Jordan protests Israeli court decision in favour of Jews praying outside Jerusalem's Temple Mount

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it... Zechariah 12:2-3

As reported by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz of Breaking Israel News, April 4, 2018 (links in original):

The Jordanian government filed an official complaint with the Israeli Foreign Ministry, objecting to a recent ruling by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court stating that it is not illegal for Jews to pray outside the Temple Mount.

According to Israel’s Channel 10, Jordan charged Israel with “violating the status quo in the area and is carrying out extreme provocations that harm relations between our two countries.”

The “status quo” refers to a long-held arrangement between Jerusalem and Amman whereby Jordan became the religious custodian over the Temple Mount. According to the agreement, Jews may still visit the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site for the Jewish people, however, only Muslims are allowed to pray on the Temple Mount compound.

Jordan’s ire concerns the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court’s decision 10 days ago to reject a request by Israeli police to restrict three 14-year-old Jewish girls who had bowed down outside a closed gated entrance to the Temple Mount, from accessing the compound. The police cited security concerns, claiming the girls’ actions might provoke Muslim violence.

“This [phenomenon] began on the Temple Mount, is continuing into the Old City, and what is the next stage? Someone will take out a prayer book on Jaffa Street and will be told that this is a provocation?” challenged the counsel for the defense, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Judge Shmuel Harbest, a judge who ruled in the case, agreed with Ben Gvir’s argument.

“In a democratic state, we do not distance and certainly do not arrest citizens who want to pray in a place where one is allowed to pray,” he wrote in the court’s ruling, adding that it is “the responsibility of a democratic state” to allow the girls to be present at the site and pray there unimpeded.”

Ben Gvir issued a statement, criticizing the Jordanian complaint as “first degree chutzpah (audacity).”

“I expect the prime minister to summon the Jordanian ambassador for a reprimand and explain to him that it is the right of Israeli citizens to pray everywhere in Jerusalem,” Ben Gvir said.

Jordan inaugurates annual Christian-Islamic celebration of the Annunciation to Mary

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote an interesting book in which he predicted that Islam would be converted to Christianity "through a summoning of the Moslems to a veneration of the Mother of God." He reasoned thus:

The Koran...has many passages concerning the Blessed Virgin. First of all, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception and also in her Virgin Birth...Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: "Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary."

Sheen goes on to say how remarkable it was that "our Lady" had the foresight to appear in the Portuguese village of Fatima (named after Muhammad's daughter during the Muslim occupation) and thus become known as "Our Lady of Fatima."

Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days (1994), p. 458, citing Fulton J. Sheen, "Mary and the Moslems," The World's First Love (1952)

There will come a day, John Paul believes, when the heart of Islam--already attuned to the figures of Christ and of Christ's Mother, Mary--will receive the illumination it needs. Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood: Pope John Paul II Versus Russia and the West for Control of the New World Order (1990), p. 285

Submitted for your approval, the following example of the fulfillment of Bishop Sheen's prediction; note that the emphasis of the celebration is not the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Virgin Mary. As reported by Fr. Rif'at Bader in the Turin newspaper La Stampa, March 22, 2018:

His Majesty King Abdullah II addressed the 71st United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2016. He said: “Jesus, whom we call ’Christ Messiah’, is named 25 times in the Qur’an. His mother Mary, called the ’best of all women in creation’, is named 35 times. And there is a chapter in the Qur’an called ‘Maryam’. The khawarej deliberately hide these truths about Islam in order to drive Muslims and non-Muslims apart. We cannot allow this to happen.”

From this premise and in light with the King’s address, which is based on the relevant congruent views of the Qur’an and the Holy Bible, the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM) in Jordan, in cooperation with the heads of the Churches in Jordan, has decided to hold an annual celebration marking the Annunciation to Blessed Virgin Mary as mentioned in the Holy Bible and the Qur’an, so that it would be a national feast celebrated in this grand homeland.

Lebanon, with its different religious affiliations, has been celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the national level over the past 12 years after its religious leaders realized that as a character, Virgin Mary brings people together, and that She is neither a source of controversy nor dispute as She maintains a special status in Islam. She also has prominent status in the Holy Bible in Her capacity as the Mother of Lord Jesus Christ. Since the event relevant to the Annunciation is mentioned in detail in both books, the leaderships and the people of good will considered the view to mark this feast as a national and social feast. This feast officially had been celebrated in Lebanon over the past 12 years. It acquired prime importance when it was announced eight years ago, and it culminated with the announcement that it would be marked as a national holiday eight years ago. Its slogan continues to be, “The Islamic Christian Gathering Around Virgin Mary”.

Jordan, with its archaeological sites and national unity, is more qualified than any other country to mark a new renaissance of Muslim-Christian harmony and brotherhood that can be added to the numerous initiative attributed to the wise Hashemite leadership, its people’s awareness, and the harmony between its Muslims and Christians. Jordan issued the Amman Message in 2004 and A Common Word in 2007 in light of the unstinting efforts of His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi Ben Muhammad, the King’s advisor for religious and cultural affairs. Jordan also proposed launching the World Interfaith Harmony Week in 2010 which was adopted by the United Nations members. Jordan also called for convening the “The Challenges Facing Arab Christians Conference” in 2013 and hosted Christians forcibly displaced from Mosul in 2014.

Therefore, Jordan is the country of history, of civilization and of the Hashemites which contains sacred heritage and blessed water. It is the land Moses crossed, and where Elijah was born and from where he ascended to Heaven. It is the country of John the Baptist who baptized Lord Jesus Christ at the site known as Baptism Site. It is also the land crossed by Blessed Virgin Mary where she is remembered in Anjara. The Christian tradition states that she crossed this place with Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, a historic grotto was installed there in Her memory and known as Our Lady of the Mount.

There are also several other grottos in our country which are reminiscent of its holiness.

Thus, Jordan of today is the country of common living with its Muslim and Christian population. Since the establishment of the Emirate of Jordan in 1921, and a few years after the Great Arab Revolt, whose centennial was marked two years ago, the Christians and Muslims lived side by side, and contributed to the establishment of the Emirate of Jordan, which later became known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Consequently, it is not a novel event to have feasts marked by everybody for at a time when His Majesty King Abdullah II assumed his constitutional authorities in 2000, he announced that Christmas would be marked as “an official holiday for all citizens”. We call nowadays for celebrating the Feast of Annunciation so that its religious significance would serve as an incentive to enrich our national unity and social cohesion.

In view of this, the CCSM is holding the ceremony for the first time under the patronage of the Deputy Prime Minister Jamal Sarayrah on Wednesday, March 28. It will be attended by representatives of the General Ifta’a Department, of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and of the Chief Justice. Present at the ceremony will be head and members of the “Lebanese National Committee for the Celebration of the Feast and Annunciation” and several shades of society who are keen to worship God and to be loyal to the country, its leadership and people.

The Feast of the Annunciation, whose events took place in the holy city of Nazareth, invites us from the side of the immortal river, the Jordan River, to pray for Jerusalem, the Holy City, in light of the injustice and aggression being perpetrated against its history and civilization. We also call on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities by implementing the relevant international resolutions, to preserve the historic Hashemite guardianship, and to give the Palestinian people their right to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

70 years ago: The United Nations votes to partition Palestine

And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. Deuteronomy 30:1-5

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33-13 with 10 abstentions, and 1 member absent, in favour of Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states by October 1, 1948. Six Arab delegations walked out of the session, declaring that they would not be bound by the decision.

Jewish Agency leader Hillel Silver hailed the vote as "a turning point in Jewish history." He was right; on May 14, 1948, the state of Israel came into existence.

50 years ago: The Six-Day War

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it...
...In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem...
... In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2-3, 6, 8-9

An important event in helping to set the stage for the fulfillment of biblical prophecies for the end times occurred 50 years ago this week. On June 10, 1967, fighting in the Six-Day War concluded when Israeli forces halted their advance into Syria.

The war ended in a tremendous victory for Israel over the forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Israel now controlled the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights. On June 7, Israel gained control of East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from Jordan. The song ירושלים של זהב (Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) (Jerusalem of Gold), first performed for the Israeli Song Festival on May 15, 1967, became a theme song for the war:



The Temple itself will be rebuilt (see, for example, Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, Revelation 11:1-2), an event which was impossible before the Six-Day War, i.e., before Israel was in control of the Temple Mount. I haven't the time or inclination to go into detail on this, but the Six-Day War was another link in the chain of Bible prophecy, offering evidence that the God of the Bible is the one true God, and that the Bible is His word. For further reading, I suggest the books A Cup of Trembling (1995) by Dave Hunt, and Ready to Rebuild (1992) by Thomas Ice & Randall Price.

70 years ago: Arab League economic boycott of Jewish goods in Palestine goes into effect

Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.
Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. Zechariah 2:4b-12

From the "the more things change, the more they stay the same" department:

For those who think that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement)--the worldwide anti-Israel campaign on behalf of the Palestinian cause--is a recent phenomenon, it's worth noting that the idea goes back to 1945, before the state of Israel existed, when the Jewish community in Palestine was known as the Yishuv.

On December 2, 1945, the Arab League announced that, effective January 1, 1946, its seven member states--Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen--would boycott all Jewish-produced goods from Palestine in an effort to weaken Jewish industry in the region and to deter Jewish immigration to Palestine. The declaration urged both Arab states that were members of the then-new United Nations and Arab states which had not yet obtained UN membership to prohibit the products and usage of the products of Jewish industry in Palestine. The declaration, contained in Arab League Resolution 16, stated:

Products of Palestinian Jews are to be considered undesirable in Arab countries. They should be prohibited and refused as long as their production in Palestine might lead to the realization of Zionist political aims.

On December 30, 1945, the Egyptian cabinet of Prime Minister Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha approved the boycott. The Arab League boycott of Israel largely failed; Jewish immigration to Palestine continued, and Israel became a state, with a prosperous economy. Egypt and Jordan ended their participation in the boycott when they signed peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively. Most Arab nations don't enforce the economic boycott against Israel today; neither, apparently, does ISIS, as reported by the Israeli business news service Globes, November 30, 2015:

Kurdish and Turkish smugglers are transporting oil from ISIS controlled territory in Syria and Iraq and selling it to Israel, according to several reports in the Arab and Russian media. An estimated 20,000-40,000 barrels of oil are produced daily in ISIS controlled territory generating $1-1.5 million daily profit for the terrorist organization.

The oil is extracted from Dir A-Zur in Syria and two fields in Iraq and transported to the Kurdish city of Zakhu in a triangle of land near the borders of Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Israeli and Turkish mediators come to the city and when prices are agreed, the oil is smuggled to the Turkish city of Silop marked as originating from Kurdish regions of Iraq and sold for $15-18 per barrel (WTI and Brent Crude currently sell for $41 and $45 per barrel) to the Israeli mediator, a man in his 50s with dual Greek-Israeli citizenship known as Dr. Farid. He transports the oil via several Turkish ports and then onto other ports, with Israel among the main destinations.

In August, the "Financial Times" reported that Israel obtained 75% of its oil supplies from Iraqi Kurdistan. More than a third of such exports go through the port of Ceyhan, which the FT describe as a “potential gateway for ISIS-smuggled crude."

“Israel has in one way or another become the main marketer of ISIS oil. Without them, most ISIS-produced oil would have remained going between Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Even the three companies would not receive the oil if they did not have a buyer in Israel,” an industry official told the newspaper "al-Araby al-Jadeed."

"Israel has in one way or another become the main marketer of IS oil. Without them, most ISIS-produced oil would have remained going between Iraq, Syria and Turkey," the industry official added.

Jordanian border guards bar Israeli tourists for wearing yarmulkes

Israel and Jordan are officially at peace with each other, but some Jordanian border guards are apparently unaware of this. As reported by Tali Farkash of Ynet News, December 10, 2015:

A tour guide and her family who were supposed to enter Jordan on Wednesday for a family vacation were delayed at the border and not allowed to enter the country, because they had yarmulkes in their possession.

"They took the yarmulkes from our heads without any warning or explanation," Tamar Hayardeni told Ynet.

She added that even after pleading and promising to hide the yarmulkes in their bags, the Jordanian inspectors were not satisfied, ordering them to leave them at the border. The inspectors also said that entering Jordanian territory with "Jewish items" is forbidden.

The Foreign Ministry responded that it was clarifying the family's complaint with the Jordanian embassy: "We are with the family, and explaining that there is no justification in banning yarmulkes."

Hayardeni has previously been to Jordan, having organized a tour in cooperation with guides who know the procedures there, and said that this is the first time they have heard about the prohibition on entering Jordan with "Jewish items."

"I was writing to one of the tour guides while the event was ongoing," Hayardeni said. "We were stuck at the border for two hours, until they agreed to give us our passports back.

"The guide told me that he has heard about something like this once before, when some ultra-Orthodox were given a hard time. But that's it. And even they were allowed to enter," she continued.

Hayardeni explained that after crossing over to the Jordanian side of the border terminal and paying the crossing fee, a soldier approached them and with no warning or explanation snatched the yarmulkes from the heads of her husband and sons.

"It was done in a very ugly manner. He didn't explain or say anything, he just took the yarmulkes from their heads and disappeared," she said. "After some time he returned and started to shout at us. He ordered us to go back to Israel in order to 'be rid of the yarmulkes.'"

The family's attempts to change their minds fell on deaf ears. "We told them that we have no problem with keeping the yarmulkes hidden deep inside our luggage. But they didn't agree at all," Hayardeni said.

Hayardeni added that "even the local driver who we'd hired tried to intervene, saying that he would take responsibility and keep the yarmulkes in his taxi and then take them home. Nothing helped. The message was clear: You cannot enter Jordanian territory with a Jewish item."

Another family had a similar experience at the same time. "Another tourist entered the room we were in and was told to go back because he had phylacteries in his bag! The same tour guide said that he didn't know what was going on, because he had personally crossed into Jordan with phylacteries before," Hayardeni said.

In the end, Hayardeni said, they decided not to try and go ahead with their holiday – primarily because of the children. "The children said they were not interested, they felt that they were not wanted in Jordan as Jews, which is in fact what we all felt. That was the key point in this whole story," Hayardeni said.

For now the family has settled for staying in a hotel in Eilat, for an Israeli holiday. According to them, they lost a lot of money after the hotel in Jordan and other services they had paid for in advance refused to refund them their money.

"The message is very clear to us: Maybe they want us as Israelis, but not as Jews," Hayardeni said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reassures Jordan's King Abdullah about Temple Mount

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Zechariah 12:2-3

As reported by Karin Laub of Associated Press, November 6, 2014:

JERUSALEM – In an attempt at diplomatic damage control, Israel’s prime minister reassured Jordan’s king Thursday that he won’t yield to increasing demands by some members of his centre-right coalition to allow Jews to pray at a Muslim-run holy site in Jerusalem.

The phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and King Abdullah II came a day after riot police clashed with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third- holiest shrine. Jordan, which is the custodian of the site, recalled its ambassador in protest.

Israeli-Palestinian confrontations have been escalating in Jerusalem, including near-daily clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli riot police. Some of the attacks have turned deadly in recent weeks.

Underlying the tensions is long-running frustration among the city’s 300,000 Palestinians with what many of them view as oppressive Israeli practices, such as restrictions on building, and a separation wall that cuts through Arab neighbourhoods.

The unrest was triggered by Muslim fears of Jewish encroachment at the sacred site, a hilltop plateau known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The complex houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock. Jews also revere it as the location of their biblical temples and the most important site in Judaism.

Since Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, Jewish worshippers have been allowed to visit — but not pray — at the site. The area is run by Muslim authorities under Jordanian custody.

In recent months, however, several senior members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Deputy Parliament Speaker Moshe Feiglin, have called for a greater Jewish presence and the right to prayer on the mount. At the same time, the number of Jewish visitors to the site has increased over the years, raising fears among Muslims that this is part of a gradual takeover.

Such visits have heightened tensions at the site, including stone-throwing clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police who have fired tear gas and stun grenades in the plaza around the mosques.

Confrontations, in turn, often lead to access restrictions for Muslims. Police routinely prevent younger Muslim men from praying at Al-Aqsa during such periods, especially on Fridays, the Muslim Sabbath, further heightening resentment.

On Friday, men under the age of 35 are to be barred, and police expect to deploy large numbers of additional forces around the shrine, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. In the past, age restrictions were more severe, barring those younger than 50.

Jordan has expressed alarm over the developments at the mosque compound and suggested the tensions could hurt ties with Israel. The two countries have had a peace agreement for 20 years.

In the phone conversation with Jordan’s king, Netanyahu “reiterated Israel’s commitment to preserve the status quo,” his office said. “Both leaders called for an immediate end to all acts of violence and incitement.”

Earlier, his office said anyone calling for changes in the longstanding arrangement at the holy site “is expressing a personal opinion and not the views of the government.”

In Amman, the palace confirmed that Netanyahu had called. “King Abdullah stressed during the phone call Jordan’s rejection for any measures harming the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its sanctity,” a statement said.

Netanyahu’s outreach reflected the value Israel places on its relations with Jordan — one of two Arab countries at peace with Israel. It also reflected concerns that unrest in east Jerusalem could explode into wider violence.

Jordan recalled its ambassador after a clash Wednesday morning at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside the mosque ahead of a scheduled visit by a Jewish group.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said both sides can do more “to make clear that these events are unacceptable, that there’s a desire to reduce tensions.” She added that Secretary of State John Kerry has been holding high-level conversations encouraging such actions.

Azzam Khatib, a senior Muslim official at the site, said Muslim leaders had urged Israel not to allow non-Muslims to visit because of the tense situation. Instead, he said about 300 Israeli police entered the area early in the morning, sparking the clashes.

Video showed helmeted police with shields tearing down a makeshift barricade at the entrance to the mosque while rocks and firecrackers were thrown at them.

Khatib said troops entered the mosque and threw stun grenades, burning some holes in the carpet.

“What happened was unprecedented,” he said, adding that Israeli police “went deep inside (the mosque) wearing their shoes and almost reached the altar inside.”

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri denied that security forces fired stun grenades or that the mosque carpet was damaged. She said police dismantled the barricade and retreated.

Shortly after the clash, a Palestinian motorist rammed his van into a crowd waiting for a train in Jerusalem, killing the policeman and wounding more than a dozen others. It was the second such attack in two weeks. The attacker was shot and killed by police.

The wife of the attacker said he had been angered by the confrontation at the holy site earlier in the day.

Later Wednesday, a Palestinian motorist drove into a group of soldiers in the West Bank, wounding three. The motorist turned himself in to Israeli security forces Thursday, the army said. The driver’s claim that he didn’t intend to hit the soldiers is being checked, according to media reports

Last month, a Palestinian rammed his vehicle into a crowded train stop in east Jerusalem, killing a 3-month-old Israeli-American girl and a 22-year-old Ecuadorean woman. Days later, police shot and killed the suspected gunman behind a separate drive-by attack on Yehuda Glick, a rabbi and activist who has pushed for greater Jewish access to the sacred hilltop compound. Glick remains hospitalized.

20 years ago: Israel and Jordan sign peace treaty

On October 26, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali signed a peace treaty in a desert area of Wadi Araba on the Israeli-Jordanian border. U.S. President Bill Clinton was one of more than 4,500 guests at the ceremony; Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat were among the absentees (Mr. Mubarak wasn't on friendly terms with Jordan, and Mr. Arafat wasn't invited). See also here and here. On October 27, Mr. Clinton went to Syria and met with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, hoping to promote progress in peace talks between Syria and Israel.

On October 28, 1974, 20 year earlier almost to the day, a conference in Rabat, Morocco of the heads of state of 20 Arab nations, including King Hussein of Jordan, unanimously called for the creation of an independent Palestinian state "on any Palestinian land that is liberated" from Israeli occupation. The Arab leaders also recognized Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people." The next day, during the final moments of the conference, the nations agreed on a four-year, multi-billion-dollar program to aid the PLO, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan--the three countries bordering on Israel--with funds to be provided by the Arab oil-producing countries.

On October 26, 2004, 10 years to the day after the signing of the peace treaty with Jordan, the Israeli Knesset voted 67-25 in favour of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to remove settlements and soldiers from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.

20 years ago: Israel and Jordan end their enmity by signing the Washington Declaration

On July 25, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, formally ending the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948, and starting negotiations to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and Jordan. U.S. President Bill Clinton also signed the Declaration in a ceremony on the White House lawn. Go here to see the full text of the Washington Declaration.

The negotiations culminated in a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan signed on October 26, 1994.

40 years ago: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares hope for lasting peace in the Middle East

On June 12, 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon, who was being threatened by impeachment over his involvement in the scandal surrounding the 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratice National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and the subsequent cover-up, arrived in Egypt to begin a visit to the Middle East. The following day, Mr. Nixon and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, meeting in Cairo, agreed to hold a series of bilateral meetings involving the Arab countries, U.S.S.R., and U.S.A. before the next round of Middle East peace talks in Geneva. On June 14, the two presidents concluded three days of talks in Cairo. The two countries announced, as part of a sweeping declaration of friendship and cooperation, that the U.S. had agreed to provide Egypt with nuclear technology to be used for peaceful purposes. Mr. Nixon then stopped in Saudi Arabia, where King Faisal warned him that there could not be real peace in the Middle East until all occupied Arab territories had been liberated and the people of Palestine regained their rights and were free to return to their homes.

On June 16, Mr. Nixon and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad announced in Damascus that their countries were resuming diplomatic relations, which had been severed after the Six-Day War in 1967. Both men described the decision as the first step toward lasting peace in the Middle East. Mr. Nixon then went to Israel, where, in an extensive communique, he assured Israel of long-term military and economic assistance from the United States, and indicated that the U.S. would offer Israel some technological aid and a supply of nuclear fuel. In Israel, Mr. Nixon encountered his first protesters, who made reference to the American President's Watergate difficulties.

On June 18, Mr. Nixon concluded his tour in Jordan, where the United States and Jordan agreed to form a joint Jordanian-American commission to review cooperation between the countries on a regular basis.

On June 19, Mr. Nixon, who had been enthusiastically greeted by people and leaders in Arab countries, returned to Washington and said "a profound and lasting change has taken place in that part of the world...where there was no hope for peace there is now hope." As Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much."

90 years ago: British Mandate for Palestine comes into effect

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12

For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it...
... Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished...
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. Jeremiah 30:3, 10-11, 18

If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Jeremiah 31:36

On September 29, 1923, the British Mandate for Palestine took effect, creating Mandatory Palestine. The Mandate, i.e., the legal instrument authorizing British control of the area, was a result of the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923 which officialy ended the state of war that had existed between Turkey and the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania, and the Serb-Croat Slovene State since the beginning of World War I. The Mandate was based on the principles adopted in the San Remo Resolution of April 25, 1920, embodied in Articles 94 and 95 of the Treaty of Sevres (signed August 10, 1920) and contained in Article 22 of the draft Covenant of the League of Nations, which stated, in part:

To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant.

The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League.

The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.

Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory...

...In every case of mandate, the Mandatory shall render to the Council an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge.

The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council.

A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates.

The Council of the League of Nations had formally confirmed the draft of the Mandate on July 24, 1922, and had amended it on September 16, 1922 with the Transjordan memorandum. From the time of the Transjordan memorandum, Great Britain administered the area west of the Jordan River as Palestine, and east of the Jordan River as Transjordan. While they technically remained one mandate, they were regarded as separate mandates in most official documents, and Transjordan was granted internal self-government in May 1923. The Kingdom of Transjordan was proclaimed in 1946; it became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1949.

The Mandate, which formalized British control of southern Ottoman Syria, ended with the creation of the state of Israel at midnight on May 14, 1948.

World Bank approves a canal to save the Dead Sea

As reported by Michal Bleibtreu Neeman in The Epoch Times, April 17, 2013:

EIN GEDI, Israel—The World Bank approved a rescue plan to save the Dead Sea, which is drying up at a rate of about three feet annually, but environmental groups argue the plan will result in ecological disaster.

After a decade of debates, the World Bank confirmed in January the feasibility of building a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea at a cost of $10 billion...

45 years ago: The Six-Day War

Jewish Ideas Daily has just published a brief and handy day-by day summary of the Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967. The series starts with the day before the war began:

June 4, 1967: On the Eve of the Six-Day War

June 5, 1967: Day One

June 6, 1967: Day Two

June 7, 1967: Day Three

June 8, 1967: Day Four: "Attack! Attack"

June 9, 1967: Day Five

June 10, 1967: Day Six

It's a good thing the war lasted exactly six days, or another name for the war would have been necessary (clever, those Israelis).

The series is told from the Israeli perspective, so there's no mention of the June 8, 1967 attack by Israeli planes on the USS Liberty, which would have been regarded by the United States as an act of war if done by any other country.

New Arabic translation of Babylonian Talmud is accused of containing anti-Israel messages

The Talmud, the record of rabbinical discussions of Jewish law and philosophy, consists of the Mishnah--the compendium of the oral law--and the Gemara--more detailed rabbinical commentary. The Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) was compiled in Mesopotamia from the 3rd to the 5th centuries A.D. As reported by Itamar Marlios of Ynet News, May 19, 2012:

...A group of some 90 Jordanian researchers has spent six long years translating the entire Talmud into Arabic – an echo of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who labored 45 years translating the Babylonian Talmud from Aramaic into Hebrew.

The project is the brainchild of Jordan's Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) an academic group that aims to make the Talmud accessible to the Arab population. Are Arabs taking advantage of that access? Certainly – the 20-volume set, which sells for $750, is in demand throughout the Arab world. According to the Ultra-Orthodox website Kikar Shabbat, the translated Talmud is being sold in markets and at book fairs.

Israel's National Library has also acquired a copy. Dr. Raquel Ukeles, curator of the library's Arabic collection, says: "We learned about the project to translate the Talmud into Arabic by chance, through reports of the storm it was causing among religious leaders in Riyyad, probably because it makes available a text considered so central to Judaism."

Ukeles says that contact was made with the CMES after an Israeli Talmud researcher expressed interest in the translation. "This is the first time in history that the entire Talmud has been translated into Arabic," she notes.

According to Ukeles, the Center for Middle East Studies actually focuses on political science, and the group's decision to translate the Gemara was a surprising one. Ukeles explains that the project began with a small number of researchers, who apparently didn't know how long the Talmud was and how difficult it was to understand. After those aspects of the project became clear, the center decided to increase the number of translators to 90 – both Christians and Muslims, some of whom research the Aramaic language.

Ukeles also expressed surprise that it was Jordanian academics who tackled the mission. "I would have expected that a project like this would take place in a country like Egypt, which has a Jewish community and a more extensive tradition of translating books from Hebrew to Arabic. Between 2007 and 2009 Egyptian researchers translated the entire Mishneh Torah into Arabic, and the Kuzari has also been translated (into Arabic) in Egypt," she observes.

The curator, who only recently received a copy of the translated Talmud, notes that the introduction to the text provides an interesting explanation of the motive behind the project: "They say that in Israel, religion is taking a bigger place in the public dialogue, and the importance of Judaism in Israel is growing."

The translators also noted, she says, that they had tried to buy a copy of the Talmud to translate, but rabbis had refused to sell them one.

The Talmud translation has not maintained the classic look of the Gemara page, and commentary, such as Rashi, is missing. However, it features a glossary and discussion of terms that pose a translation quandary. The translators say they hope that the work will enable new research into Judaism, as well as allowing comparison between Jewish, Muslim, and Christian law.

Ukeles says that the desire to translate such a work and the interest in Judaism were indicative of internal developments in Arab nations and expressed hope that the new translation will "allow us to study how we are perceived."

In the future, Ukeles says, she hopes to found a research group that will examine how the Talmud's "problematic" texts were translated.

The Jordanian scholars don't seem to like what they've seen in the Talmud, and the Israeli scholars aren't pleased with the comments of the Jordanians that accompany the text, as reported by Mr. Marlios on June 4, 2012:

It was just a few weeks ago that the first copy of the Talmud Bavli in Arabic landed in Israel and it seemed like this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Yet it has become apparent that the translation which was carried out by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) in Jordan includes more than a few anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist political messages.

Dr. Raquel Ukeles, curator of the Israel's National Library Arabic collection, who read the introduction in Arabic said that in the text, the Talmud is "very clearly accused of racism." In fact, it is so clearly stated that one section of the introduction is simply titled "racism in the Talmud."

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) website presents quotes from the introduction to the text: "These texts confirm the racist and hostile perception toward the non-Jews, especially those who threaten the ‘chosen nation’ and stand in the way of its ambitions and hopes.

"There is no doubt that Israel is the best example of this racist position, both in the level of its daily crimes against the Palestinians and the level of its rejection and contempt for international resolutions and laws.


Anti Israeli message? The new Talmud

"For what applies to other countries in the world does not apply to contemporary Israel, as it is unique...Jews, according to this racist position (of the Talmud), are permitted to do what is not permitted for non-Jews.”

The conclusion states that: “The Talmudic heritage has a significant impact on the formulation of Jewish identity based on holy (principles of) racial isolation…It (the Talmud) also established the extreme positions that advocate hatred toward non-Jews, the violation of their rights and looting of their lands and property.”

The curator explains that what is especially intriguing about the introduction is the attempt to link Zionism and Judaism. "Up to now the Muslim approach was that Zionism
is a variation on European nationality that made its way to the provinces of the Middle East," she noted.

"In contrast, the introduction states that the deciphering of the Talmud will also help to better understand Zionism. Linking the two is a rather abnormal occurrence in the internal-Muslim debate."

Yet in spite of the racist tone of the introduction Ukeles is not rushing to judge the translation on the basis of its introduction alone. "The translation itself is not bad, and when you take into consideration that the team of researchers who wrote it are not Talmud experts, then their work is not bad at all.

"Apparently the version they had before them was a copy of the Talmud in Aramaic but they often used the English Schottenstein translation to better understand the text. I believe there is a certain gap between the relative fairness of the translation itself and the problematic introduction.

"I believe the introduction is a kind of lip service meant to appease the Arab reader who has a set agenda on Israel. I believe that eventually after all the reservations, it seems that the results of the project will be positive as the translation itself is useful and will allow Arab speakers to become familiar with Judaism from a perspective disconnected of the Israel-Arab conflict.

"Today's knowledge of Judaism in the Arab world is meager and filled with stereotypes. I believe these stereotypes will fade away for the reader who goes beyond the introduction."

Jordan attempts to recover codices alleged to be almost 2,000 years old

As reported by Adrian Blomfield in the Daily Telegraph on March 29, 2011:

Jordan has vowed to use all means at its disposal to recover a set of artefacts allegedly smuggled into Israel that it believes could constitute the most important Christian texts ever found.

A British team of archaeologists last week announced the discovery of a hoard of ancient texts that they claim could have been written by contemporaries of Christ and whose existence is hinted at in the Bible's apocalyptic Book of Revelation.

Cast in lead and copper, the sealed texts, known as codices, have already become the subject of intrigue worthy of an Indiana Jones plot line.

Stories of subterfuge abound, with at least one of the British archaeologists reportedly facing death threats as they try to rescue the artefacts for posterity from privateers intent on breaking them up and selling them on the Black Market.

Other experts, meanwhile have dismissed the codices as an elaborate hoax and criticised the British team, led by David Elkington, an Egyptologist, and his wife Jennifer.

But for the Jordanian government, which has backed the Elkingtons' work, the codices are an invaluable piece of world heritage at least on a par with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jewish texts found in an Israeli cave in 1947...

...Jordan's quarrel is not with the Israeli government, but with Hassan Saeda, a Bedouin farmer in the Galilee, who has possession of the codices and is keeping them in hiding.

According to the Elkingtons, Mr Saeda received the artefacts from a Jordanian Bedouin who discovered them in a cave at some stage between 2005 and 2007, much in the same way the Dead Sea Scrolls were found 64 years ago.

Mr Saeda denies the claim, saying the codices have been in his family's possession since they were found by his great-grandfather, an assertion challenged by the Jordanian government, which said it would "exert all efforts at every level" to get the artefacts repatriated...

...A piece of leather found with the metal books was shown by carbon dating tests to be just under 2,000 years old, potentially placing its provenance within Christ's ministry, while a metallurgical examination on one of the codices found that it was also very old.

Israeli archaeological sources have been dismissive of the find, suggesting that Mr Saeda has appeared "every few years" trying to sell the codices. They said examinations had shown them to be forgeries.