http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=26682&mador=4&datee=8/23/98
Ha'aretz, August 23, 1998
Who's Desecrating the Holy Sites?
By Gideon Levy
The resolution of the mini-confrontation between
Palestinians and Israelis over the Jewish right to
prayer at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus did not undo the
damage. Moshe Ya'alon, the new head of the Central
Command, again proved to Palestinians that their
fury toward him - left over from his days as chief
of Military Intelligence - is justified. And
anyone harboring suspicions that Ya'alon adapts
himself to the government of the day found new
evidence.In a superfluous move intended to pacify
extremist settlers and ministers, Ya'alon
permitted worshippers to remain at Joseph's Tomb
overnight in the wake of the killing of two
Yitzhar settlers. But any connection between the
mourning period and lodging at the tomb site
remains to be identified.
Ya'alon managed to obtain the agreement of the
Palestinians - who are responsible, according to
Article V of the Interim Agreement, for the
security of worshippers in areas under their
control - but he did not prevent the settlers from
prolonging their stay at the tomb past the
seven-day mourning period.
While this is not explicitly contrary to the
agreements, it violates both the status quo, and
agreements reached by joint military committees,
which specify that settlers may not remain at the
tomb site after the hour 23:00.
Seven days of mourning and lodging at the tomb
became 30 days at the end of last week. The
worshippers, some of the most extreme and
dangerous of the settlers (one has called for
revenge against Palestinians, and Palestinian
sources say that others last week kidnapped Burin
resident Muhaned Abed Al-Kader, threatening to
kill him), have thus strengthened their hold on
the center of Palestinian sovereignty. The
Palestinians have yielded to yet another Israeli
dictate - despite the absence of guarantees that
they will not face a permanent Jewish presence in
the heart of their city when the 30 days are up.
So a political struggle, which began with a
provocation unrelated to religious faith, has been
won by the settlers.
But Israel is not satisfied with these crude
demonstrations of power. The Government Press
Office published an official and arcane
announcement from the desk of David Bar-Illan,
attacking the Palestinian Authority's "violation
of the Oslo agreements," and its "failure to
respect the holy places." It must be seen to be
believed: Israel is accusing the Palestinian
Authority of violating freedom of religion and
freedom of access to holy sites. Glass-house
dwellers do not hesitate to throw stones.
The majority of Palestinians living under Israeli
occupation are not allowed to visit the Dome of
the Rock, third-holiest Muslim site in the world.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians who want to pray
in Jerusalem are not allowed access.
Israel is also doing its utmost to keep
Palestinian residents at a minimum in the city
holy not only to Jews - by confiscating identity
cards and otherwise making Palestinians' lives
there miserable.
The freedom of worship of tens of thousands of
Muslims and Christians is crudely violated by
Israel as a matter of course, despite its pious
statements favoring religious freedom. Christians
from Bethlehem and Muslims from Deheishe, not to
mention from Gaza, cannot pray at their holy
sites.
Israel's blatant violation of non-Jewish religious
values began with the establishment of the state.
The 400-odd Palestinian villages razed in 1948
contained at least 400 mosques and 400 cemeteries.
Israel preserved not a trace of either. Cemeteries
were overturned; mosques were destroyed or
desecrated. And Israel does not now allow freedom
of worship in the handful of surviving mosques.
Only a few days ago, authorities sealed off Al
Tabaya Mosque in Jaffa, that dates from Crusader
times.
The local paper Tel Aviv reported that Muslims
from Jaffa who recently began using the mosque
made "hell" of the lives of sensitive Jewish
artists who could not bear the noise of prayer.
The municipality accordingly sealed off the
mosque. A few weeks ago in the western Galilee, at
Moshav Ben Ami, which was built on the ruins of
the village of Umm Farge, authorities destroyed a
mosque - the only remnant of the leveled village -
when descendents of original inhabitants dared to
come back to pray there.
In such cases, the authorities cite political
provocation and the ever-threatening danger of
"return." It seems that only the extremist
settlement in Joseph's tomb is not political.
The destruction and desecration of non-Jewish holy
sites did not end in 1948. After 1967, Israel
razed a few dozen villages in the Golan, leaving
barely a vestige of their holy sites. The
skeletons of the remaining mosques were dirtied
and desecrated. Other mosques in Israel have been
made into synagogues, resort villages or left to
ruin.
If the remains of a synagogue or Jewish cemetery
were treated this way anywhere in the world,
Israel and international Jewish organizations
would move heaven and earth in protest.
Israel, with hands unclean, is daring to complain
that the Palestinians are not honoring Jewish holy
sites and the freedom of Jews to worship at
Joseph's Tomb. Can there be a more blatant example
of hypocrisy, double standards and a complete
disregard for the needs of others.
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