A flurry of visits by Arab and Islamic officials to East Jerusalem in the past few weeks has left Palestinians wondering what is happening.
Prince Hashem visited Jerusalem followed by a joint visit of Prince Ghazi and Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa. The head of Jordan's security service, Hussein Majali, was the last to visit. His visit was followed by statements from Palestinian Islamic waqf officials and the Israeli media that an important leader would be visiting soon.
All visits included a tour of Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest place of worship.
Jordan's agreement with Israel includes a clause stating that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has a special right and status vis-à-vis Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
Commentary regarding the visits was varied. There were those who said it was connected to the controversy over the bridge to the Maghrabi gate. Months ago, Jordan intervened to defuse tension over Israel's plans to tear down the existing passageway and rebuild it. After Jordan's intervention, Israel agreed to postpone the issue. Since further discussions and a possible decision are pending, Jordanian officials may have wanted to have a first-hand idea of the area and the issues connected with Israel's plans.
Another motivation behind the sudden flurry of visits could very well be the future of East Jerusalem. Jordan, which has been playing an important role in facilitating Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, understands that the issue of Jerusalem is perhaps the biggest obstacle to any breakthrough.
Yet another issue that has been looming in recent months is the status of East Jerusalem's Palestinian population. Numbering nearly 300,000, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are officially a stateless population. Israel provided East Jerusalemites residency, but it has been withdrawing it from many.
A practice described by Palestinians as ethnic cleansing is withdrawing their residency for administrative reasons.
The current right-wing government of Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have accelerated this process. As a result of the problems faced by the Palestinians, many opted to apply for Israeli citizenship, as an indirect way of safeguarding their right to their birthplace.
Palestinians from Jerusalem who obtain Israeli passports are asked to hand in their temporary Jordanian passports. In response, Jordan decided to deny those Palestinians entry into Jordan using their Israeli passports, even those who have close relatives in the Kingdom.
Jewish Israelis or Palestinian Arab Israelis who are not from Jerusalem are routinely granted visas at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge. As the number of Palestinians receiving citizenship has risen in recent years (reportedly reaching thousands), the issue has been brought back to Amman to rethink the policy.
In this regard, there is yet another point of view, suggesting that Jordan should offer those interested Jordanian citizenship because of their unique situation and because Israel is refusing to allow them to hold Palestinian passports.
Israel allows its citizens to hold second passports and thus an East Jerusalemite could easily have an Israeli and a Jordanian passport.
The sudden flurry of visits also came after Mahmoud Abbas publicly called on all who can to visit Jerusalem as a statement of solidarity. Abbas said what Faisal Husseini said in this regard, namely that visiting a prisoner doesn't equate recognition of his jailers.
Jerusalemite Palestinians and the general Palestinian and Jordanian public are curious about the reason behind this sudden interest and wish they could be included in the discussion, rather than learn about them in the media.
Jordanian-Palestinian relations have improved considerably in recent decades. The friendly relationship and trust between King Abdullah and Abbas are obvious to all concerned. Jordan's persistent and unwavering support to the Palestinian cause, in word and deed, are beyond reproach.
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H.A. Hellyer: Beyond Tahrir: Public Opinion Post January 25
Raghida Dergham: The Fate of Arab Democracy Faced With Religious Conflicts
The threat of a religious war between the Jews and the Moslems is setting the stage for an end of times conflict between these two peoples. The ancient prophet Joel, in Joel 2:2-3, warned that the largest militia ever formed on the earth will come to Jerusalem to take control of the Jewish holy sites. There is only one group of people today who could form such a militia and also people who want to control Hebron, Bethlehem, and the holy city of Jerusalem, that would be the Moslem people.
The Jerusalem mufti is right. There will be a religious war.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-activists-demand-permission-to-visit-jerusalem/
Perhaps the Arabs are starting to rethink their perpetual state of war against Israel. I hope that they do go and pray in unified Jerusalem, and I hope that some Hamas nut doesn't try to kill them. I also hope that both Netanyahu and Lieberman are smart enough to say "welcome" instead of making fools of themselves.
This is a good sign. It could get interesting.
Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel. Instead of negative efforts to make it into an Arab City, and negative efforts to continue to sabotage Israel, it would be better to share the opportunities and bounties of trade, tourist industry, tech industries, business opportunities and savvy, and Palestinians can share in all of that. Some might wish to remain/become Israeli citizens. Others might want to become Palestinian citizens, and yet others might want to be something other, such as Jordanian, but stability and trade plus natural and other resources is nothing to sneeze at. Opportunity knocks. Ideology must make way for practical considerations, as it says in the link given by notmisaacm.
Thanks in advance.
LOL. I guess this was for the low-information readers, huh?
So what did they call it when, about a week ago, Jordan revoked the citizenship of over a million and a half Palestinians? Why no mention of that here?
"In a move to restrict Palestinian representation in Parliament, Jordan plans to revoke the citizenship of some Palestinians, officials said.
"The decision coincides with a new electoral law, The Jerusalem Post said Thursday.
"The move will affect Palestinian Authority officials as well as members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, The Post said. Palestinian leaders will receive temporary Jordanian passports to facilitate travel. Nearly half of the Hashemite Kingdom's 6 million people are of Palestinian origin, The Post said.
"The daily also quoted the Jordanian newspaper al-Arab al-Yawm in which Jordanian government officials in Amman said the decision to revoke Jordanian citizenship will affect some 1.6 million Jordanians of Palestinian origin."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/04/12/Jordan-to-revoke-citizenship/UPI-88371334231111/
There is no dispute that the (adjacent) Western~Wall of the 2nd~Temple of Solomon is Judaism's first most holy shrine. There is however significant disagreement about the ranking of Al Aqsa as any special shrine within Islam. Some (like myself) claim that the 'special religious significance' of Al Aqsa was retroactively established in Islam's scriptures. This is because:
1. During the ENTIRE life and times of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, this structure was a Catholic Church, as it had been for hundreds of previous years. Thus, it was NOT named "Al Aqsa" until after Mohammed's passing and hence, could NOT possibly be the location mentioned in Surah 17 ("The Night Journey") of the Qur'an. See:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-047-800.html
2. The passage says that Mohammed was transported in a vision or a dream, from the Sacred Temple (Mecca) to the "Temple Most Distant" ("Al Aqsa" in Arabic). When the Quran was written, Al Aqsa did not yet exist in Jerusalem and was later named same when the Byzantine rule fell, many years after Mohammed's passing.
3. The word "Jerusalem" is not mentioned even once in the entire text of the Qur'an. The words "Mecca" and "Medina" are mentioned hundreds of times, along with countless other Arabian places but NOT "Jerusalem". If Jerusalem was really third on the list of holies, that would surely NOT be the case.
Third holiest eh? Absolutely shameless, these showmen.
Mecca should be an international city and the UN can move their capital there. Right fire?
One day, soon I hope, the difference between citizenship, residency, and rules for obtaining citizenship, will become clear. The Arabs visiting Jerusalem are just visitors. Their visit does not make Jerusalem an Arab City, an International City, a Muslim city. It is, and remains, the capital of Israel de facto. For Muslim is has been declared the third holy site, fairly recently at that. For Israel it is The Holy City. If Muslim see the Mosque as a holy site, that is of course respected. And the Mosque deserves to be kept in good repair. King Abdullah would be welcome to see to it, that that remains the case.
It is nice of the Muslim visitors to come visit the Capital of Israel, Jerusalem and boost business there, I am certaian hotels and shopkeepers will make certain they feel welcome and pampered.
The UN cannot govern. A government has to have the authority to run the city.
If Palestinians reside in Israel, they should have or apply for Israeli citizenship. I can not think of examples of Israeli Palestinians being arbitrarily thrown out by Israel.