The Palestinian Occupation

Hai a

Today, holy Bethlehem, under
he Palestinians, and the
Muslim occupation, has a popula-
Muslim world echoes
tion that is only about 20 percent
them, keep talking about
Christian. This decline is in sharp
"occupied" lands. Their
contrast to Israel proper, where the
reference is to those areas of
Christian population has
no-man's land that were
been growing steadily. A
under no recognized national
Greek Orthodox monastery,
sovereignty and which Israel
located next to the Church
took over after a defensive
of the Nativity, has been
war against foes intent on
occupied by the Palestine
destroying the Jewish state.
Authority for its purposes.
In its settlement of the terri-
PA leader Yasser Arafat's pro-
tories, Israel destroyed no
posed presence at the
C ARL
Arab villages, left no Arabs
Christmas Eve celebration
ALP
ERT
homeless and took over no
was intended to be manifes-
Spe cial
Muslim holy places.
tation of Islamic control. Is
Comm entary the world aware of these
But if it is occupation we
are talking about, we have a
facts?
number of other cases. We
Beit Jalla is a quiet suburb
call upon the Palestinians
of Jerusalem, almost entirely
immediately to evacuate the Tomb
Christian. It has long enjoyed peace-
of Joseph, a Jewish holy site, which
ful relations with its Jewish neigh-
they occupied in a bloody battle not
bors. But in the last few years,
long ago and transformed into a
Muslim terrorist gangs have made it
mosque.
a habit to move in from time to time
Together with the Christian world, and direct a hail of fire from the vil-
we demand to know by what right
lage at the nearby Jewish area of
the Muslims have occupied
Gilo.
Bethlehem. In 1990, Christendom's
Israel has been compelled to return
holy town had a population that was the fire, but often it is the Christian
60 percent Christian and flourishing
homes, temporarily occupied by the
under Israeli administration. But
invaders, that have been hit. It is not
when Israel handed it over to
by accident that the firing posts are
Palestinian rule in 1995, mass
often in close proximity to churches,
Muslim migration into the town,
in the hope that Israel can be
and subtle pressures on the
accused of firing at, and causing
Christians resulted in emigration of
damage to, these buildings. The
many of the latter.
local Christians are helpless.

know that at 9 a.m. Monday, our staff
met in a hotel ballroom — with nothing
but tables and chairs. By noon, we had
transformed that ballroom into a
makeshift newsroom with a core of
computers and tangled power cords, and
we had begun work on this very issue.
On Tuesday night, we moved the
whole operation again to our new
temporary home in JARC's
Farmington Hills building on
Northwestern Highway.
I'm just saying that this week's issue
of the Jewish News will be there wait-
ing for you — just like it's always
been there for 60 years.
As journalists, that's what we live for.
That's just whaarn saying. El

Harry Kirsbaums weekly online
column runs every Wednesday at
www.detroitjewishnews.com/opinion

A Jewish City

Occupation? What are the Muslims
doing on the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem? For well over 2,000 years,
from the time of David and
Solomon, the city has been histori-
cally and religiously identified with
the Jewish people. It was only in the
seventh century, soon after the death
of Muhammad, that the Muslims
captured the city and built the
Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa
mosque.
The Crusaders took it away from
them for a while, but then it revert-
ed back to their control. It was never
of any great importance to them.
For a time they even called it Beit al-
Makdis, the Arabic version of the
Hebrew name, Beit HaMikdash.
One of the leaders of the Muslim
world in the 13th century referred to
it as only "churches and ruins." The
city deteriorated and the population
shrank. In all of the years of Arab
occupation, only one solitary book
was written by them about Arabs in
Jerusalem. But how long have Jews
everywhere repeated daily, If I forget
thee, 0 Jerusalem? In our own time,
the founding document of the
Palestine Liberation Organization,
known as the Palestinian National
Covenant, made no mention what-
ever of the city.
A revival began only with the
gradual influx of religious Jews.
Under the British mandate the pop-

ulation grew to 165,000, of whom
100,000 were Jews.
To whom is Jerusalem holy? It is
mentioned 667 times in the Bible.
The Christian New Testament
makes reference to it 154 times. The
Koran? There is no reference to it at
all, an indication of its role in Islam.
Yet, Palestinian publicists insist on
claiming that there never was a
Temple in Jerusalem and Jesus never
had a conflict with the moneychang-
ers there. Perhaps that is why they
are so busy these days digging away
on the Mount, seeking to destroy all
possible archeological traces.
There is Muslim reference to
Muhammad's Night Journey, which
took place from the "Outer
Mosque," and Muslims like to think
that the reference is to Jerusalem.
Hence, that city is given special sta-
tus, third after Mecca and Medina.
We repeat our call to the invaders:
End your occupation of Joseph's
Tomb, your occupation of
Bethlehem, your periodic occupa-
tions of Beit Jalla, and above all,
your occupation of Jerusalem and
the Temple Mount.

❑

Carl Alpert is a native of the United
States and former editor of The New
Palestine. He also is former head of the
Zionist Organization of Americas edu-
cation department who made aliyah in
1952. His column is syndicated world-
wide. His e-mail address is
alpert@techunix.technion.ac.il

WHAT IS TERRORISM?

It is sa i d

that one man's terrorist is another man's
freedom fighter. No. There is no justifica-
tion for the savagery of terrorist acts.

A terrorist act is the deliberate use of violence directed against
innocent civilians for the purpose of intimidation in order to
advance political objectives. Whether one agrees or disagrees
with the objectives, terrorism is terrorism. As President Bush
has said, "There are no good or bad terrorists."

Object when supporters of suicide bombers claim that blowing
up Israeli buses, cafes and discos is not terrorism because
the cause is "just." Terrorism is fueled by those who blame the
victims and justify the atrocities. Don't be confused or misled by
rhetoric. Be informed. Speak out and give your support to action
against terrorists and their sponsors.

ISRAEL
NEEDS
US

The International Policy Institute
for Counter Terrorism

For up-to-date analysis of anti-Israel, anti-

American and international terrorism, this

website is the best: www.ict: org.il

Recommended reading: Origins of Terrorism,

Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States
of Mind, Walter Reich, editor (Woodrow

Wilson. Center Press, 1998)

Jewish
Community
Councilagezve=i-

2/1

2002

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