Jerusalem and occupied it; John Hyrcanus (son and successor of Simon the Hasmonean who ruled from 135 to 104 BCE who had fought against Ptolemy), and Aristobulus II (who reigned from 67 to 63 BCE, King of Judea, younger son of Alexander Yannai and Salome Alexandra, to occupy Jerusalem.

Queen Salome Alexandra was the ruler of Judea from 76 to 67 BCE. She had succeeded her husband, Alexander Yannai, and reversed his policy toward the Pharisees, according to his dying request, she said. Salome handed internal control to the Pharisees while keeping the responsibility for the army and foreign policy. She appointed her eldest son, Hyrcanus, as high priest and heir which was opposed by his brother, Aristobulus II.

As it happened, after Salome's death, her elder son, Hyrcanus II became king, but Aristobulus II usurped the throne. Civil war broke out and in the year 63, the 2 brothers appeared in Damascus to urge their own claims before the Roman Emperor, Pompey who ordered Aristobulus II to surrender all the Judean strongholds, including Jerusalem.

Hyrcanus remained a Roman puppet while Aristobulus II and his sons, kalexander and Antigonus Mattathias tried to regain power in Jerusalem but failed to do so. Hyrcaanus' granddauaghter, MARIAME, married Herod but was put to death by him in 29. Also put to death were the susrviving Hasmoneans, ARISTOBULUS III in 35, Hyrcanaus II in 30, and Mariamne's sons, Alexander and Aristobulus in 7.

Rome occupied Jerusalem and then sieged it during the Roman War in 70 CE. It was one of the most horrid of all wars, as people were starved to death first, becoming terribly desperate. The 2nd Temple had been burned down and looted first. It had served as a center of military activity before it's very end. After its destruction, the Romans built their own Roman temple over the same site. Since the Moslem Period, a mosque has stood there, which is the Mosque of Omar. The area around the western and southern walls of the Herodian Temple (2nd Temple after Herod's updating) was extensively excavated by B. MAZAR from 1968.

The Jewish General, Bar Kochba from 132 to 135 retook Jerusalem with an army he had amassed which shocked the Romans and embarrassed them. They were so furious that they let this happen that they renamed the land Palaestina for the enemy of the Jews, the Phillistines. The General was killed in battle in 135.

The Roman Emperor Hadrian rebuilt it as the roman colony, Aelia Capitolina, forbidding Jews to approach it under pain of death.

Then came the Christianization of the Roman empire under Constantine and his mother, Helena in 325. Jerusalem became a Holy City again, but for Christianity this time. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in 335. Jerusalem became a city of churches and monasteries, pilgrimages and religious disputes. In 363 Emperor Julian made an attempt to restore the Temple. In 614 it was occupied for some years by the Persians, assisted by a Jewish force; but in 628, Byzantine rule was restored by Emperor Heraclius.

By 638, the city fell to the caliph Omar, now a Muslim as Mohammad died in 632, who set up a place of prayer in the Temple esplanade; magnificently rebuilt in 691 as the DOME OF THE ROCK by the Umayyad caliph, Abd-el Malik. Now under Arab rule, the Jews were allowed to return; but the city began to decay after the transfer of the center of Abbasid rule to Baghdad in 750. The Fatimids of the 11th century built their 2nd principal mosque, El-Aksa, on the temple site. Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. The mosque was built on top of the Temple Mount, known as the Al Aqsa Compound or Haram esh-Sharif in Islam. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Great Mosque of Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. ( Unobtainable picture.)

In 1099, Jerusalem was stormed by the Crusaders under Sir Godfrey of Bouillon and it became a capital of the Latin Kingdom. In 1187 the Ayyubid sultan, Saladin, retook the city for Islam and it remained in Moslem hands except for a few years in the middle of the 13th century, despite all the crusades that had followed.

In the Mameluke Period of the 14th -15th centuries, many new buildings were erected and the water supply was improved. Under Ottoman rule that lasted for 400 years, it decayed till in the 18th-19th centuries. The city had reached its nadir; its population sank below 10,000. Part of the city laid in ruins. The Jewish community was destroyed by the Crusaders and almost wiped out in the 13th century. It was then reinforced by pious Jewish immigrants from many lands, especially after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, but its numbers were restricted by the Ottoman government. In 1625, they were brutally despoiled by the local pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh.

European pogrom influence increased the population in the 19th century. The population rose from 11,000 (3,000 Jews) in 1838 to 68,000 (50,000 Jews) in 1910. New Quarters outside the Old city wall were built and pioneered by Sir Moses Montefiore) from 1855 on. In the 1880's, Jerusalem was connected with Jaffa by a railway line. In 1898, the German emperor, William II, visited the city through a breach made in its wall near the Jaffa Gate in his honor; and he was greeted on this occasion by Herzl in behalf of the Zionist Organization.

WWI lasted from 1914 to 1917 when Jews saw that there was no hope for them living in other people's countries; too much anti-Semitism and killing of them, so they met with the allies and had many meetings about Palestine and what was to happen to is as it was also in the war and Jews were fighting on the ally side from Palestine. It was agreed through the Balfour Doctrine that they would help to create the JEWISH HOMELAND. FINALLY! HOPE!

Jerusalem under siege, 1947

The UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947, provided for the creation of an independent area of Jerusalem under UN administration. Arab outbreaks reached the dimension of warfare between the Jews' Haganah and the Arabs which soon included the Arab legion of Transjordan who put an end to the internationalization scheme. The struggle lasted from December 1947 to July 1948. In the fight, the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem had to be evacuated and was destroyed. All the New City with the exception of the Arab quarter north of the walls fell into Jewish hands. The Arab Legion tried to shell and starve the Jew of Jerusalem into surrender and it was foiled by the fortitude of the population and by the opening of the "Burma road" which restored the connection between Jewish Jerusalem and the coast. In 1949, the government and Knesset were transferred to Jerusalem. Arabs intended to take the whole city, not a section. Already, 80% of the Jewish Homeland went to Jordan to king Abdullah instead of to the Jews as promised.