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JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-855
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Brit-Am Essays and Broadcasts of Great Interest and Importance
on the subject of Israel and the Arabs: |
Extracts Only:
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said Sunday that Pope Benedict XVI, who is
scheduled to visit Israel soon, will tour and preach at "the al-Aida refugee
camp in Bethlehem, which symbolizes the right of return and holds a message of
peace, brotherhood, and justice".
The pope is scheduled to arrive on May 11 for a tour that includes Jerusalem,
Nazareth, and Bethlehem as well as the nearby refugee camp, al-Aida.
According to prior agreements the stage hosting the pope at al-Aida was intended
to be built in a schoolyard, but Ynet has discovered that the Palestinians
violated these agreements by constructing it near the separation fence. A
demolition warrant was subsequently issued by the Civil Administration, and the
stage must be relocated.
"The camp is a camp that symbolizes the refugees' suffering and their right of
return," Twal said. "The fence will be seen from the location of the pope's
seat, and in any case he will enter and exit the district of Bethlehem through
the fence."
(IsraelNN.com) Ten-year-long negotiations between Israel and the
Vatican appear to be drawing to a close, with concerns rising that Israel will
cede control of the building housing King David's Tomb in Jerusalem.
Church Demands Parts of Mt. Zion
The two states have been negotiating a treaty since March 1999 on matters having
to do with Church-owned or Church-claimed property in Israel. Among the most
significant issue under negotiations is the Vatican's demand for the Last Supper
room, located on the second floor of the ancient Mt. Zion building that also
houses the tombs of Kings David, Solomon, and Hezekiah.
In addition, the Vatican is claiming areas around Lake Kinneret, as well as in
Caesaria and Jerusalem.
Hints and implications in the Vatican and Catholic press have long indicated
that the negotiations are expected to end successfully, from the Catholic
vantage point, in time for Pope Benedict's visit to Israel two weeks from now.
"This is a shame and a disgrace of unequalled proportions," said Daisy J. Stern,
M.D., who has been leading an information campaign on the topic. "Giving away
these important areas has no Halakhic [Jewish legal] validity, of course, but
signing it away will definitely make it very difficult to ever reclaim them."
Mt. Zion - International Center for Catholics?
At present, since shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, the Diaspora Yeshiva
has run the Mt. Zion compound, on which it is located, and warns of the
catastrophic implications for Israel and the Jewish People if the deal goes
through.
The director of the yeshiva explained that if the Catholic Church receives
control of the area, just a few hundred yards from the Temple Mount and adjacent
to the Old City walls, it will turn it into "the international center for
Catholics all around the world, and if the pope just gives the word, Christians
will be flocking over here en masse."
"This is an enormous issue that is being pushed through without any public
debate whatsoever," he said.
Vatican Signs Agreement with Arab League
Dr. Stern notes that though there had been reports that an agreement might be
signed last week, "nothing happened, except that while they [the Vatican
representatives] were talking with Israel, they signed an agreement with the
Arab League.
"This new agreement with the Arab League renders the Vatican, most gravely, an
interested party in the Israeli-Arab dispute," said Prof. Hillel Weiss of Bar
Ilan University, who has been closely following the issue.
Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, who founded and still runs the Diaspora Yeshiva,
officially known as Yeshiva Toras Yisrael, told Arutz-7 in the past that
"according to their bible, the Land is to return to the Christians, and 144,000
Jews are to return to Mt. Zion. Their plan is for them to take control of the
site, and then to announce that they are holding a mass reenactment of the Last
Supper, with [all types of religious rituals], and to invite millions of
Christians to come to Jerusalem and celebrate." Rabbi Goldstein said that this
means much tourism money for Israel, and that someone in the Israeli government
is apparently very interested in making this happen.
The King David's Tomb complex, some 100,000 square feet, is "certainly one of
the holiest spots in the Land of Israel," a yeshiva source said. "David, Solomon
and others kings of Judea are said to be buried here. We've already given away
the Temple Mount and the Machpelah Cave, except for here and there when we're
allowed in; now they want to give Mt. Zion away as well? For thousands of years,
this area was almost always totally closed off to Jews. G-d gave it back to us
in 1948, but parts of it were still in range and sight of Jordanian snipers and
were not in full use. After 1967, Rabbi Goldstein founded the Diaspora Yeshiva
here - and it became an island of holiness, the first yeshiva for baalei
teshuvah [newly religious] in Israel; we were there day and night learning
Torah. Rabbi Goldstein was almost prophetic in establishing this yeshiva at that
time at that spot; destiny from above intertwined him with Mt.
Zion."
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