Jerusalem the Temple and the Jewish people are so intertwined that telling the over 3000 history of one is telling the history of the other.

Jerusalem the Temple and the Jewish people are so intertwined that telling the over 3000 history of one is telling the history of the other.  For more than 3,000 years, Jerusalem has played a central role in the history of the Jews, culturally, politically, and spiritually, a role first documented in the Scriptures. All through the 2,000 years of the Diaspora, Jews have called Jerusalem their ancestral home. This sharply contrasts the relationship between Jerusalem and those who inflate Islam’s links to the city. The Arab rulers who controlled Jerusalem through the 1950's and 1960's demonstrated no religious tolerance in a city that gave birth to two major Western religions. That changed after the Six- Day War in 1967 2nd war of liberation, when Israel regained control of the whole city. One of Israel's first steps was to officially recognize and respect all religious interests in Jerusalem. But the battles for control of Jerusalem and its religious sites continues. Palestinian Arab terrorism has targeted Jerusalem particularly in an attempt to gain control of the city from Israel. The result is that they have turned Jerusalem, the City of Peace, into a bloody battleground and have thus forfeited their claim to share in the city’s destiny. The Arab continued terror and violence in Jerusalem and elsewhere in greater Israel will force Israel to prohibit Arabs from living in Jerusalem. I implore upon the masses that more people will be motivated to actively engage in the defense of the legal stances of the Jewish Nation regarding Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people. Thereby helping Israel bring peace, tranquility and mutual coexistence. Jerusalem’s Jewish Link: Historic, Religious, Political Jerusalem, wrote historian Martin Gilbert, is not a ‘mere’ city. “It holds the central spiritual and physical place in the history of the Jews as a people.” For more than 3,000 years, the Jewish people have looked to Jerusalem as their spiritual, political, and historical capital, even when they did not physically rule over the city. Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has served, and still serves, as the political capital of only one nation – the one belonging to the Jews. Its prominence in Jewish history began in 1004 BCE, when King David declared the city the capital of the first Jewish kingdom. David’s successor and son, King Solomon, built the First Temple there, according to the Bible, as a holy place to worship the Almighty. Unfortunately, history would not be kind to the Jewish people. Four hundred and ten years after King Solomon completed construction of Jerusalem, the Babylonians (early ancestors to today’s Iraqis) seized and destroyed the city, forcing the Jews into exile. Fifty years later, the Jews, or Israelites as they were called, were permitted to return after Persia (present-day Iran) conquered Babylon. The Jews’ first order of business was to reclaim Jerusalem as their capital and rebuild the Holy Temple, recorded in history as the Second Temple. Jerusalem was more than the Jewish kingdom’s political capital – it was a spiritual beacon. During the First and Second Temple periods, Jews throughout the kingdom would travel to Jerusalem three times yearly for the pilgrimages of the Jewish holy days of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot, until the Roman Empire destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE and ended Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem for nearly 2,000 years. Despite that fate, Jews never relinquished their bond to Jerusalem or, for that matter, to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. No matter where Jews lived throughout the world for those two millennia, their thoughts and prayers were directed toward Jerusalem. Even today, whether in Israel, the United States or elsewhere, Jewish ritual practice, holiday celebration and life-cycle events include recognition of Jerusalem as a core element of the Jewish experience. Consider that: • Jews in prayer always turn toward Jerusalem. • Arks (the sacred chests) that hold Torah scrolls in synagogues throughout the world face Jerusalem. • Jews end Passover Seders each year with the words: “Next year in Jerusalem.” The same words are pronounced at the end of Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the Jewish year. • A three-week moratorium on weddings in the summer recalls the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 586 BCE. That period culminates in a special day of mourning – Tisha B’Av (the 9th day of the Hebrew month Av) – commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples. • Jewish wedding ceremonies – joyous occasions – are marked by sorrow over the loss of Jerusalem. The groom recites a biblical verse from the Babylonian Exile: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning,” and breaks a glass in commemoration of the destruction of the Temples. Even body language, often said to tell volumes about a person, reflects the importance of Jerusalem to Jews as a people and, arguably, the lower priority the city holds for Muslims: • When Jews pray they face Jerusalem; in Jerusalem Israelis pray facing the Temple Mount. • When Muslims pray, they face Mecca; in Jerusalem Muslims pray with their backs to the city. • Even at burial, a Muslim face, is turned toward Mecca. Finally, consider the number of times “Jerusalem” is mentioned in the two religions' holy books: • The Old Testament mentions “Jerusalem” 349 times. “Zion,” another name for “Jerusalem,” is mentioned 108 times. • The Quran never mentions Jerusalem – not even once. Even when others controlled Jerusalem, Jews maintained a physical presence in the city, despite being persecuted and impoverished. Before the advent of modern Zionism in the 1880's, Jews were moved by a form of religious Zionism to live in the Holy Land, settling particularly in four holy cities: Safed, Tiberias, Hebron, and most importantly – Jerusalem. Consequently, Jews constituted a majority of the city’s population for generations. In 1898, “In this City of the Jews, where the Jewish population outnumbers all others three to one … ” Jews constituted 75 percent of the Old City population in what the former UN Secretary-General called “East Jerusalem.” In 1914, when the Ottoman Turks ruled the city, 47,000 Jews made up a majority of the 65,000 residents. And at the time of Israeli statehood in 1948, 110,000 Jews lived in the city, compared to only 61,000 Arabs. Prior to unification, Jordanian-controlled “East Jerusalem” was a mere 6 square kilometers, compared to 38 square kilometers on the “Jewish side.” Islam’s Tenuous Connection to Jerusalem Despite 1,300 years of Muslim Arab rule, Jerusalem was never the capital of an Arab entity. Oddly, the PLO’s National Covenant, written in 1964, never mentioned Jerusalem. Only after Israel regained control of the entire city did the PLO “update” its Covenant to include Jerusalem. Overall, the role of Jerusalem in Islam is best understood as the outcome of political pressure impacting on religious belief. Mohammed, who founded Islam in 622 CE, was born and raised in present-day Saudi Arabia; he never set foot in Jerusalem. His connection to the city came years after his death when the Dome of the Rock shrine and the al-Aqsa mosque were built in 688 and 691, respectively, their construction spurred by political and religious rivalries. In 638 CE, the Caliph (or successor to Mohammed) Omar and his invading armies captured Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire. One reason they wanted to erect a holy structure in Jerusalem was to proclaim Islam’s supremacy over Christianity and its most important shrine, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Muslims were given the right by Israel to control their Dome of the rock on Temple Mount in 1967, which was built on top of the ruins of the Jewish Temple, but not at the expense of the Jewish peoples rights to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. If the Muslims can not control their crowd and prevent violence. They must be removed from temple Mount until they can prove that they can control their masses. Otherwise they must be removed permanently. The same policy should apply to the rest of Jerusalem and Greater Israel. In view of Mahmoud Abbas the murderer incitement for terror and violence, his violations of all the agreements. Israel has to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, They have not lived up to any agreements. They teach their children hate and promote terrorism and violence. It is unfortunate that the Arabs cannot live in peace in Israel. A true and lasting peace will bring an enormous economic prosperity to all the people in the region. Israel state possession is nine tenth of the law we have liberated our land