 | | Supreme Court Quickly Retracts Permission to Pray at Holy Site
The Supreme Court has ordered a change to its ruling allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount on the Sukkot holiday. The Jews may visit, but not pray there.
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More Details |  | | Sunday, October 23, 2005
20 Tishrei 5766
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| | Arutz Sheva wishes its readers a happy Sukkot holiday.
| 1. Supreme Court Quickly Retracts Permission to Pray at Holy Site
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
The Supreme Court has ordered a change to its ruling allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount on the Sukkot holiday. The Jews may visit, but not pray there.
| A ruling had been issued allowing members of the Temple Mount Faithful to ascend to Judaism's holiest site and pray there during the weeklong Sukkot holiday. The ruling went a step further than previous rulings of this type, and permitted the Jews to actually pray there - until it was noticed by the alert State representatives.
The Moslem Waqf, which controls the holy site's day-to-day operations, has long objected to Jewish prayer at the site. Israel's police, government and courts, unwilling to take a chance of violence breaking out, have gone along with the Waqf's dictates.
The Temple Mount Faithful petitioned the Court on the eve of the holiday, asking to be allowed to conduct a "cornerstone laying" ceremony. The Court permitted the group to ascend to the holy spot for a limited time, in a manner that would not clash with Moslem commemorations of the month of Ramadan. The ruling specified that the Jews could pray there.
When the "mistake" was noticed, very shortly after its issuance, representatives of the government asked Deputy Chief Justice Mishael Heshin to replace the word "prayer" with the word "ascent." Justice Heshin wrote in response, "The State claims that several 'mis-writes' were noted in the ruling, and it therefore asks that we correct that which needs to be corrected. We read the claims of the sides, and after having become convinced that in fact several 'mis-writes' had occurred, as the State claimed, we will correct that which needs correcting."
Thus, instead of reading, "...enable Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount," the ruling now states, "...enable Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount." Further on in the ruling, the words, "permission to the Jews to pray on the Temple Mount" was replaced by "permission to the Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount."
"It was clear from the beginning that it was a mistake," said Yehuda Etzion, a leader of the Temple Mount Faithful group and a veteran of many court struggles for the right of Jewish presence and prayer there. "We never thought for a moment that they meant to permit us to pray at our holiest site."
The Temple Mount was open for Jewish visitors only from 7:30-9:00 this morning, and will be open at the same hours tomorrow, the eve of the last day of the Sukkot-Simchat Torah holiday.
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| | 2. U.S. Accepts Hamas Participation in PA Election
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
It's now official: Though the U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization, it will take no active steps to prevent Hamas from running in the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections.
| State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack, at his official Daily Press Briefing on Thursday, said clearly that Palestinian politics is exclusively up to the "Palestinian people."
At the same time, McCormack emphasized that the American and Quartet position has not changed regarding "terrorist organizations operating outside of the rule of law" - though he did not elaborate. He said that in the view of the U.S., "Hamas is a terrorist organization."
However, McCormack added in a lengthy explanation, "It is also the case that how the Palestinian political process unfolds and evolves is a question for the Palestinian people. And I think that President Abbas is at the forefront, saying that there can only be one rule, one gun and one authority. And you heard he and President Bush speak just a short while ago ... about the fact that President Abbas was elected on a platform of bringing peace and security to the Palestinian people. And we are working with him and other members of the Palestinian Authority to see that the Palestinian Authority is able to live up to its obligations under the roadmap. Those obligations are that they not only have to stop acts of terrorism and violence, but they have to act to dismantle terrorist groups."
McCormack praised a recent Palestinian Authority law that forbids "armed displays in mass demonstrations," indicating that this could soften the damage done by Hamas' participation in the elections.
U.S. President George Bush hosted Abbas in Washington on Thursday. PA sources said afterwards that though Bush raised the matter of disarming Hamas, he did not dwell on it or pressure Abbas on this matter. Neither did he mention the issue during a joint press conference with Abbas after the meeting.
Both the U.S. and Abbas seem to prefer pushing off a clash with Hamas until an unspecified later date. American officials explained that Bush believes there is no
advantage to staging a frontal confrontation with Abbas just a few months prior
to the January elections, Haaretz reported.
Abbas, too, said he has no intention of barring any Palestinian faction from running, explaining this would be "counterproductive." He said that the "consent" of Hamas and other terrorist organizations to maintain a period of no attacks is proof that there is no need for a clash at present. Abbas believes that only the new democratically elected legislature will have the necessary legitimacy to disarm terrorist organizations.
In a recent op-ed for the Washington Post, former Deputy Defense Minister, Ephraim Sneh of the Labor Party wrote that three facts about Hamas must be remembered:
"First, the aim of the Hamas movement is not the end of Israeli occupation, nor is it the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Hamas' aim is to take over Palestinian society and impose Islamist rule. For this reason, Hamas poses a greater threat to Palestinian secular parties than it does to Israel.
"Second, Hamas is not just a terrorist organization. It is a movement supported by many in Palestinian society, though still a minority, as the recent Palestinian municipal elections proved...
"Third, even if Hamas does win many seats in the Palestinian parliament, it will not cease to be a terrorist organization. We must not delude ourselves into thinking that government responsibility will lead to Hamas' self-moderation. With this type of radical Islamist movement, there is no distinction between armed and political actions, which serve the same goal. At the core of this movement is a terrorist ideology that denies the rights of another people and coerces an entire society into a fundamentalist Muslim lifestyle. Whenever it serves its cause, Hamas will use terrorism against Israel and the Palestinian government.
"Anyone who wishes for Israeli-Palestinian peace and a democratic Palestinian state must also wish for the downfall of Hamas."
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|  | | By Hillel Fendel
The former residents of Gush Katif - for the vast majority of whom the Sukkah booth is just another temporary home - continue to organize and star in joyous holiday events.
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This evening, known as the night of Hoshana Rabba, a joyous holiday celebration will be held in the Jerusalem Conference Center (Binyanei HaUmah), with the participation of hundreds of Gush Katif expellees and leading rabbis. Throughout the night, in keeping with Hoshana Rabba tradition, Torah lectures will be given. Among the teachers will be former Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira and Rabbis Dov Lior, Zalman Baruch Melamed, Yitzchak Ginzberg, Elyakim Levanon, and others.
Top-level Hassidic musicians such as Aharon Razel, Yosef Kardoner, Chaim David Cerachik, and the cantor Meir Dorfman will peform beforehand and in-between.
The week-long Sukkot holiday features nightly events of Torah and song, known as "Simchat Beit HaShoevah" celebrations. The celebrations commemorate the joyous water ceremonies in the Holy Temple, about which the Mishna teaches, "He who did not experience the joy of the Simchat Beit HaShoevah in the Temple, never saw true joy in his life."
The organizers of tonight's event, from the "Spirit and Strength" movement, write:
"We will gather together for festival joy - all of us who love the Nation and Land and who are loyal to Torah authority, with the heroic expellees of Gush Katif and the Shomron, for an evening of uplifting of spirit, of amassing strength, and of renewal, to reinforce our grasp and stronghold on our Holy Land, as we stand tall with confidence in our path."
One hundred kilometers to the south, outside the Negev city of Netivot, the expelled residents of Atzmonah living in the Ir HaEmunah (City of Faith) encampment, will hold their own Simchat Beit HaShoevah event. The hosts are expecting thousands of people to join them. An open-air event for children is being held there throughout the day, with musical festivities beginning at 5 PM. A series of all-night Torah classes will begin at 9 PM.
Joining the festivities will be homeless former residents of Moshav Katif, many of whom have begun to move into Faith City. Since the expulsion over two months ago, they have lived at the Ulpanah Girls High School in Kfar Pines near Hadera, but the government has found no more permanent communal solution for them. Though the high school and its students have been overwhelmingly generous and hospitable, allowing the families to live in the dormitory while the high school seniors live outside in tents, the Katifites do not wish to further overstay their welcome, and have no choice but to move to the encampment.
Other Hoshana Rabba events will be held in Jerusalem this evening at the Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School in Bayit Vegan, and at the OU Israel Center.
In Pnei Kedem, south of Gush Etzion and near Meitzad, the 2nd Annual Kite Festival
will be held today from 10 AM to 5 PM. Features include: Kite building and a grand flying expo, creative workshops, jumping castles, carnival games, pony rides, bongo lessons, pita baking, crafts fair, reflexology, massage, workshops for adults and children, a variey of food stands with ample Sukkot, live entertainment and music, and a kite contest with prizes. Free transporation is available from the Gush Etzion junction.
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| | 4. Fighting Official Corruption
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
A new campaign against the "mask of Israeli democracy" and its "clear and present danger to our national existence" will be launched today by the Shalom L'dorot (Peace for Generations) organization.
|
The kick-off event will be a Shalom L'dorot Action Conference, held at the Ramat Rachel Hotel in Jerusalem this afternoon (Sunday). It is entitled "The Mask of Israeli Democracy and the Clear and Present Danger to Our National Existence."
The campaign will address what the organizers call "the corruption and facade of democratic institutions and procedures in Israel today." The conference leaders call upon the "concerned public - those who want to make a difference and create change but are unsure of how to get it accomplished" to participate and share their thoughts and ideas, leading to a translation of "these concerns into a plan of action and a strategy for its implementation."
Panelists include Professor Paul Eidelberg, Professor Ruth Gabizon, Rabbi Yakov Medan, Atty. Elyakim Haetzni and Rabbi Menachem Brod.
Highlights of the conference include sessions entitled:
* "Electoral Reform: Making Our Leaders Accountable"
* "The Missing Voice: Sounding the Cry of Terror Victims", and
* "Political Beit Midrash: Bringing Jewish Principles into the Political Arena."
Click here for more information.
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Click Here! | | 5. Arab Terrorist’s Wife Used Baby to Hide Grenade
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Soldiers arrested a terrorist's wife who held her baby to hide a grenade. In the same house, troops found a suitcase of explosives. The IDF also killed four other terrorists who attacked them.
| Haruv Battalion soldiers searched a house in a village near Shechem early Saturday after receiving reports that ammunition was hidden there, according to Lt.-Col. Arik Chen. They discovered 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives in a suitcase and arrested five terrorists.
Noticing that Aziza Jawabra, the wife of one of the terrorists, was holding her one-month-old baby in an unusual manner, the troops searched her and found a grenade in a jacket she was wearing.
"To see a woman using her baby to hide a grenade is not typical," Lt.-Col. Chen said. "She didn't have much to say," he added, except to deny knowing that the grenade was in the jacket. After soldiers arrested the terrorists, sappers blew up the explosives, which destroyed the three-story building.
"I can firmly confirm that an attack against soldiers and civilians has been thwarted. Terror activities have not stopped for a minute," Lt.-Col. Chen added.
In separate incidents over the weekend, the IDF killed four Arab terrorists. Soldiers opened fire at two terrorists who were placing an explosive device on a road near the community of Ne've Tzuf Saturday night. One terrorist was killed and the other escaped.
Friday night, soldiers killed two Arab terrorists who shot at their base near the village of Anabta near Tulkarm, which overlooks the high-speed Highway 6, about five miles east of Netanya. One of the terrorists was armed with a hunting rifle. Soldiers also killed a terrorist who shot at them while on patrol near Shechem.
Arabs identified the Shechem terrorist as a 21-year-old member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Troops also arrested 11 Hamas terrorists in Hevron.
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| | 6. Double Meaning of Sukkot For Expulsion Victims
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Hadassa and Uri, originally from New Jersey, are among thousands of Gush Katif residents who moved from temporary housing to the palm-branch covered booths for seven days but remain homeless.
| Two months have passed since the government forced residents out of their homes in the Gaza and northern Samaria regions. Most of them still are in temporary quarters in hotels and tent cities. They moved into the traditional Sukkot (makeshift dwellings) for the seven-day holiday but still are waiting for the government to allow communities to resettle as groups, rather than as individuals.
Uri and Hadassa DeYoung and their four small children are one of almost 70 families holed up in a Be'er Sheva hotel for two months. "We still are fighting the battle," says Hadassa, originally from Blawenburg, New Jersey, near Trenton. "The government is trying to break up the community because people work and learn Torah and are productive."
Her husband Uri, originally from the Atlantic City area and an accountant for the re-established Kfar Darom vegetable company, added, "We are setting an example of what Israel can be, and the people in power do not want to see a religious country."
The DeYoungs met in Israel and moved to Gush Katif 14 years ago, the last 12 years at Kfar Darom. Most of the community has stayed together, living in cramped hotel quarters where the children "are climbing the walls," said Hadassa.
Asher Mivtzari, one of the spokesmen for the Kfar Darom families, accused the government of purposely dragging its feet in an effort to break up the community. He compared the government's indifference to solving the plight of expulsion victims to its indifference to Jonathan Pollard, the Pentagon analyst imprisoned for life for passing intelligence secrets to Israel.
"The government's lack of morality is clear concerning us and Pollard, all of whom have worked for Israel," he said.
Mivtzari rejected Disengagement Authority claims that the communities created their own problems by rejecting government solutions.
"What has the government done? It rented 700 apartments scattered throughout the country. They called that a solution, but we made it clear to them that we wanted to stay together as a community."
He added that the 70 families of Kfar Darom reluctantly accepted a government proposal that they move into an Ashkelon high-rise for two years until permanent housing is built. "The government delays and delays and makes everything complicated. The building has been empty for months," Mivtzari asserted.
The government is paying about $2 million for housing the community in the Paradise Hotel in Be'er Sheva, estimated Mivtzari. He said the money could have been used to find temporary housing for the community.
Meanwhile, families like the DeYoungs remain determined to stay in the community. "We have been through bombings and shooting attacks. We are not going to break," insists Hadassa.
Their families in New Jersey occasionally tell them to take the compensation payments, which have not yet been paid, and move back to the United States. They reply, "We already are home."
The community is planning to move out of their Sukkot temporary dwellings Monday and celebrate the Simchat Torah holiday on Tuesday in Kfar Maimon. Afterwards, while the rest of the country already will have returned to permanent houses, the families from Kfar Darom will return to their temporary hotel rooms.
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Click Here! | | 7. Jerusalem Post to Launch Christian Edition
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
The Guardian reports that The Jerusalem Post will launch a monthly Christian edition early next year. It will have "very different emphases and different focuses," says the Post's editor.
| Chris McGreal, writing in the London-based The Guardian this past Thursday, reports, "The Post, a widely respected paper until it fell into former owner Conrad Black's clutches, is seeking to bolster its North American circulation by building on the blossoming relationship between the Israeli right and Christian fundamentalists."
"The content is going to be jointly put together by the Jerusalem Post and the International Christian Embassy [of Jerusalem, the ICEJ]," Post editor David Horowitz is quoted as telling the Guardian. "It'll be things like archaeology and tourism and ideological arguments and dilemmas and so on. Obviously, when your predominant mindset is a Jewish audience there are different stresses that go into providing content, whereas if you're doing it for a Christian audience, there are going to be very different emphases and different focuses."
Responding in advance to criticism he and his paper can be expected to face for working with an evangelical organization, Horowitz said, "The International Christian Embassy has been operating in Israel for many years and [is] very aware of the framework. There are laws in Israel against giving inducement to people to convert, and that organization has operated within the framework to the satisfaction of the Israeli government. That is actually very important to me."
Media activist Yisrael Medad, the Vice Chairman of Israel's Media Watch said, "While there is no reason for a paper to seek specialized audiences, one would think that the Russian population in Israel would be one target audience that an Israeli newspaper would be interested in before going abroad. Obviously, the financial aspects of this development override the responsibilities of a newspaper to its own community."
A call to the ICEJ revealed that its offices are closed for the holiday of Sukkot, until Oct. 26.
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| | 8. Mofaz to Rescind Ban on Arab Traffic on Gush Etzion Highway
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz told London reporters Thursday that his order to ban private Arab vehicles from the road where terrorists attacked Sunday will be lifted when the killers are nabbed.
| Two young women and a 15-year-old boy were murdered and three others were injured after the Arab terrorists took advantage of the recent removal of IDF checkpoints as a good will measure to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The attack was similar to the murder of two high school boys several months ago at the nearby Beit Haggai junction, less than a month after the government told the IDF to ease travel restrictions on Arabs in Hevron.
The New York Times Friday quoted an unnamed security source saying that Israel is considering separate roads for Jews and Arabs. "We think it is necessary to separate traffic on the roads, not all the roads, but the main roads, where Israelis are most vulnerable. It doesn't call for complete separation everywhere, and we see this as sort of a stopgap measure," the source told the Times.
Mofaz said this week's ban on Arab travel is "not strategic" and added that he is opposed to separating Arab and Jewish traffic. "The moment the terrorists know only Israelis are moving on this road, they will attack every car," Mofaz said.
The PA has condemned the idea of separate roads, comparing it to South African apartheid.
The Defense Minister did not outline a strategy to prevent future attacks. Sunday's victims were standing at a bus stop, which also serves as a hitchhiking station, at the intersection of Highway 60, from Jerusalem to the Hevron Hills, and the road to the Gush Etzion communities of Alon Shvut, Bat Ayin and Kfar Etzion.
The government recently completed a large traffic circle at the intersection to enable soldiers to inspect Arab vehicles while allowing Jewish drivers to pass through. The checkpoints were taken down on orders from the government, which said it wanted to build up confidence in the PA administration.
Three days after Mofaz responded to the killings and ordered Arab traffic off the road, he told the IDF to relax the ban and allow public vehicles and some private cars to travel. The roadblocks included Jewish vehicles and caused long lineups of cars during the Sukkot holiday.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) told U.S. President George W. Bush Thursday that he was trying to stop terrorists from attacking Israelis.
Mofaz commented, "We didn't see any kind of decision or anti-terror activity on the Palestinian side." He said that Israel would carry out its own roadmap obligations to dismantle outposts "in the right time." President Bush has repeatedly demanded that Israel tear down the communities, most of which are located on hilltops in Judea and Samaria.
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When you hear absolute, unqualified guarantees by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres or Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz about Jewish land not - I repeat, not - to be transferred to Arab Muslims, be assured that transferring it is exactly what they are planning.
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She came to us for the third meal on Shabbos. It would prove to be the last Shabbos meal of her life. Less than twenty-four hours later, Kineret Mandel's life was torn from her by a terrorist's bullet.
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