Israel to give up Temple Mount?
Friday, August 17th, 2007 | 
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Posted by John under: The Coming Temple
Palestinians say no agreement unless Olmert forfeits holiest site in Judaism
“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.”
Revelation 11:1
JERUSALEM — Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office have made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, WND has learned.
According to a report in Israel’s Yediot Aharonot daily yesterday, Olmert is willing to discuss joint Israeli-Palestinian control over the Temple Mount complex. The report didn’t state the positions of the Palestinian side on the issue.
A chief Palestinian negotiator, speaking to WND on condition his name be withheld, said yesterday, “there can be no agreement with Israel unless we get complete sovereignty of the Mount. Once Palestinian control over the [Temple Mount] is fixed, then we will make assurances for Jewish visits to the site.”
The chief negotiator said aides from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization have been hammering out the parameters of a final status agreement for presentation in November at a U.S.-backed international summit regarding the Middle East.
Issues already discussed between Israel and the Palestinians reportedly include the division of parts of Jerusalem and debates regarding permanent borders between Israel and the PA.
The November international conference and talk from the Bush administration the past few weeks has led many here to speculate the U.S. will push in the near future for intense Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading to a Palestinian state.
With a year and a half left in office, President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been urging meetings between Abbas and Olmert to establish a framework for momentum leading to a breakthrough at November’s conference. Olmert and Abbas have been meeting bi-monthly in summits brokered by the U.S.
Asked by WND whether Olmert is willing to forfeit the Temple Mount in an agreement with the Palestinians, David Baker, a spokesman for the prime minister, had no comment.
Jews, Christians barred from praying on Mount
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site.
The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.
The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God’s “presence” dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site.
The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.
The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven.
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Mohammed took a journey in a single night from “a sacred mosque” – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to “the farthest mosque” and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Currently under Israeli control, Jews and Christians are barred from praying on the Mount.
The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.
Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.
The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered “sensitive” by the Waqf.
During “open” days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any “holy objects” to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.
‘Secret’ plan would give Palestinians West Bank
The talk of behind-the-scenes negotiations follows a WND report earlier this week stating newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres has quietly drafted a plan for the Jewish state to evacuate and transfer to the Palestinians nearly the entire West Bank and several Arab Israeli cities located within territory that is undisputedly Israel’s according to the international community.
The West Bank is strategic territory that runs alongside Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel’s international airport. It is home to many biblical Jewish communities and some of Judaism’s holiest sites.
Peres has presented his initiative to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and to top aides for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the past few weeks, after he took office as Israeli president last month, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem told WND.
The official role of president here is limited largely to ceremonial matters; the president does not create foreign policy.
Olmert is mulling over the plan and agrees with much of its contents, the diplomatic sources said.
Peres’ plan calls for Israel to hand 97-percent of the West Bank over to Abbas, with Israel retaining a small number of the territory’s Jewish communities. In exchange for Israel keeping some land, the Jewish state will give the PA control of Arab Israeli cities north of Tel Aviv which, together with the evacuated West Bank territory, would amount to the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank.
Already during his bi-weekly meetings with Abbas, Olmert has granted a number of security concessions to Abbas regarding increased Palestinian control of the West Bank.
The Israeli prime minister last month granted amnesty to 178 gunmen from Abbas’ Fatah organization who comprise most of the senior leadership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Fatah that is responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years.
Olmert is reportedly considering granting amnesty to 206 more Brigades terrorists. According to Palestinian officials, the Israeli Prime Minister already informed the PA that Fatah gunmen are largely immune from Israeli anti-terror raids regardless of whether they are officially on Olmert’s amnesty list.
Also, Olmert is strongly considering removing hundreds of Israel Defense Forces roadblocks and checkpoints situated in strategic sites located throughout the West Bank. The IDF sees the checkpoints as crucial in helping stop terrorists, including suicide bombers, from infiltrating Jewish cities.
As well, in a scantily-reported but major move, Israel last week started allowing armed Palestinian policemen to patrol areas in the West Bank that fall under Israeli security control according to the 1993 Oslo Accords. Security in the territory, referred to as Area B, is supposed to be ensured by the IDF, which still monitors the area but has allowed for an unprecedented stepped-up armed Palestinian security presence there.
In response to the renewed momentum toward a Palestinian state, rabbis for the Yesha Council of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – the West Bank – yesterday slammed the Israeli government for considering major concessions.
The council released a statement expressing “concern at the irresponsible diplomatic moves being made during these days, the main point of which is the consent to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. These moves are founded upon irrelevant considerations of political survival, and are being made in total opposition to the opinion of the defense establishment.”
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Linda says Comment posted on August 17th, 2007
What in the world are they thinking?? ALMIGHTY G-D brought them out of common ground to a place of Holy ground where HE said HE would reside.
Why did they want to go back to Israel?
Why did they re-instate their old language?
Why did they fight to re-gain Jerusalem?
Why did they fight to keep the Eastern Gate closed?
Just so they can give away THE MOST HOLIEST PLACE ON THIS PLANET away??
President Bush & Ms. Rice better advise & assist the Jewish leaders to maintain control of what they do have, & fight to get the Temple Mount back in their control; otherwise the USA will be hit hard.
Father G-D, I pray for Your devine intervention, & guidance for all leaders involved in this negotiation, in Christ Jesus name, amen.
aneriz says Comment posted on August 17th, 2007
Linda, they already went back to Israel.
The new expedition seems to be heading to “Egypt”.
Lance Gilman says Comment posted on August 17th, 2007
2 Chronicles 20:5-9
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem,
in the house of the LORD before the new court., and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, art Thou not God in the heavens? And art Thou not ruler over the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in thy hand so that no one can stand against Thee. Didst Thou not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and give it to the descendants of Abraham Thy friend forever? And they lived in it, and have built Thee a sanctuary there for Thy name, saying, ‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before Thee(for Thy name is in this house) and cry to Thee in our distress, and Thou wilt hear and deliver us.’
Why would the Jewish state not want the Temple Mount?
Do they believe in God at all?
When will those Jews that believe stand up?
Not sure about their leadership right now…
or ours for that matter when it comes to supporting the “peace process”.
I think if we are encouraging them to give up anything that is anti-Israel, and thus against God. We like to believe that the US supports Israel, but, isn’t encouraging these policies in reality against her? and God.
So in reality ALL nations are against her.
We should back off.
Linda says Comment posted on August 18th, 2007
Lance
Perfect scripture! If they won’t fight to keep the sanctuary of the LORD, what will they fight for?? They never should have given the Temple over to the Muslims in the first place…it wasn’t theirs to give away.
JoeCool says Comment posted on August 19th, 2007
it is awesome to be a believer in Christ and watch his divine prophecies come to fruition before our eyes, i fear not what man shall do to me!
JoeCool says Comment posted on August 19th, 2007
people cry for Christ’s return , but He walks with me and He talks with me everyday!
jen-o says Comment posted on August 19th, 2007
gee, joe, that last remark seems a little flippant, trite, and self-centered…
surely, you are not suggesting that those of us who long for Christ’s return do not have a personal and daily relationship with HIM…
i won’t speak for anyone else…but as for me, i deeply long for Christ’s return because i hate to see the destruction on earth and the turmoil in the lives of those who inhabit this planet… i hate to see evil prevail and i long for Jesus to come and stop this madness… and to set up HIS kingdom on earth…
so i say: Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
JoeCool says Comment posted on August 21st, 2007
jen-o , sorry i wasnt clear about my statement , i feel for those like the president of iran who claim Christ will return with their imam to cast judgement on us infidels yet wont acknowledge acceptance of Jesus as our ONLY salvation is the ONLY hope we have of Heaven, I truly hope my family and yours will be next door neighbors in heaven so we may worship together, GOD BLESS
JoeCool says Comment posted on August 21st, 2007
Jen , i would like to point out the comment of Lance about israel giving up control without a fight, we have free will but OUR COURSE was plotted from the beginning so when the bible prophecies describe a scenario of half of jerusalem being controlled by the enemies of israel in the end times why would it suprise anyone when it comes to pass, and through my Personal relationship with the Saviour i am comforted and blessed with the foresight to not be fooled like the very ELECT
Lance Gilman says Comment posted on August 21st, 2007
Joe Cool,
Thanks for the input.
I’m well aware of the “course” and the prophecies. It says,” Believe in God and believe in Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” The course also tells of a new temple to be built. This will happen too.
The Jewish state we see today (politically speaking) just wants peace from their enemies at all costs. They will even give up the very reason for their existence. Do you ever hear of their enemies reverencing the LORD like they did in the OT times when Israel had Godly leadership? Not lately!
I’m not saying there are not people of great faith there, I’m talking about the government’s policies.
I’m just looking at Israel and wondering when someone will “Git’r done!” But in God’s timing this will happen too.
Lance Gilman says Comment posted on August 21st, 2007
Joe Cool,
A wise believer once told me, “God is Soverignly in control.
This does not mean however that when you go to sleep at night you should not tie up your camels.”
I’m not surprised at all by prophesies coming true, I expect them to.
Be cautious Joe, lest when you think you stand you may fall.
I know this personally to be a wise thing to STRONGLY consider, always…
jen-o says Comment posted on August 21st, 2007
dear joe,
i understand…
i think it was a TBN trigger… (LOL)… you know how good they are at “sound-bytes”… i watch them from time to time to see what they’re up to and to keep my eye on them…
so i apologize for getting triggered by your statement…
i do understand what you mean about bible prophecy coming to pass… sometimes i like to rant and rave (LOL)… but i’m not really surprised by it…
i know this stuff is gonna happen, but i don’t have to like it… hence, my ranting and raving (LOL)… i think i’ll just blame that on the sicilian in me!… heehee
shalom,
jen-o
jen-o says Comment posted on August 22nd, 2007
lance,
that’s wise advice… i think i’ll take it…
:~D
i know when we think too highly of ourselves, we may also fall… i guess the more highly we think, the farther the distance to fall, eh?
shalom,
jen-o
Scott L. says Comment posted on August 22nd, 2007
Hey Jen-o
I knew it. No wonder why we understood each other I got that sicilian in me too.
I’ve been trying to catch up on all the posts. Just haven’t had time to say much, school has taken up the time.
Brothers and Sisters are we not living in the most exciting times. With all the threads that Pastor John is posting, that of course our drive by news media won’t cover. We need to be prayin up, lookin up, and no need to pack up, cause praiseallujah WE ARE GOIN UP !!!!!!!
Love the rants jen-o
God bless all
Scott
jen-o says Comment posted on August 23rd, 2007
LOLOL, scott!
those sicilians are a hot-blooded group, or should i say hot-headed… LOL… no one could accuse them of not speaking their mind (LOL)
i was raised by my sicilian grandmother and italian grandfather, and their whole host of extended family… i don’t think i heard a conversation in a normal tone of voice the whole time i was growing up… ranting and raving WAS the normal tone of voice… LOLOL
i’m glad someone on here understands me…
:~D
shalom,
jen-o
p.s. i do so love a good rant! (heehee)
jen-o says Comment posted on August 23rd, 2007
hey scott!
speaking of sicilians, i talked to my 77-year-old sicilian father for an hour and a half on the phone yesterday (he still lives in NY)… anyway, i called him up and said, “i think you should get born again”… (heehee… you would have LOVED to hear that conversation!)…
oh, i got the usual – “i was born once, why do i have to be born again”, etc. … and why don’t i go bother my mother with this nonsense, he doesn’t want to hear it… but i was on a roll, and the sicilian in me was NOT going to let it go until he heard the whole story (LOL)…
so there we were, 2 hot-headed sicilians, going into the rant and rave mode (normal stuff)… you know, how we both have to talk at the same time and try to talk over each other to get our point across (in LOUD voices… LOL)… no matter what objection he raised, i brought it back to the gospel… no matter how hard he tried to change the subject, i brought it back to the gospel… he told me i was driving him crazy, and to go call my mother and bother her… (LOL)… but i told him that i already did that… :~)
i knew that i had to address the catholic issue… (you know, italians, catholic, nuff said)… and that was one of the reasons he didn’t believe in God… he’s always called it a bunch of fairytales… for 25 years, he has outright dismissed anything i had to say about God, Jesus, and the bible… i brought up the question of hell, and he laughed and told me – maybe he’d rather go to hell cuz that’s where all the fun stuff was happening… (that just made me rant and rave all the more… LOL)… well, i must have been preaching cuz he told me i should go find a podium a couple of times (LOL)… but i also must have dismantled a few things cuz i heard silence a couple of times as well…
so i told him how to get born again (even though he didn’t want to hear it)… and i painted the most fantastic picture of the gospel focusing on the end times (the rapture, the tribulation, the millenium, etc.)… even i knew it sounded like far-out science fiction… (maybe i was just giving him more ammunition for his non-belief system)…
BUT, somewhere near the middle of our long conversation, he began to get quieter and quieter… that NEVER happens!… you KNOW something is up when a sicilian gets quiet!!… and then slowly, he began to AGREE with me… mama mia, can it be true?… did he just get born again in the midst of my ranting and raving over the end times?… i think so!… cuz there is NO WAY a person of this world could possible understand (let alone agree with) the science-fiction sounding picture i had just painted… it would have been foolishess to him, crazy-insane even… hey, i really put it out there… LOL…
at the end of our conversation, he was going to go take a long walk AND TALK TO JESUS!… who would have thought?… never in a million years… you’d have to know this man and his life-long attitude about God to understand how incredible this is!
i still can hardly believe it!
(i have never heard my father so quiet and contemplative)…
well, i know i’ve gone off on a lengthy tangent… (LOL)… but i thought you (scott) would enjoy a story about my sicilian father and would be able to appreciate my sicilian interactions with him…
:~D
shalom, and ciao bella, my sicilian brother in the faith!
jen-o
Linda says Comment posted on August 24th, 2007
Dear Jen-o,
How totally awesome!!! You go girl!
Such a wonderful thing to share (I know it was addressed to Scott, but I love hearing/reading such good news!).
Linda
Remnant says Comment posted on August 24th, 2007
Dear Jen-o
What great news about your father!
My father was Irish Catholic and died a heathen and my mother was a Scotch Presbyterian and accepted Yeshua before she died. Being a mixture of both, I was at constant war with myself until Yeshua came into my life.
All my uncles married Sicilian women because they were Catholic but they could cook, a skill not known to their Irish counterparts. I’ve always wondered how my aunts ever got anything done, as they use their hands to talk and were always talking!
In Messiah
Remnant
Scott L. says Comment posted on August 25th, 2007
Hey Jen-o
Oh girl! I totally agree with ya. Though my mom is the sicilian and my dad is native american/german, his moms side. I only knew of my grandfather when I was young and the times they would come out to visit. But oh do I remember his ranting and raving. I couldn’t undrstand why he seemed so angry all the time.
But it is good to know that God never gives up on us, always calling our hearts to live eternally with him. So, it does my heart good to hear that the Holy Spirit used your sicilian stubborness (LOL!):) to plant that seed to give him the opprotunity to believe and except Jesus as his savior. We’ll be praying for him.
Oh, by the way. I learned all my cooking skills from my mom, and I also can cook up an awseome spaghetti dinner. Maybe one day we can bring our cooking skills together and have a good ole sicilian pot-luck with all of us together. Hey, wouldn’t that be a kick, we would all be talking over each other, but it would be a blast to meet you, Remnant, Linda, Nanc, Aneriz and ya even ole Dave Lucas and some of the others, even Pat.
I would ask for all your prayers, after 30 yrs of being in the construction field, plus not having attened school for that long. I have enrolled at Phoenix College to study for my Civil Engineers degree (AA). My knees and body have been punished to long from operating heavy equipment, so I think its time I moved from the great outdoors to the corporate indoors.
Living in Black Canyon makes it tough, becasue none of my courses are on-line, so on monday and tuesday nights I have class and own and operate a business during the day. So I would ask that you would pray for my strength and that my time will be first with Jesus and everything else be secondary.
I’ll post when I can, but I’ll keep up on yous guyzz comments, capice’ (pardon my tongues) LOL!
God bless all, love ya
Scott
jen-o says Comment posted on August 27th, 2007
hey linda, remnant, & scott!
good to see you guys!
sorry i haven’t gotten back to you all sooner… thanks for your comments about my dad… i am thrilled about his response to the truth…
scott, i will be praying for you… seems like you got a lot on your plate…
and speaking of plates, and food, and potlucks (LOL), i think we should add a few names to our potluck list: joan, peregrina, the merry widow, lance, tim, and msatty (hope i’m not forgetting anyone)… and what would a potluck be without phil and pastor john!
:~D
maybe one day…
hugs to all,
jen-o
jen-o says Comment posted on August 28th, 2007
p.s. i see so many people posting here on inthedays with so much good information, and with such love for the Truth and such great hearts for the One True God!
scott,
i think our potluck list is growing longer…
:~D
Scott L. says Comment posted on August 30th, 2007
Hey Jen-o
The more the merrier:)