Israel Must Not Surrender
Judaism's Holiest Site, the Temple Mount

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We are dismayed and cannot accept the statement by Israeli Absorption Minister Yuli Tamir that Israel must "renounce, one way or
another, our sovereignty over the Temple Mount if necessary." (Washington Times, Dec. 20, 2000) We call on Prime Minister
Ehud Barak to make it unequivocally clear that Tamir's statement does not represent his view or the policy of his administration.

The reason it is called the Temple
Mount is that it was the location of
both the First Temple and the Second
Temple. We agree with Malcolm
Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of
the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations, who
said in a recent personal address:

forget thee, 0 Jerusalem...' must not be
allowed to ring hollow now."

W e recall with profound sadness the period

of Arab control of Jerusalem's Old City sec-
tion, 1949-1967, when Jews were barred
from visiting the Temple Mount and the
adjacent Western Wall; when 57 synagogues
were destroyed; and when numerous tomb-
stones from the Mount of Olives cemetery -
including the tombstone of Hadassah
founder Henrietta Szold-- were used to pave
roads and latrines in Arab army barracks.

"In future years. all of us will have to
answer to all our children and grand-
children when they ask us why we
did not do more to protect their her-
itage and safeguard Har HaBayit (the
Temple Mount). The holy city of
Jerusalem, and particularly the
Temple Mount, has been the
birthright. the geographical heart and
the spiritual soul of the Jewish people
for 3,000 years.

We have seen in recent weeks the terrible
destruction that the Palestinian Arabs have
wreaked upon Jewish holy sites such as the
Tomb of Joseph, Jericho's Shalom al-Yisrael
synagogue, and the relentless attacks on
Rachel's
Tomb. And even now they are con-
Palestinian Arabs destroying a Jewish holy site, the Tomb of Joseph, on October 7, 2000
tinuing excavations that are desecrating the
Il lt is the place towards which Jews everywhere in the world turn to pray three
Temple Mount. In the last ten days alone, the Arabs have carted away seventy
truckloads of debris, including ancient artifacts. There is good reason to fear what
times a day. It is the Zion to which we have yearned
might ensue if the Palestinian Arabs are given sovereignty over Judaism's holiest
site, the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount is the
spiritual soul of the Jewish people

to return from exile for millennia. In 1967, when Jerusalem was reunited and
especially the Temple Mount was returned to Jewish hands, we all rejoiced as we
witnessed a true miracle in our time --these holy places coming back to the Jewish
people...On Rosh Hashana, we read Akeidat Yitzhak, the account of Abraham's test
of faith, when he was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. That took place on this
same holy site, the Temple Mount. Our essence as a people is embedded in the
bedrock of this mountain...The solemn pledge by Jews throughout the ages, 'If I

The Arabs have repeatedly
desecrated Jewish holy sites

We note that public opinion polls have shown that the overwhelming majority of
Israelis and Diaspora Jews reject the idea of surrendering the Temple Mount, and
as Jewish leaders, we recognize our sacred obligation to future generations of Jews
to keep and protect Judaism's holiest site.

Shoshana Cardin
Past Chair,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations
Past Chair. Jerusalem 3000

Kenneth Bialkin
Past Chairman,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations

Lester Pollack
Past Chairman,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations

Morton A. Klein
National President,
Zionist Organization of America

Julius Berman
Past Chairman,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations

Leon Levy
Past Chairman,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations

Rabbi Herschel Schachter
Past Chair,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations

Bonnie Lipton
Chair, Jerusalem Committee,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations

Irwin Hochberg
Past Chairman of the Board,
UJA-Federation of New York

Rabbi Joel Meyers
Executive Director,
Rabbinical Assembly

Steven Wolnek
National President
United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism

Dr. Mandell Ganchrow
President,
Orthodox Union

Rabbi Raphael Butler
Executive Vice President,
Orthodox Union

Rabbi Kenneth Hain
President,
Rabbinical Council of America

Marcia Genuth
National President
Emunah of America

Rabbi Jerome Epstein
Executive Vice-President and CEO,
United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism

J. Philip Rosen
Vice Chairman,
Yeshiva College of Yeshiva University

Henry Schwartz
National Officer.
Zionist Organization of America

Dr. Stanley Benzel
National Officer,
Zionist Organization of America

Rabbi Seymour Essrog
Past President,
Rabbinical Assembly

Nathan Lewin, Esq.
Honorary President,
International Association of
Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

Gary Erlbaum
Chairman,
Jewish Publishing Group, Philadelphia

Dr. Ben Chouake
National Officer,
Zionist Organization of America

Munr Kazmir
National Officer,
Zionist Organization of America

Marshall Breger
Professor of Law,
Catholic University

Rabbi Steven Dworken
Executive Director,
Rabbinical Council of America

Norman Hascoe
President, Jewish Institute
for National Security Affairs

lbm Neumann
Executive Director, Jewish Institute
for National Security Affairs

Bob Zweiman
Chairman, Coordinating Committee
Jewish War Veterans of USA

Shlomo Mostofsky
President,
National Council of Young Israel

Rabbi Pesach Lerner
Executive Director,
National Council of Young Israel

Rabbi Simcha Krauss
President,
Religious Zionists of America

- All titles .for identification purposes only -

For a free copy 'of the Zionist Organization of America's powerful new book, Jerusalem In Danger,

please call the ZOA's Michigan branch at 248-569-1515 Prof. Joseph Savin, President

12/29
2000

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