Jerusalem Day: Monday, June 2

Monday, June 2 is Yom Yerushalayim, also known as Jerusalem Day - the anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem where Jews were denied access to their Holiest city from 1948-1967. Yom Yerushalayim is a holiday celebrating the reunification of the Jewish Holy City of Jerusalem in the hands of its rightful owners, the Jewish people.

In 1948, no Palestinian state was invaded or destroyed to make way for the establishment of Israel. From biblical times, when this territory was the state of the Jews, to its occupation by the British army at the end of World War I, Palestine never existed as a distinct political entity.

In May 1948, Jordan invaded the eastern part of Jerusalem, drove out all Jews from the Old City and divided the city. A wall was erected dividing Jordanian-occupied east Jerusalem from Israeli west Jerusalem. The eastern side of Jerusalem held the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, ancient synagogues and other Jewish holy sites.

In violation of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, Jordan denied Israelis access to the Temple Wall and to the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, where Jews have been burying their dead for 2,500 years. Jordan actually went further and desecrated Jewish holy places. King Hussein permitted the construction of a road to the Intercontinental Hotel across the Mount of Olives cemetery. Hundreds of Jewish graves were destroyed by a highway that could have easily been built elsewhere. The gravestones, honoring the memory of rabbis and sages, were used by the engineer corps of the Jordanian Arab Legion as pavement and latrines in army camps. The ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old City was ravaged, 58 Jerusalem synagogues - some centuries old - were destroyed or ruined, others were turned into stables and chicken coops. Slum dwellings were built abutting the Western Wall.

Palestine was always part of one empire after another. You can read who really owns Palestine and land acquisition in Palestine for a detailed history of the region. Yes, region. Palestine was never a country. Palestine is a manufactured entity. Excerpted from Israel HighWay:

For 19 years, from the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 until the Six Day War in 1967, Jerusalem was a city divided by barbed wire and dangerous "no-man’s land" running roughly north to south separating the Jewish people from the Old City of Jerusalem. The Old City, the City of David, was the cornerstone of 2,000 years of Jewish longing for Zion. The long-held dream of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel was finally achieved, but the heart of the land was at once visibly close and miles away.

When Israel was born in 1948, its citizens and armed forces were unable to defend the Old City, and it fell to the Jordanian Legion. Jews were cut off from their holiest sites in Jerusalem, including the Kotel (Western Wall), the City of David just outside the Old City Walls, Mt. Scopus and the ancient Mount of Olives cemetery.

Throughout this time the Jewish character of the Old City was systematically destroyed by the Jordanian government. Thousands of Jewish residents of east Jerusalem and the Old City were driven from their homes. Fifty-eight Jerusalem synagogues, including some that were hundreds of years old, were destroyed or ruined and others were turned into barns for animals or public bathrooms. The entire Jewish Quarter was destroyed, houses were built immediately adjacent to the Kotel and all access to the ancient city was completely denied to Jews. Then suddenly, in the middle of the Six Day War, Israel found itself, unexpectedly, in control of the Old City.

With the news that Israel had taken control of the Old City and east Jerusalem, Israelis from all over the country began flocking to the Kotel to celebrate their young country’s miraculous victory. With Israeli sovereignty in all of Jerusalem, the holy sites of the world’s three great monotheistic faiths were opened to all, as they had never been under centuries of Muslim rule.

Once called the "Wailing Wall", the Western Wall of the Temple Mount is referred to in Hebrew as the "Kotel", the "Wall." The Western Wall Plaza has been opened since 1967 to all people as a place of prayer and study. On the right side of the women's area of Western Wall Plaza is Barclay's Gate, named for an American tourist who "found" it in 1848.

Here is a picture of Jewish women praying at the Western Wall in 1848 during the reign of the Ottoman Turks.




One cannot deny the history, the beauty, the radiant spirituality of the Jewish Holy City of Jerusalem. Not even Muslims.

Livni Gives Away Northern Jerusalem

In an astonishing announcement one week before Passover, a local Jerusalem paper is reporting that Foreign Minister Livni has agreed to give away Atarot Airport.

The Kol HaZman (All the Time) paper reports that in ongoing secret talks with top Palestinian Authority negotiator Abu Ala, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has agreed, in the name of Israel, to transfer the Atarot airfield in northern Jerusalem to PA control. The paper states it source as "senior Foreign Ministry elements."

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski stated that "It is inconceivable that while Israeli flights from Atarot have been stopped because of security fears, the threat will now become even more severe, with control of the entire area being given over to the PA." He warned of the dangers of "hostile airplanes" in the skies of Jerusalem.

Lupoliansky promises he will work even harder to advance his plan to build 10,000 housing units for Jews in Atarot, hoping to thus thwart the plan to give it to the PA.

Jerusalem Municipality officials said the agreement to give away Atarot represents a de-facto recognition of the division of Jerusalem.

America drafts plan to cut Jerusalem in two

Run for your lives. Pray for G-d's forgiveness. The United States, which has been mediating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, has proposed a plan to divide Jerusalem, according to WND. The plan, divided into separate phases, among other things calls for Israel eventually to forfeit parts of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

According to the first stage of the U.S. plan, which was obtained by WND, Israel would give the PA some municipal and security sovereignty over key Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. The PA would be allowed to open some official institutions in Jerusalem, could elect a mayor for the Palestinian side of the city and would deploy police forces to maintain law and order.

The plan doesn't specify which parts of the Temple Mount would be forfeited to the Palestinian Arabs. The U.S. plan leaves Israel and the PA to negotiate which Jerusalem neighborhoods would become Palestinian. According to diplomatic sources familiar with the plan, while specific neighborhoods were not officially listed, American officials recommended sections of Jerusalem's Old City as well as certain largely Arab Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Jabal mukabar, Beit Hanina, Shoafat, Abu Dis and Abu Tur become part of the Palestinian side.

Catholic Leader Rejects Israel's Jewish Identity

From Catholic Leader Rejects Israel's Jewish Identity:

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, an Arab from Nazareth and the Roman Catholic Church's top cleric in the Holy Land, said Israel should not be designated a Jewish state. "If it's Jewish, it's not Muslim or Christian," he said. Sabbah had no word on whether a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza should not be allowed to favor Muslims, given those territories' sanctity to Jews and Christians.

I've written about the Jew-hating mongrel, Michel Sabbah, before. You can read about him here. Just be sure to bring some Alpo.

Defending Jerusalem

Received by email:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When ministers of the current Government of Israel have publicly stated that the Prime Minister may be prepared to enter into a formal "agreement" or "statement of principles" which would support the division of Jerusalem and the relinquishment of Israeli sovereignty over parts of the holy city, and the Prime Minister does not rebut these statements and restate the longstanding position that Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish nation -we must respond.

Please go to:

http://www.ou. org/public_ affairs/article/ defending_ jerusalem/

Jerusalem Arabs Wary of Talk of Future PA Rule

From Jerusalem Arabs Wary of Talk of Future PA Rule:

Many Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are less than eager for an end to Israeli rule. Some 250,000 people could find themselves under Palestinian rule if the idea of ceding parts of Jerusalem to a new Palestinian state goes forward. "If they put a border here, we'll move to Haifa and Tel Aviv. You'll have 50,000 people who live here leaving East Jerusalem in minutes," said Jamil Sanduqa, head of the popular committee that governs the Shuafat neighborhood. Many of the city's Palestinian residents openly worry about being cut off from jobs, unemployment insurance and medical care.

Cross-posted on Divest from Palestine

Jerusalem Should Be Strengthened, Not Divided

Join me and others who love Jerusalem and sign on the Jerusalem petition, because today, more than ever, we need to strengthen, not divide Jerusalem.

Click here to sign.

Poll: Most Israelis Oppose Changing Jerusalem's Status

From Poll: Most Israelis Oppose Changing Jerusalem's Status:

According to a poll by the Dahaf Institute published by Yediot Ahronot Tuesday, when asked if Israel should compromise Jerusalem's status as part of any future peace agreement with the Palestinians, 63% said Jerusalem should not be included in a peace agreement, 21% thought it should, and 16% would agree only if the changes were approved in a referendum. As for handing over Palestinian neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority, 68% were against, 20% agreed, and 11% said they would agree if a referendum supported the idea.

When asked who should remain sovereign of the Western Wall and Temple Mount, 61% said Israel should be sovereign, 16% favored joint Israeli-Palestinian sovereignty, 21% said the holy places should be under international rule, and 1% said Jordan should be named the holy places' sovereign.

Israel Denies Report of Agreement to Transfer Temple Mount to Jordanian Custody

I read the rumors of the initial report - then I read this. From Israel Denies Report of Agreement to Transfer Temple Mount to Jordanian Custody:

The Prime Minister's Office denied a report in the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi that Olmert and Abbas had agreed to transfer the Temple Mount's holy sites to Jordanian custody. Israeli government officials warned there would likely be a torrent of reports over the next few weeks about the content of negotiations with the Palestinians, with much of it either trial balloons or wishful thinking by interested parties leaking information.