[News] Hardline threat to al-Aqsa Mosque

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Hardline threat to al-Aqsa Mosque
by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
Sunday 25 July 2004 12:36 PM GMT

Israel's Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi has said hardline Jewish 
groups may be planning to carry out attacks on the two most sacred Islamic 
shrines in occupied East Jerusalem.

Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are collectively known as al-Haram 
al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). Originally built in CE711 (AD711), al-Aqsa 
Mosque is Islam's third holiest place, after the two Holy Mosques in Saudi 
Arabia.

Hanegbi said in a TV interview at the weekend that the goal of the 
potential attackers would be to thwart the Israeli plan for unilateral 
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

But a former leader of an armed Jewish group that sought to bomb al-Aqsa 
Mosque in the late 1970s, told Israeli state-run radio on Sunday the 
purpose of any "new action" would not have anything to do with the 
"disengagement plan".

The Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday quoted officials in the domestic 
intelligence service, Shin Beth, as saying there was a possibility of 
Jewish hardliners trying to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque by crashing a 
radio-controlled plane into it.

There are numerous Millenarian Jewish groups in Israel dedicated to the 
destruction of the mosque to facilitate the "rebuilding" of the "Third 
Temple" on the site.

Messianic Jews believe the destruction of the mosque and construction of 
the temple would expedite the appearance of a Jewish messiah, or redeemer, 
who would rule the world from Jerusalem and bring about the salvation of 
the Jewish people.

Ultimate red line

Muslim leaders in Palestine have warned of "unforeseeable consequences" and 
"horrible repercussions" all over the world in case "anything happened to 
al-Aqsa Mosque".

"This is the ultimate red line. If Jewish terrorists embarked on such an 
act of sheer madness, they would trigger huge fires all over the world 
 . 
Only God knows how the fires would be extinguished," said Kamal al-Khatib, 
deputy head of Israel's powerful Islamic Movement.

Speaking to Aljazeera.net he said an attack on al-Aqsa Mosque would be 
viewed as an appalling provocation by the world's Muslim population.

"If Jewish terrorists embarked on such an act of sheer madness, they would 
trigger huge fires all over the world"

"If such a thing happened, God forbid, it would galvanise the world's 1.2 
billion Muslims, and there would be a backlash and anger all over the world."

Al-Khatib said the Islamic Movement in Israel remained vigilant against the 
risk of an attack on the Islamic holy places in Jerusalem.

"We send thousands of people to the Haram al-Sharif every day to make up 
for the barring by Israel of our people from the West Bank and Gaza Strip 
from accessing the mosque 
 and we see to it that there are no loopholes in 
security arrangements," he said.

Security pretext?

The highest-ranking Muslim cleric in East Jerusalem, Shaikh Ikrama Sabri, 
says Jewish extremists are capable of doing the unthinkable.

"We know quite well that they are conniving and coordinating their plans 
with the Israeli security establishment," he claimed.

"We also know that the Israeli state uses the extremists as a supplemental 
tool to achieve its thinly disguised goals, including the destruction of 
Islam's holy places in Jerusalem."

But in the present contest, Sabri cautioned, Israel may be trying to gain a 
"foothold" inside al-Haram al-Sharif compound under the pretext of 
"ensuring the security of the place".

He said after the 1994 Hebron massacre in which 29 Arab worshippers were 
killed by a messianic Jewish immigrant from Brooklyn, the Israeli army took 
over the town's historic Ibrahimi Mosque and assigned the bulk of the holy 
site to Jewish settlers.

The "arrangement" then was justified by the Israelis on security grounds – 
to prevent a repetition of the massacre, Sabri said.

He claimed the Israeli authorities knew the Jewish hardliners individually, 
but did not take action against them for political reasons.

"Look, the police know them one by one, but the extremists have strong 
allies and supporters within the government, the Knesset and the security 
establishment, so much so that it seems as if they are the real rulers of 
Israel," Sabri said.

Inspection tours?

The Israeli police currently permit religious Jews to enter al-Aqsa Mosque 
compound despite strong objection from the Supreme Muslim Council, which is 
in charge of the administration of the holy place.

Israeli officials, including security chiefs, say Jews have a right to 
visit the holy place they call Temple Mount just like anybody else.

However, Waqf officials, who are entrusted with the upkeep of the holy 
sanctuary, say trips by Jews are not simple visits, but in fact "inspection 
tours" aimed at drawing up destructive designs on al-Haram al-Sharif.

On Sunday, a Jewish rabbi allied with the messianic Gush Emunim movement 
which advocates the expulsion and extermination of non-Jews in Israel - 
told the Israeli army radio, Gali Tsahal, he fully supported the 
destruction of al-Aqsa Mosque.

"This is more than a positive thing - this is a desirable thing, and I am 
looking forward to seeing these mosques reduced to ruins," said Yehuda 
Tzion, who in 1980 headed the underground Jewish group that had planned to 
bomb al-Aqsa.

Tzion has urged the Israeli government to "send army bulldozers to the site 
and destroy these buildings once and for all 
 and if the state is not 
willing to do so, let other Jews do it".

One of the messianic Jewish groups that openly calls for the destruction of 
al-Aqsa is the Temple Mount Faithful, headed by Girshon Solomon.

A few years ago, he told Israeli television, with the golden Dome of the 
Rock in the background - that: "it is time this pagan edifice ceased to exist".

Aljazeera
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AD9419A2-1061-48EA-A341-77ADC09047CB.htm 



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