The religious site of High Priest Aaron’s burial is located in Jordan and Jews should have access to it, as in the Peace Treaty signed by Israel and Jordan.
Jordan’s decision to ban Jews visiting or praying at a Jewish religious site – Aaron’s tomb situated on Mount Hor – has seriously threatened the Israel-Jordan peace treaty and possibly postponed even further the long-awaited release of President Trump’s plans aimed at ending the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict.
The United Nations Security Council could also be faced with having to censure Jordan or avert its gaze from this distinctly disturbing incident of Jew-hatred.
The Jewish claim to visit and pray on Mount Hor (Hor haHar in Hebrew) is rooted in the Old Testament Numbers 20: 23-29:
23 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,
24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.
25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor:
26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.
27 And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.
29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
This is not some political claim arising from an undocumented verbal narrative conjured up from centuries-past to suit a particular partisan objective. The Bible is venerated by all three monotheistic faiths and existed long before the Arab-Jewish conflict emerged in modern history.
Article 9 of the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty unequivocally states:
1. Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.
2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.
3. The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.
Jordanian Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Minister Abdul Nasser Abu al-Basl – who oversees holy sites in Jordan and Jerusalem – reportedlyaccused Israelis of illegally entering Aaron’s Tomb and decided that Jordan would close it to all tourists with the exception of those who receive prior government approval.
Abu Basl also told Al Mamlaka TV, a state-funded channel, that he decided to close the tomb following “Israeli violations” at the site and “the performance of rituals without the knowledge of the ministry.”
Jews and Arabs – Moslem and Christian – need to respect each other’s religious places of pilgrimage and not claim exclusivity of any site they may each have a religious connection with.
Jordan’s reprehensible action threatens the release of Trump’s deal of the century and Jordan’s possible participation in negotiations with Israel to successfully bring it to fruition. Trump’s displeasure could see financial and security consequences for Jordan. Possible retaliatory action by Israel on Jordan’s Islamic-sites custodianship in Jerusalem could also follow.
Cooling the situation by allowing Jews to freely access Mount Hor is urgently required.
@ greenrobot:Disassemble
Diassemble the Dome of the Rock and the rest of the Al-Aqsa mosque, deliver it by Fedex to Mecca, and reassemble it in Mecca.
I believe that the main reason for Netanyahu’s pusillanimousness is his fear that tough actions against the Palestinians will trigger BDS by the EU states, and possibly Russia, China and some African countries as well. T hat could cost the Israeli business sector a lot of money , and lead to dramatic price rises and shortages in Israel. Netanyahu has always seen the expansion of Israeli trade and commerce, and good diplomatic relations with as many countries as possible, as the key to Israel’s survival. He is very afraid of provoking the anger of the “international community” by getting tough with the two Palestinian-Arab terrorist states that Israel has permitted the terror organizations to establish wwest of the Jordan. I think his appeasement policy is wrong. Israel must shut down the terrorist organizations to survive, even if it means angering the international community. But his fear of a negative international reaction to such measures is what motivates Bibi.
@ Dean Blake:
It’s a GOOD idea, but the pusillanimous Govt. (principally Netanyahu who wants peace and calm AT ANY COST) will never deal with Jordan the way it deserves. Insult, after offensiveness and more, but Natanyahu wants nothing to interfere with his own mysterious plans. His actions have greatly offended the ideological part of the population time after time after time, but…… what can they do. Netanyahu is indispensable because of the critical situation…… which never abates and seems to be Israel’s norm…. as the cliche says…”staggering from one crisis to the next”…
Could anything have been more abasing and cowardly than removing the vitally neccessary Temple Mount metal detectors just after they were installed….you recall Dean, installed because the two police guards were murdered there.
The rioting which began after the murders should NEVER EVER cause Israel ANY problems because they should use MAXIMUM FORCE which they are afraid to do. The riots only are riots because the Arabs know they the Jews are afraid to stamp them down. So it’s always the same old “same old”………….
The little kinglet runs NO risk.
So they’ll have to clone him.
The little King runs the risk of Israel engaging and Tit for Tat on the Temple mount in this regard. Not a bad idea.
Not to mention that parts of Jordan (and Syria) sit on land that was historically part of the Kingdom of Israel and Israel may have a right to claim its ancestral land. The original Zionist proposal included the East Bank of the Jordan River too.