---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:14:33 +0200 From: Hebron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Abandon Ma'arat HaMachpela: Israeli Chief Rabbis News from Hebron The Hebron Press Office July 12, 2000 The following article appears in Ha'aratz Newspaper today. Please read it, together with the statement issued by Hebron's Jewish Community. Then, send a fax to the Chief Rabbis (they do not have email): Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron: 972-2-5371305 Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau: 972-2-5377872 IT IS BOTH URGENT AND IMPERATIVE THAT THEIR OFFICES BE FLOODED WITH FAXES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, PROTESTING ABANDONMENT OF MA'ARAT HAMACHPELA, KEVER RACHEL AND KEVER YOSEF! Ha'aretz Newspaper Wednesday, July 12, 2000 Chief rabbis prepared to forgo control of certain 'holy places' But Old City sites will need tripartite religious agreement By Amir Oren Ha'aretz Correspondent The night before Prime Minister Ehud Barak was to leave for Camp David, he sent a special emissary to the two chief rabbis, Yisrael Lau and Eliahu Bakshi-Doron. The emissary was a general who usually isn't in uniform: Maj. Gen. Yaakov "Mendy" Orr, government coordinator in the territories, who is on Barak's staff at the Camp David summit. His mission: to find out where the chief rabbis stand - and what they'll say to the public - about the religious issues at stake in the negotiations. Orr went back to Barak after two hours with partial success. On one issue, at least, the rabbis will stand by Barak. But that issue, no matter how important, is secondary to the much more critical issue: the Temple Mount. Lau and Bakshi-Doron told Orr - and through him, Barak - that they would not oppose transfer of control over Rachel's Tomb, Joseph's Tomb and even the Tomb of the Patriarchs, to the Palestinians, as long as appropriate measures were taken to guarantee access, prayer rights and security for Jews at the sites. Neither the halakha nor tradition, they said, requires Jewish sovereignty over graves, including the graves of the religious pantheon. Jews have always given in to the geography that gives others sovereignty over the final resting spots of Jews, from Moses on Mount Nevo in Jordan, to Rabbi Nahman of Breslau in Uman in Ukraine. There is always the matter of the ownership of the property, but it too is a matter that is derived from sovereignty. This is substantial support for the expected IDF withdrawal from the remaining territories in Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus in an agreement with the Palestinians. But it does not solve the Temple Mount issue. The preliminary staff work before the departure for Camp David was based on the assumption that the Israeli public would agree to hand over Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem outside the Old City to Palestinian jurisdiction. Israeli Jerusalem in July 2000 is eight times the size of Jerusalem on June 5, 1967. In exchange for transferring the Arab neighborhoods to Palestine, within the context of an umbrella municipality, Israel will not only finally win international recognition of its capital, but Israeli Jerusalemites will enjoy a deep cut in their city taxes. However, there is no easy solution for the Temple Mount issue. The chief rabbis agree that the halakha forbids any Jew from going onto the Mount until the conditions are right (the reconstruction of the Temple, with the arrival of the messiah), but they do not believe that Jewish sovereignty over the Mount can be relinquished. The Palestinians, through the waqf, would never dare to relinquish the claims to the Mount that they hold on behalf of the Arab world and Islam. It's a religious problem more than a political one. And that's where a formula might be found for a tripartite, Jewish-Muslim-Christian administration that would preserve the status quo - but that's a formula that still needs a rhetorical juggle that would win approval not only from the Israelis and Palestinians but from authorities far from the Holy Land. (End of article) ============================= The Jewish Community of Hebron issued the following statement: If the above article is true, this can only be described as an act of overt betrayal of the foundations of our very being. How is it possible that the 'religious leaders' of the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael, in the State of Israel, could possibly agree to abandon the holiest of sites - Ma'arat HaMachpela in Hebron, the Tomb of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Lea, Kever Rachel, the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem, and Kever Yosef, the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem!? Both Ma'arat HaMachpela and Kever Yosef were purchased by Jews, as recorded in the Bible. Millions of Jews have worshipped at all these sites over the centuries. These three holy sites, together with Temple Mount, represent, more than any other places in the world, the Jewish people. The very agreement to relinquish them is traitorous. The above article states that agreement is contingent on"appropriate measures were taken to guarantee access, prayer rights and security for Jews at the sites." Just for the record, Ma'arat HaMachpela was closed to Jewish and Christian worship for SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS. Hebron's Arab mayor, Mustaphe Natsche has publicly said, time and time again, that should the Arabs ever control the site again, it will be off-limits to worship by anyone who is not Moslem. His deputy, Kamal Dweck, said the same thing in an interview with IMRA last June. How can anyone, especially the 'religious leadership' of the State of Israel, put any trust in any such 'guarantees' that might be agreed upon on paper, but will be worthless, null and void, shortly after their implementation (G-d forbid). We call on Jews in Israel and around the world to make your voices heard, both in Washington and in Jerusalem. Ma'arat HaMachpela, Kever Rachel and Kever Yosef are our responsibility, all of ours, not only for ourselves, but for generations to come. It is incumbent upon all of us to safeguard the holiest sites of the Jewish people. WE MUST NOT ABANDON AVRAHAM AVINU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON SARAH IMENU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON YITZHAK AVINU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON RIVKAH IMENU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON YA'AKOV AVINU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON LEAH IMENU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON RACHEL IMENU! WE MUST NOT ABANDON YOSEF HATZADDIK! WE MUST NOT ABANDON HAR HABAIT! WE MUST NOT ABANDON ERETZ YISRAEL! http://www.hebron.org.il/forum.htm ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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