Bethlehem and Hebron: Jewish ties vs. Arab pride
by Garet Benson
OPINION – Stones were rained down at worshipers beside the Western Wall on Friday for the first time in nine years.
Nine years ago, of course, stones were thrown by Palestinians at the Temple Mount at the start of the second intifada.
On Friday night, following the riots and subsequent police measures, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israeli security forces, which he termed the “occupation army,” were “provoking” members of other faiths in a way that could “set off a religious war in the region.”
The “provocation” was that Israel Police, rather than watching 300 youths hurl rocks at Jewish worshipers, opted to quell the violence by sending in riot-control squads.
Abbas warned that “Israeli escapades” in east Jerusalem would have repercussions not just in the city and the Middle East, but also in the Muslim world.
By “escapades,” he was likely referring to Mayor Nir Barkat’s plan to upgrade the King’s Garden, a predominantly Arab area between the Old City and the Mount of Olives, a plan designed to benefit Arab residents as well.
In a highly ironic remark, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, president of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, called the police intervention at the Temple Mount “an assault on freedom of worship,” as if throwing rocks following a sermon is an inherent part of Friday prayers.
These flare-ups were ignited by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s seemingly benign announcement two weeks ago that Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron would be included on the list of National Heritage sites.
The move touched a raw nerve among Palestinian hardliners for the same reason Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount irked some Arabs to the core: they were legitimate claims of Jewish ties to the Land of Israel.
No matter how hard Arab revisionists work to refute the facts, everyone knows the Jews’ millenia-old connection to the Temple Mount, to Rachel’s Tomb and to the Cave of the Patriarchs runs deep. And that’s exactly what perturbs certain elements in the Arab world. After all, how can they insist Jews have no place in the Middle East and should be booted from “Palestine” when in fact their ties to the land are painfully obvious?
Fiery Arab reactions to Jewish declarations of historical ties to sites in the Land of Israel are so frequent they should be predictable. The question then is whether the Netanyahu somehow overlooked or disregarded the foreseeable reaction, or was the declaration regarding Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs in fact carefully calculated to precipitate a harsh reaction?
Netanyahu knows he is not in a position to butt up against Obama’s anti-Israel policies, but he can work behind the scenes to put a spotlight on Palestinian intransigence in order to hasten the collapse of the Obama administration’s abominable Middle East policy.
Banner headlines in the Hebrew media Monday morning proclaimed that Vice President Joe Biden’s goal during his visit here this week will be to force Netanyahu to back down on the Iran issue. But Netanyahu appears to have no such intentions.
At a 100th birthday bash for the Prime Minister’s father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, the elder Netanyahu ended the evening with a short address in which he voiced his certainty that Israel will stand up to Iran and win. According to columnist Caroline Glick, the Prime Minister very ostentatiously went over his father’s speech with him in advance and walked him up and down the steps to the stage at the Begin Center where the event was held.
Netanyahu, who shows much more clarity and resolve than many of his colleagues in the top ranks of the political establishment, realizes that when Israel’s moves are perfectly legitimate it should not — and cannot — allow either the Palestinians or the White House to force its hand.
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