Lt. Col. Howard writes to advise;
I, with the help of others, posted these items at the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles:
(1) Subject: Jerusalem some materials for background information–for distribution
(1) East Jerusalem. The so-called Arab sector of East Jerusalem was once heavily populated with Jews. In 1948 the British led British equipped British trained Jordanian Legion conquered that portion of the city of Jerusalem and murdered or expelled every Jew and destroy every vestige of Jewish presence.
Jews have indisputably been the majority in Jerusalem since at least 1853. It was a Jew-free area only during the brief period between 1949 to 1967, when Jordan ethnically cleansed East Jerusalem of Jews to interrupt a continuous 1,000-year Jewish presence.To consider East Jerusalem “Palestinian” an atypical 18-year historical blip as the baseline for negotiations.means rewarding Israel’s Arab enemies, who aimed for exactly this goal when they leveled the Jewish Quarter.
Colonel Abdullah el Tell, local commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion, described the destruction of the Jewish Quarter, in his Memoirs:
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“The operations of calculated destruction were set in motion. . . . I knew that the Jewish Quarter was densely populated with Jews. . . . I embarked, therefore, on the shelling of the Quarter with mortars, creating harassment and destruction. . . . Only four days after our entry into Jerusalem the Jewish Quarter had become their graveyard. Death and destruction reigned over it. . . . As the dawn of Friday, May 28, 1948, was about to break, the Jewish Quarter emerged convulsed in a black cloud—a cloud of death and agony. . . .” The Jordanian commander who led the operation is reported to have told his superiors: “For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews’ return here impossible.”
The Jordanians then went on to destroy 34 out of the 35 ancient synagogues in the Jewish Quarter and to use them as hen-houses, to desecrate the ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives and to use the gravestones as latrines, and to deny Jews access to the Western Wall and to turn the courtyard into a garbage dump.
But because they succeeded in doing that for almost 20 whole years—in contrast to 1,000 years of continuous Jewish life—the Obama administration insists that the Jewish State needs to cede portions of East Jerusalem to a future Palestinian entity on demographic grounds.
The idea that the “Jewish Quarter” should be off-limits to Jews incredible.
Worse things than those described above, happened. All of Jerusalem (including the entirely Jewish “New City”) was totally surrounded for months by the Jordanian “Arab Legion” with the goal of literally causing the Jewish inhabitants to die of hunger and thirst.
Fortunately, a tiny Palmach garrison (led by Amos Horev) lifted the siege just in time to prevent mass starvation. The 1948 armistice agreement provided that there would be unfettered Jewish access to the two important Jewish institutions on Mt. Scopus, the Hebrew University and the Hadassah Hospital; but the first resupply convoy sent there after the armistice was savagely attacked and all its members (around 40) were killed; so for the next 19 years the Jews had constructed substitute buildings for these two institutions safely surrounded by “Jewish” territory. No doubt the Arabs are also demanding the “return” of Mt. Scopus, which they illegally and brutally occupied for those 19 years.
(2) President Obama has manufactured a crisis with Israel. On the same weekend that he took “offense” at one of what had been a series of approvals of housing in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem the Palestinian Authority named a square near Ramallah in the honor of a Palestinian terrorist (one of the worst) who had been responsible for the cold-blooded murder of a bus full of school children and an Israeli family. However, Pres. Obama not only was not offended that this took place during VP Biden’s visit, but he didn’t mention it at all. Rather his anger was solely directed against Israel. :
LT COL HOWARD and Ted I suggest you both watch the following.
Howard pls review these clips, provide your thinking and I will respond to those along with #7
Dan Hannan, MEP:Part 1- Why Israel has such a hard time getting a fair hearing in Brussels.
Dan Hannan, MEP: Part 2-Why Israel has such a hard time getting a fair hearing in Brussels.
Dan Hannan, MEP: Part 3-Why Israel has such a hard time getting a fair hearing in Brussels.
“Even under centuries of Islamic domination, the 1844 official census in Jerusalem showed a healthy Jewish representation: 7120 Jews; 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians. By the 1860s the population had increased to the point that the old city walls could not contain all the Jerusalemites. A new Jewish suburb was built near the Jaffa Gate, then spread west. By the 1880s the Jews were an absolute majority in Jerusalem. Seventy-five per cent of the population of the Old City was Jewish in 1989. In 1914, a full 45,000 of the 65,000 residents of Jerusalem were Jews. In 1949, despite Britain’s anti-Jewish restrictions during the mandate years, Jews still retained a clear majority in the city, with over 60% of the population Jewish.
The nineteen year period of Jordanian occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem (1948 to 1967) is the only time in history that the city has been divided. Not only that but the Jordanians expelled all Jews from the Old City Jewish Quarter. Also under the Jordanians the Christian population of [this newly dubbed] East Jerusalem was more than cut in half, going from 25,000 to a mere 11,000…
…it is illustrative to note that while Jews pray facing Jerusalem, [Muslim] Arabs pray facing east (Mecca). In fact, Arabs in much of the West Bank pray with their backs to Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, with the modern-day re-establishment of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel, political need begged a new legend, the myth of the centricity of Jerusalem to Islam.
To popularize this legend came Yasser Arafat, a consummate propagandist.”
(Taken from Jerusalem 3000, THE POISONER’S AGENDA, page 168-9.)
@yamit I appreciate your passion and your knowledge. However, the pressure Israel faces is that those not knowledgeable about the history and situation have accepted the view “Arab quarter” “annexation of Arab territory” etc. etc. it is to counter this and say hey wait a minute this was only Arab for 19 years due to extreme ethnic cleansing and in fact this should be regarded as the “Jewish quarter” since it once was and is occupied by Jews who were there for thousands of years is of the utmost current importance.
Unfortunately the decision-making audience is unsophisticated, hasty, and for large point has bought into the consistent Arab narrative. You and I may agree on the history, however you and I are not the relevant audience.
On another matter, many times our choices are limited to bad and worse if we opt for the perfect we may end up with the worst. Currently, the choice faced by Israel on the political scene is between Netanyahu and Livini. Livini and her supporters are definite threat to Israel. Her behavior and actions directly undercut the current Israeli government because of her blind political ambition. Given that there are only 2 horses in this race who would you choose? If you doubt that a left-wing campaign against Netanyahu is not now actively underway, just look at the current edition of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.
@ LT COL HOWARD:
My issue as you called it was the term Jewish Quarter in the context of Jerusalem. Seems like an oxymoron to think of having a quarter in king David’s and the Jewish Peoples capital. How would having an American quarter in DC? A French quarter in Paris or an English Quarter in England. Yes there was and is a Jewish Quarter due to the history but since 67′ that condition should have been permanently altered if not completely voided. Today the very concept should a national embarrassment as it goes to what Dr. Eldad alludes to with the Temple Mount, we conquered Jerusalem in 67 but have yet to liberate Jerusalem.
There is a Jewish Quarter because it was forced on the Jews due to Jewish defeat and loss of national sovereignty. The western wall has no religious significance to the Jewish people. That too was a condition forced upon the Jews by the gentiles and is a symbol of Jewish defeat and weakness. That Jews should still elevate an outer retaining wall of the Temple mount when we have national sovereignty over the real holy and religious site is part of our still exhilic thinking and behavior. That behavior should explain why our leaders behave as they do.
“It is much easier to remove the Jews from the exile than the exile from the Jews.”
Maintaining the physical concept of a Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem goes to the heart of why many Israelis and Jews would still consider negotiations over the status of Jerusalem. Why a Clinton, Reagan, Bush and Obama would find nothing wrong with the concept of dividing Jerusalem along the lines of what is Jewish remains Jewish and Arab stays Arab.
@ Yamit 82 exactly what is it that you take issue to?
(1) East Jerusalem. The so-called Arab sector of East Jerusalem was once heavily populated with Jews.
It was a Jew-free area only during the brief period between 1949 to 1967, when Jordan ethnically cleansed East Jerusalem of Jews to interrupt a continuous 1,000-year Jewish presence.To consider East Jerusalem “Palestinian” an atypical 18-year historical blip as the baseline for negotiations.means rewarding Israel’s Arab enemies, who aimed for exactly this goal when they leveled the Jewish Quarter.?
But because they succeeded in doing that for almost 20 whole years—in contrast to 1,000 years of continuous Jewish life—the Obama administration insists that the Jewish State needs to cede portions of East Jerusalem to a future Palestinian entity on demographic grounds.
The idea that the “Jewish Quarter” should be off-limits to Jews incredible.
2) President Obama has manufactured a crisis with Israel. On the same weekend that he took “offense” at one of what had been a series of approvals of housing in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem…
Tradition of Marcus and Machal continues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_gHWNgDVO8&feature=player_embedded
From JFK to IDF – Meet the New Immigrant IDF Soldiers
104 soon-to-be-soldiers landed in Israel on today’s NBN summer flight. We spoke with some of them. Prepare to be inspired…The group of new enlistees is made up of 61 young men, many of whom are going to serve in elite combat units, and 43 young women, who have signed up to serve in Oketz, the unit that uses trained dogs, and in medical and educational units.
“I want to be part of Israel. It is easy to talk but it is more important to do something,” said one young man named Daniel after he arrived from the United States.
The Harel Outlook, a serene, forested spot on the Beit Shemesh-Ramla thoroughfare, offers views over the Burma Road-Israel’s original by-pass road. The building of the Burma Road was a feat of endurance and ingenuity. It was conceived and engineered by the legendary American WWII vet, Mickey Marcus and constructed by gangs of young Jews brought in from Jerusalem who surreptitiously hacked and bulldozed the lifeline out of the steep terrain. At first, a three mile gap between two sections of the road proved impossible to bridge, so hundreds of men would traverse this area at night on foot, hauling heavy sacks of flour to Jerusalem.
The effort to relieve and break the siege of Jerusalem
Today, on the hills of the Burma Road across from the Harel Outlook, oversized silhouette figures have been placed to recall the fortitude of those night shleppers. Just inside the entrance to Harel, a simple plaque nestled amongst the trees honors those American volunteers who fought in the War of Independence. See Marcus, first Aluf (General) of a Jewish Army in 2000 years
Building Burma Road..Cast A Giant Shadow
The following is an excerpt from Dr. Israel Eldad’s book The Challenge Of Jerusalem. Dr. Eldad
“A Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem? The ears cannot grasp what the mouth is saying. “There is a ‘Jewish Quarter'” in Jerusalem? There is an Armenian Quarter, an Arab Quarter, in the midst of Jerusalem. In Prague–yes, in New York–yes, but in Jerusalem? A Jewish Quarter?
The Temple Mount was conquered and not liberated. We are down below and our enemies sit above as if we are not living in the State of Israel, as if we are not in charge in the age of Tzahal . We deal with the recidivism of an exilic soul. Zionism had two sources: a positive root in the sovereign will to redemption, to return, to renew our days as of old, and a second, negative root, in escape from oppression, in the despair of emancipation. It is this second one that won. For truly Zionism was forced on us. Even this miraculous war, with its liberation of Jerusalem, was forced on us to our shame”.
“The Jews abandon the Mount and go down to the Wailing Wall. At that moment, it dawned upon the Muslim Arabs that the battle might be over, but the war was not. There was no decision, and the heart of El Quds remained in their hands”.
The following is an excerpt from Dr. Israel Eldad’s book The Challenge Of Jerusalem. Dr. Eldad
“A Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem? The ears cannot grasp what the mouth is saying. “There is a ‘Jewish Quarter'” in Jerusalem? There is an Armenian Quarter, an Arab Quarter, in the midst of Jerusalem. In Prague–yes, in New York–yes, but in Jerusalem? A Jewish Quarter?
The Temple Mount was conquered and not liberated. We are down below and our enemies sit above as if we are not living in the State of Israel, as if we are not in charge in the age of Tzahal . We deal with the recidivism of an exilic soul. Zionism had two sources: a positive root in the sovereign will to redemption, to return, to renew our days as of old, and a second, negative root, in escape from oppression, in the despair of emancipation. It is this second one that won. For truly Zionism was forced on us. Even this miraculous war, with its liberation of Jerusalem, was forced on us to our shame”.
“The Jews abandon the Mount and go down to the Wailing Wall. At that moment, it dawned upon the Muslim Arabs that the battle might be over, but the war was not. There was no decision, and the heart of El Quds remained in their hands”.
The Harel Outlook, a serene, forested spot on the Beit Shemesh-Ramla thoroughfare, offers views over the Burma Road-Israel’s original by-pass road. The building of the Burma Road was a feat of endurance and ingenuity. It was conceived and engineered by the legendary American WWII vet, Mickey Marcus and constructed by gangs of young Jews brought in from Jerusalem who surreptitiously hacked and bulldozed the lifeline out of the steep terrain. At first, a three mile gap between two sections of the road proved impossible to bridge, so hundreds of men would traverse this area at night on foot, hauling heavy sacks of flour to Jerusalem.
Today, on the hills of the Burma Road across from the Harel Outlook, oversized silhouette figures have been placed to recall the fortitude of those night shleppers. Just inside the entrance to Harel, a simple plaque nestled amongst the trees honors those American volunteers who fought in the War of Independence. See Marcus, first Aluf (General) of a Jewish Armay in 2000 years
Building Burma Road..Cast A Giant Shadow