During the Palestine war of 1948-49, Zionist forces desecrated, profaned, destroyed and looted Christian Holy Places. The following is a list of churches, convents, and institutions damaged by Zionists:

• The Hospice “Notre Dame de France,” a large part of which was destroyed as a result of the Jewish occupation
• The Convent of Reparatrice Sisters was set on fire and almost completely destroyed. It was occupied on May 15, 1948. Israelis fortified and used it as a main base to attack the Holy City
• The tower and church of the Monastery of the Benedictine Fathers were damaged as a result of having been occupied
• The Seminary of St. Anne was hit by two mortar bombs: the first on May 17, 1948, the second on May 19, 1948, destroying walls and wounding the refugees sheltered therein
• The church of St. Constantine and Helena, which is contiguous to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was damaged on May 17, 1948, by a bomb, the fragments of which damaged also the dome of the Holy Sepulchre
• The American Orthodox Patriarchate was hit by about one hundred mortar bombs thrown by Zionists from the Monastery of the Benedictine Fathers on Mount Sion, and the bombs damaged St. Jacob’s Convent, the Archangels Convent and their two churches, their two Elementary and Seminary schools and their library. Eight persons among the refugees were killed and 120 wounded
• The entrance of the church of St. Mark belonging to the Syrian Orthodox, received on May 17, 1948 a mortar shell killing the monk Peter Saymy, secretary to the Bishop and wounding two other persons
• The Convent of St. George of the Greek Orthodox which is contiguous to the Greek Catholic Cathedral received on May 18, 1948 a mortar shell breaking the tiles and damaging the windows of the cathedral. It was occupied by the Zionists four days earlier
• The Convent of St. John of the Greek Orthodox, contiguous to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, received on its roof a mortar shell on May 23, 1948, and St. Abraham convent nearby was hit as well as St. Spiridon Convent. The Convent of St. John was occupied on May 18, 1948
• The Convent of the Archangel belonging to the Coptic Patriarchate, situated over the grotto of the Holy Cross, forming part of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, received on May 23, 1948 a mortar shell damaging its roof
• The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was hit by mortar shells on May 23 and 24, 1948, wounding many refugees sheltered therein
• The big Franciscan convent (St. Saviour) situated near the Holy Sepulchre received mortar shells on May 19, 23, 24, and 28, 1948, causing damage to the orphanage, general secretariat, and hitting nearby houses, killing and wounding children sheltered therein
• The Latin Patriarchate received on May 23, 26, 27, and 28, 1948, mortar shells causing damage to the Patriarchal Palace, especially to the Cathedral
• The Greek Catholic Patriarchate was hit by mortar bombs on May 16 and 29, 1948, damaging the building and wounding some persons

Source: Encyclopedia of the Palestine problema by Issa Nakhleh.

During the June war of 1967, Israeli forces shelled and damaged many churches in the old city of Jerusalem and the church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Israeli forces opened the church of the Holy Sepulchre to Jews who poured into the holiest place in Christendom indecently dressed, behaving disrespectfully, joking, singing and pouring pharisaic hate and insults against Christianity and against Jesus Christ inside the Holy Sepulchre and next to the tomb of Jesus Christ.

Nancy Nolan of Grosse Isle, Michigan, wife of Dr. Abu Haydar of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, in an open letter to the Christians of the Western world, described as an eye witness what she saw in Jerusalem during and after its occupation in 1967 by Israel:

While the Israeli authorities proclaim to the world that all religions will be respected and protected, and post notices identifying the Holy Places, Israeli soldiers and youths are throwing stink bombs in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Muslim call to prayer, formerly heard from every minaret five times daily, is no longer heard in Jerusalem, third most sacred city to the hundreds of millions of Muslims all over the world.

The Church of St. Anne, whose crypt marks the birthplace of Virgin Mary, has been severely damaged and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem also was damaged. The wanton killing of the Warden of the Garden Tomb followed by the shooting into the Tomb itself, in an attempt to kill the warden’s wife, was another instance that we knew first-hand which illustrated the utter disregard shown by the occupation forces toward the Holy Places and the religious sensibilities of the people in Jordan and in the rest of the world. The desecration of the Christian churches, especially the Church of Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, of which we know personally, includes smoking in the churches, littering the churches, taking dogs inside and entering in inappropriate manner of dress. Behavior such as this cannot be construed other than as a direct insult to the whole Christian world.

Reverend James L. Kelso, the former moderator of the United Presbyterian Church, who lived for many years in Palestine, described the damage and desecration of church property in an article published in Christianity Today, July 21, 1967. Reverend Kelso states:

How did Israel respect church property in the fighting a few weeks ago? They shot up the Episcopal Cathedral, just as they had done in 1948. They smashed down the Episcopal school for boys so their tanks could get through to Arab Jerusalem. The Israelis wrecked and looted the YMCA upon which the Arab refugees had bestowed so much loving hand-craft. They wrecked the Big Lutheran Hospital, even though this hospital was used by the United Nations. The hospital had just added a new children’s center and a new research department. The Lutheran center for (disabled) also suffered. At Ramallah, a Christian City near Jerusalem, the Episcopal girl’s school was shot at and some of the girls were killed. So significant was this third Jewish war against the Arabs that one of the finest missionaries of the Near East called it “perhaps the most serious setback that Christendom has had since the fall of Constantinople in 1453…There is as deep horror about all this history in the fact that great numbers of Christians in the United States applaud Israel’s crimes against Arab Christians and Arab Muslims. How can a Christian applaud the murder of a brother Christian by Zionist Jews? The Arab church is as truly the body of Christ as the American Church.

Murder of the Warden of Garden Tomb

Source: Encyclopedia of the Palestine problema by Issa Nakhleh.

The villages of Yalu, Beit Nuba and Emmaus were known from the time of Jesus. The Church of Emmaus was reconstructed in 1902 by the Franciscan Fathers on Crusader Foundations. Emmaus has also a big Catholic Convent and was a great tourist attraction. These three Biblical villages were occupied by the Israeli army on June 9, 1967. All homes and buildings in the three villages, together with the Catholic Church, Convent and two Muslim Mosques were razed to the ground. Twenty two men, women and children were killed in the blasting operations. Over 5,000 people were made homeless.

The well known Jewish writer Amos Kenan was a soldier in the Jewish army unit which demolished these three villages. In an interview with the Jewish magazine Haolem Hazeh, he gave the following account:

The unit commander told us that it had been decided to blow up three villages in our sector; they were Beit-Nuba, Emmaus and Yalu. This was explained by strategic, tactical and security considerations. At noon the first bulldozer arrived and pulled down the first house at the edge of the village. Within 10 minutes the house was turned to rubble. The olive trees and cypresses were all uprooted. After the destruction of three houses the first refugee column arrived from the direction of Ramallah. We told them to go to Beit Sura. They told us that they were driven out everywhere, forbidden to enter any village, that they were wandering like this for four days, without food, without water, some dying on the road. They asked to return to the village, and said we’d better kill them. Some had a goat, a lamb, a donkey or a camel. A father ground wheat by hand to feed his four children. On the horizon we could see the next group arriving. The children cried. Some of our soldiers started crying too. We went to fetch some water. We stopped a car with a major, two captains and a woman. We took a jerrican of water and distributed it to the refugees. We also handed out cigarettes and candy. More soldiers burst out crying. We asked the officers why are these refugees sent from one place to another and driven out of everywhere. They told us this was good for them. Let them go. Moreover, said the officers, why do we care about the Arabs anyway. We drove them out. They go on wandering in the south like lost cattle. The weak die. In the evening we found out that we had been deceived, for in Beit-Sura too, bulldozers commenced destruction and they were forbidden to enter. We found out that not only in our sector was the border straightened out for security reasons but in all sectors. Our unit was outraged. At night we were ordered to guard the bulldozers, but the unit was so outraged that no soldier was willing to carry out such duties. None of us understood how Jews could behave like this. The chickens and doves were buried in the rubble. The fields were turned into wasteland in front of our eyes. The children who went on crying on the road will be Fedayeen in 19 years, in the next round. Thus have we lost on that day the victory.

Source: Encyclopedia of the Palestine problema by Issa Nakhleh.

These crimes committed by the Zionists reflected the deep-felt hatred of everything Christian embedded in the Zionist ideology. Testimony shows that this feeling went so deep that the Zionist authorities removed the international “+” sign from mathematics textbooks because of the resemblance of the plus sign to the Christian Cross.

Palestinian Christians cannot understand Christians in other lands who support Zionism despite this insane hatred of the Christian faith. American Jewish organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai Brith, raise a tremendous clamor whenever there is a desecration of Jewish Synagogues or a perceived slur against Judaism. But their deafening silence at similar Zionist crimes against Christianity in Israel sorrowfully indicates that the ADL is more self-righteous than righteous and more hypocritical than principled. Even more shameful is the attitude of the Christian televangelists who mislead their followers into supporting the persecution of their fellow Christians.

Chairman of Israel Human Rights League, Israel Shahak, has written about the deep-rooted Zionist hatred of Christianity and the manifestations of that hatred in Israel:

(Dishonoring) Christian religious symbols is an old religious duty in Judaism. Spitting on the cross, and especially on the Crucifix, and spitting when a Jew passes a church, have been obligatory from around AD 200 for pious Jews. In the past, when the danger of anti-Semitic hostility was a real one, the pious Jews were commanded by their rabbis either to spit so that the reason for doing so would be unknown, or to spit onto their chests, not actually on the cross or openly before the church. The increasing strength of the Jewish state has caused these customs to become more open again but there should be no mistake: The spitting on the cross for converts from Christianity to Judaism, organized in Kibbutz Sa’ad and financed by the Israeli government is an act of traditional Jewish piety. It does not cease to be barbaric, horrifying and wicked because of this! On the contrary, it is worse because it is so traditional, and much more dangerous as well, just as the renewed anti-Semitism of the Nazis was dangerous, because in part, it played on the traditional anti-Semitic past.

This barbarous attitude of contempt and hate for Christian symbols has grown in Israel. In the 1950s Israel issued a series of stamps representing pictures of Israeli cities. In the picture of Nazareth, there was a church and on its top a cross– almost invisible, perhaps the size of a millimeter. Nevertheless, the religious parties, supported by many on the Zionists “left” made a scandal and the stamps were quickly withdrawn and replaced by an almost identical series from which the microscopic cross was withdrawn.

Then there was the long-drawn-out battle about Christian influence in elementary arithmetic. Pious Jews object to the international plus sign for it is a cross, and it may in their opinion, influence little children to convert to Christianity. Another “explanation” holds: it would then be difficult to “educate” them to spit on the cross, if they become used to it in their arithmetic exercises. Until the early 1970s two different sets of arithmetic books were used in Israel. One for the secular schools, employing an inverted “T” sign. In the early ‘70s the religious fanatics “converted” the (Labor) Party to the great danger of the cross in arithmetic, and from that time, in all Hebrew elementary schools (and now many high schools as well) the international plus sign has been forbidden.

Similar development is visible in other areas of education. Teaching the New Testament was always forbidden, but in the old times conscientious teachers of history used to circumvent the prohibition, by (organizing) seminars or sending the students to libraries (not the school libraries, of course). About 10 years ago there was a wave of denouncing such teachers. One in Jerusalem was almost sacked, for advising her history pupils, who were studying the history of Jews in Palestine around 30-40 AD, that it would be a good thing if they would read a few chapters of the New Testament as a historical aid. She retained her post only after humbly promising not to do this again.

However, in recent years, anti-Christian feelings are literally exploding in Israel (and among the Israel-worshipping Jews in Diaspora too) together with the increase of the Jewish fanaticism in all other areas.

The worst enemies of the truth here, as in many other aspects of the Israel reality, are the socialists, “liberals”, “radicals”, etc. in the USA. Imagine the reaction of the US liberals, and of such papers as The Nation and New York Review of Books, not to speak of the New York Times if any state whatsoever, the government financed spitting on a Star of David? But when here in Israel, the government finances the spitting on a cross, they are and will continue to be, quite silent. More than this, they help to finance it. United States taxpayers, who are of course mostly Christians, are financing at least half the Israeli budget, one way or another, and there for spitting on the crosses too.

Source: Encyclopedia of the Palestine problema by Issa Nakhleh.

On April 26,1989, during the Holy Week for the Oriental Christians. the Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem published a common statement on the present situation in the Territories occupied by Israel, a situation deteriorating steadily since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising.

We send you herewith a copy of the original text in English and we would be grateful to you if you could make it known as much as possible.

This statement is signed by:

His Beatitude Diodoros I Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

His Beafitude Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch

His Beatitude Yeghishe Derderian, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch

Very Rev. Father Carlo Cecchitelli, of m, Custos of the Holy Land

His Exc. Amba Basilios, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop

His Exc. Mar Dionysios Behnam Jijawi, Syrian Orthodox Archbishop

His Exc. Msgr Lutfi Laham, Greek Melkite Catholic Patriarcal Vicar

Right Rev. Samir Kafity, Bishop of the Episcopalian Church

Right Rev. Naim Nasr, Bishop ot the Evangelical Lutheran Church

We, the heads of the Christian communities in the Holy City, have met together in view of the grave situation prevailing in Jerusalem and the whole of our country.

It is our Christian conviction that as spiritual leaders we have an urgent duty to follow up the developments in this situation and to make known to the world the conditions of life of our people here in the Holy Land.

In Jerusalem, on the West Bank and in Gaza, our people experience in their daily lives constant deprivation of their fundamental rights because of arbitrary actions deliberately taken by the authorities. Our people are often subjected to unprovoked harassment and hardship.

We are particularly concerned by the tragic and unnecessary loss of Palestinian lives, especially among minors. Unarmed and innocent people are being killed by the unwarranted use of firearms and hundreds are wounded by the excessive use of force.

We protest against the frequent shooting incidents in the vicinity of the Holy Places.

We also condemn the practice of mass administrative arrests and of continuing detention of adults and minors without trial.

We further condemn the use of all forms of collective punishment, including the demolition of homes and depriving whole communities of basic services such as water and electricity.

We appeal to the world community to support our demand for the re-opening of schools and universities, closed for the past sixteen months, so that thousands of our children can enjoy again their basic right to education.

We demand that the authorities respect the rights of believers to enjoy free access to all places of worship on the Holy Days of all religions.

We affirm our human solidarity and sympathy with all who are suffering and oppressed; and we pray for the return of peace based on justice to Jerusalem and the Holy Land; and we request the international community and the United Nations Organization to give urgent attention to the plight of the Palestinian people and to work for a speedy and just resolution of the Palestinian problem.

Signed April 27, 1989 by: H. B. Diodoros (Greek Orthodox Patriarch); H. B. Michel Sabbah (Latin Patriarch); Bishop Samir Kafity (Episcopal Church); Archbishop Lutfi Laham (Greek Catholic Patriarchate); H. B. Yeghishe Derderian (Armenian Orthodox Patriarch); Bishop Naim Nassar (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan); H. B. Basilios (Coptic Orthodox Patriarch); Archbishop Dionysios Behnam Jijjawi (Syrian Orthodox Patriachal Vicar); Most Rev. Father Cechitelli (o.f.m.) (Cusios of the Holy Land).

Source: Encyclopedia of the Palestine problema by Issa Nakhleh.

This letter was published in 1998 in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

To ministers and leaders of the Evangelical or Fundamentalist congregations who support the State of Israel in its expansionist policies:

I am a member of a fundamentalist or evangelical church. Therefore, for some time I have been much troubled upon seeing your names listed in the New York Times (4/18/97 edition), or The Washington Post (1/22/98 edition) along with a number of other prominent fundamentalist ministers who are “joining together to support our Jewish brethren and the State of Israel.”

The articles indicated that your support for Mr. Netanyahu and/or expansionist Israeli leaders and governments is based on your interpretation of Revelation 7:3-8 and various verses from the Old Testament. I understand that you interpret these verses to mean that when the second coming of Christ is about to occur, the Jews on this earth will again possess all of the lands which were once theirs in the Old Testament.

These verses from the Old Testament you interpret to mean that God has a covenant with all Jews because they are the seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and David. (Genesis 12:17, Leviticus 26:44-45, Deuteronomy 7:7-8, David 7: 12-16, I Kings 15:4, Psalms 89:34-37 and Psalms 105:8-11). In none of these verses is it said that this covenant is with all of the seed of these Jewish leaders and forefathers.

The Christians and Muslims who are presently living in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza may be the seed of these Old Testament Jewish leaders as readily as the Jews who are presently living there, many of whom are immigrants from elsewhere. Many of the disciples themselves were originally Jews who lived in these areas. Would you not expect many of their “seed” to be there still?

Mr. Netanyahu and his government continue to build Jewish settlements on land taken by force and terror from the Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim. He and his government continue to seal off or blow up the homes of families in which one member is suspected of participation in any violent acts.

Suspected Christians and Muslims are deported or imprisoned for years without trial and are tortured while in prison. Christian and Muslim families are never given permits to enlarge their own homes no matter how many children they may have.

Taxes are exceedingly higher for Arab citizens than those for Jewish citizens, so high as to drive many Christians and Muslims out of business and/or their homes. Punishments for the killing of Christians and Muslims are usually so minor as to imply that their lives are worth nothing.

It has been indicated also that you base your support of Israel’s apartheid governments on your interpretation of what appears to be signs in today’s world that you think indicate the time for Christ’s second coming is near.

Christian villages have been taken over by terrorist tactics

In the light of all the Christian as well as Muslim villages that have been taken over by means of the very terrorist tactics that Mr. Netanyahu and his government now decry on the part of the Palestinian extremists, and in view of the apartheid treatment of both Christian and Muslim citizens in the areas that are controlled by the Israeli government, would it not be more in keeping with the teaching of Christ to consider more carefully the words of Christ in Acts 1:6 and 7: “When they therefore were com together, they asked of him, saying Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”

Time and time again throughout history, groups of Christians thought they had determined the time and the season by using the signs that are given in the New Testament, but each time they were made to look foolish when these words of Christ proved to be true.

We ate told that part of your support for Mr. Netanyahu and his “greater Israel” government is based on Genesis 12:3 where God said to Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee…” God is speaking to Abraham, not to all of his descendants. In the words that follow, “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,” surely these words refer to the coming of Christ out of the seed of Abraham, not to those Jews who rejected Christ then and now, and continue to persecute Christ through persecuting his followers.

“Who are my brethren?”

In Matt. 12:48-50, Mark 3:33-35 and Luke 8:21, Christ (the seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David) stated who His seed are when he said, “Who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And he stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister and mother.”

Many fundamentalist Christians are following the lead of Christian ministers who are giving support to those very people who best fit the description of the antichrist. I am not speaking of those Jews who truly desire peace with justice in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, many of whom place themselves in great jeopardy by speaking out or writing books to expose the insidious pressures and organized power used as well as the horrible injustice and cruelty practiced by the Zionists in order to obtain their objective of a greater Israel. I am speaking of the Orthodox, right-wing, hawkish Jews, many of whom look upon Christians and Muslims as subhuman and not worthy of human treatment.

In Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Dr. Israel Shahak, himself a Jew, quotes this special curse against Christians from the daily prayer book used by many Orthodox Jews in Israel: “And may the apostates have no hope, and all the Christians perish instantly” (page 92). On page 93 Dr. Shahak says that a devout Jew must utter a curse when passing near a Gentile cemetery, and upon seeing a dwelling inhabited by people other than Jews must ask God to destroy it.

The Israeli government, in response to the demands of these Orthodox Jews, bans the use of the plus sign in mathematics because it resembles the cross.

Should not our Christian leaders consider the possibility that the remnant of converted Jews spoken of in Revelation may consist in part of the persecuted Christians in this area whose ancestors may well have been the earliest Jewish converts, or the Jews who (in a more Christian spirit) abhor the cruelty and injustice inflicted on Christians and Muslims by the Netanyahu government and other “greater Israel” motivated governments? Surely the latter are more likely candidates for conversion.

Would it not behoove us to walk every day as if the second coming were going to occur on that very day by simply trying to live as Christ commanded, one aspect of which wold be to support our fellow Christians and give comfort to them in their suffering even as we forgive the persecutors? Surely Christ would not have us support those who persecute them? By the latter action is it possible that we might be endangering our immortal souls?

Another book written by a Christian minister is Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour, whose Christian village in Palestine was demolished by Israeli soldiers. Pastor Chacour preaches forgiveness. Still another book is What Price Israel? by Alfred Lilienthal, a Jew who served the U.S. government in the Middle East during and after World War II.

In the report by the U.N. Committee Against Torture can be found the verification of the apartheid treatment of Christians and Muslims in Israeli occupied territories. In the May 9, 1997 issue of The New York Times the following quote serves to substantiate my statement regarding the sue of torture by the Israeli government or the Shin Bet with the acquiescence of the Israeli government: “According to Israeli human rights organizations, in recent years about 5,000 Palestinians have been subjected to violence in detention annually.” Also the following: “Human rights groups claim that 80 percent of the Palestinians who are tortured are never indicted for a crime.”

If you are interested in verifying anything I have said by reading the sources from which I have quoted and cannot find them in your local library, they can be obtained from the Washington Report, P.O.Box 53062, Washington DC.

May you be constantly filled with and governed by The Holy Spirit, acting in His wisdom and, as such, walking in His peace.

Kathleen Banks is a Virginia-born teacher who retired in 1985 after teaching in both the United States and the Middle East. This article is reprinted from the Washington report in the July/August 1998 issue.

* Kathleen Banks is a Virginia-born teacher who retired in 1985 after teaching in both the United States and the Middle East.

Recent Incident of desecration and Usurpation of the Ibrahim Mosque (The Records of the Islamic Higher Council, Jerusalem)

May 27, 1982 

Jewish settlers, putting wine on a table to prevent Muslims from praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque.

June 2, 1982

The preparations for prayer by Jewish settlers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, by the knowledge of the Israeli military Governor.

June 13, 1982

A wedding by Jewish Settler trespassers at the Mosque from 6 p.m until midnight.

July 1, 1982

Jewish settler trespassers brought iron cupboards and chairs into the Jacobite and Ibrahimi tomb rooms inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

September 13, 1982 

Israeli soldiers prevented Muslims from holding their dawn prayers.

September 27, 1982

Jewish settlers blew on the ram’s horn to disrupt the moon, afternoon and sunset Muslim prayers.

October 24, 1982 

Jewish settlers brought Hebrew manuscripts in frames into the Ibrahimi and Jacobite tomb rooms, as part of their attempt to chance the Ibrahimi Mosque into a synagogue.

November 27, 1982 

Those responsible for the Ibrahimi Mosque were informed that Jews would place the Toran inside the mosque, as part of their attempt to change the Mosque into a synagogue.

November 29, 1982

Two hundred Jewish settlers broke into the Ibrahimi Mosque at night, bringing tables and bottles of Coke into the Jacobite and Yusifyeh tomb rooms.

December 16, 1982 

Soldiers placed a candlestick on the Salah Eddin Ayubi citadel, close to the Ibrahimi Mosque, and then brought a gas stove into the mosque.

December 18, 1982 

Israeli soldiers brought a dining table into the Ibrahimi Mosque and ate their lunch.

January 29, 1983

Jewish settlers drank wine in the Ibrahimi Mosque.

February 28, 1983

After finishing their prayers inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, Jewish settlers damaged the copper crescent on Lady Rifqa’s window.

April 16, 1983

Jewish settlers held a circumcision ceremony inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, drinking wine and partying in desecration if Islamic standards.

May 1, 1983

Jewish settlers held a circumcision ceremony inside Ibrahimi Mosque and Israeli military forces prevented Muslims from visiting the Ibrahimi tomb.

September 9, 1983

An officer broke a door leading to the Mosque’s minaret and damaged the microphone. Then he made a path for Jews to enter on Muslim carpets.

November 2, 1983

Jewish settlers put a table and chair in the pulpit, changing the area into a religious school.

November 23, 1983

Jewish settlers hung the Ten Commandments in the Ibrahimi and Jacobite tomb rooms as part of their attempt to transform the Mosque into a synagogue.

December 29, 1983

Jewish settlers prevented Muslims from entering the Mosque until late morning, as a way of asserting their claim to control the Ibrahimi mosque.

Janueary 11, 1984

The Military Governor hung three copper pieces holding the Ten Commandment on the three doors of Ibrahimi Mosque, as part of the attempt to transform the Mosque into a synagogue.

Source: Encyclopedia of Palestine Problem by Issa Nakhleh.

Since 1967, Israeli authorities have violated Muslim rights in the Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, by restricting Muslims to praying in the Mosque only on Fridays.

Jewish tourists desecrated this holy Mosque and often embarrassed and ridicule Muslims while praying. Contrary to Muslim rights, Jews encroached on the Mosque and started using part of it for Jewish prayers. Against the protests of the Muslims of Hebron and the Islamic Higher Council in Jerusalem, Jewish authorities brought hundreds of benches and placed them in the Mosque. Jews built a roof on a part of the mosque, with the object of converting it into a Jewish synagogue.

On the 16th of November 1972 the Chairman of the Islamic Higher Council in Jerusalem, Sheikh Hilmi Al-Muhtasib, held a press conference outside Al Aqsa Mosque. As reported in the Jerusalem Post of November 17, 1972, Sheikh Al-Muhtasib stated: “Ever since the West Bank was occupied in June 1967, Jews have been forcing their way into Hebron’s Ibrahim Mosque, committing acts of provocation and being insensitive to the feelings of the Muslims, the shrine’s legitimate owners.” Sheikh Al-Muhtasib stated further “that the site was gradually being turned into a synagogue. The latest act of aggression at the Hebron shrine was the most serious in a list of trespasses committed since 1967.” In reply to a question, Sheikh Al-Muhtasib said: “Muslims did not oppose Jewish visits to the Hebron shrine, but were against Jews holding prayers on the site, which has been a mosque for the 14 centuries. There can be no compromise on this.”
During the first week of August 1975, the Jewish press published information that the Israeli cabinet had decided to introduce new arrangements for Jewish and Muslim prayers at the Muslim mosque. The new arrangements provided for the division of the Holy Site space-wise rather than time wise, as therefore. Two halls of the Mosque were to be reserved for Muslim prayers throughout the day, and there halls were to be used for Jewish prayers only.
Source: Encyclopedia of Palestine Problem by Issa Nakhleh.

A complaint was submitted to the United Nations Security Council on August 28, 1969, by twenty-four Muslim countries due to the attempt to burn Al Aqsa Mosque. Ambassador  Mohammad El Farra of Jordan made a statement to the Council in which he stated:

Today, my delegation joins the 24 other members, representing 750 million adherents of  the Moslem faith, which requested a meeting to consider another, more serious tragedy, namely of Al Aqsa Mosque, and the fire which severely damaged that historic Holy Place on the morning of 21 August 1969. The Israeli authorities introduced more than one explanation for the start of the fire and at last charged an Australian with the arson.

According to news that originated from Israel sources, the Australian suspect is a friend of Israel who was brought by the Jewish Agency to work for Israel. The Jewish Agency arranged for the Australian to work in a Kibbutz for some months, so that he could learn the Hebrew language and acquire more of the Zionist teaching. The report published in the Jerusalem Post- an Israeli semi-official newspaper-of 25 August 1969 concerning the life of this Australian in the Kibbutz and his dreams of building Solomon’s temple casts doubt on the case and adds to the fears and worries of the Moslems about their holy shrines; it also throws light on who is the criminal and who is the accomplice.

We have not forgotten statements in the early days of the 5 June 1967 Israeli occupation about the future of Jerusalem, nor have we forgotten the report of Menahem Borsh, which was published in Yediot Aharanot of 18 August, 1969, only three days before the burning of the Mosque, emphasizing that the Temple would be built anew in the same spot that “Strangers tried to seize”. The desecration of this holy Mosque by a group of the Bitar members only three days before the arson is a living example of Israeli motives and designs.

Let us see what did and what did not happen on Thursday, 21 August 1969. In the early hours of that morning fire broke out the Al Aqsa Mosque. Moslems praying in the Mosque and others rushed to the scene to remove some of the valuables in the Mosque and extinguish the fire. The Jordanian fire brigade in Jerusalem was called. Moslem religious leaders as well as Jordanian officials within the Israeli-occupied area came to the scene.

To the outside world news of the fire came in Arabic from Radio Israel at 8:30 a.m., that is, one hour and ten minutes after the fire started. The broad cast carried the news of the arson; it did not give any reason for the fire and did not say whether it was extinguished.

Meanwhile, Jordanian fire brigades from Ramallah, and even those from Al Khalil (Hebron) and Nablus, were sent to the scene- and we all know it takes an ordinary car more than one hour to reach Jerusalem from those two cities. With the help of those brigades and the co-operation of the local population, the fire was at last extinguished and contained.

According to Reuters, it took the fire brigades over five hours to extinguish the fire; this, to a certain extent, was substantiated by Israeli authorities. As stated at a press conference that same day by Teddy Kollek, the illegally appointed Mayor, and according to Radio Israel , it took them until 10:30 a.m. to extinguish the fire. We think Mr. Tekoah should have exchange notes with his authorities, with Radio Israel and Mr. Kollek, before coming here to say that it took about one hour. We find it took them until 10:30 to extinguish the fire.

Certainly Mr. Tekoah seems to disagree with the Israeli eyewitness who admitted that there was delay and tried to find justification for that delay. There was no doubt among the inhabitants and eyewitnesses that the arrival of the Israeli fire brigades, in short reach of the scene, was delayed and their job was unsatisfactory.

That same afternoon the commander of the fire brigades told the journalists that the pumping of water was working swiftly and in an orderly manner at the beginning but that eight minutes later something happened-the pumping of the water was interrupted and could not work as before. This is something for every member to ponder. The commander of the fire brigades reported that it had not been indicated whether that was due to a technical mishap or to a premeditated act. It must be remembered, however, that after the Israeli occupation the water system in the city was connected to the western part so that the Israelis would be in full control of the water system. This, among other things, elicited Sharp criticism and apprehension from Arab Mayor Rouhi El-Khatib and the former President of the Moslem Council, Abdul Hamid Es-Sayeh, both of whom were expelled from Jerusalem to the East Bank of Jordan.

Was Rohan, after all, acting on his own initiative? Was he not brought to Israel and sponsored by the Jewish Agency? Where did he get all the money which he offered to the guards of Al Aqsa on the morning of the fire and which the guards declined to take?

According to The Times of London, of 12 September 1969: “On Rohan’s way out he offered each 110 pounds sterling but they declined, Mr. Hilwani said.” The Sheikh, thinking there must be something wrong, then entered into the Mosque and rushed out crying”

“They have burnt the pulpit.” According to the same semi-official Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post of 25 August 1969, Rohan’s foster-parents in the kibbutz said: “He never appeared to be short of money to us.”

After several meetings by the Security Council to discuss the complaint, it adopted on September 15, 1969, Resolution 271 (1969), which condemned the act of destruction and profanation of the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque. It states:

Resolution 271 (1969) of 15 September 1969

The Security Council,

Grieved at the extensive damage caused by arson to the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on 21 August 1969 under the military occupation of Israel.

Mindful of the consequent loss to human culture, Having heard the statements made before the Council reflecting the universal outrage caused by the act of sacrilege in one of the most venerated shrines of mankind, Recalling its resolution 252 (1968) of 21 May 1968 and 267 (1969) of 3 July 1969 and the earlier General Assembly resolutions 2253 (ES-V) and 2254 (ES-V) of 4 and 14 July 1967, respectively, concerning measures and actions by Israel affecting the status of the City of Jerusalem.

Reaffirming the established principle that acquisition of territory by military conquest is inadmissible.

1.Reaffirms its resolution 252 (1968) and 267 (1969);

2. Recognizes that any act of destruction or profanation of the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites in Jerusalem or any encouragement of, or connivance at, any such act may seriously endanger international peace and security;

3. Determines that the execrable act of desecration and profanation of the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque emphasizes the immediate necessity of Israel’s desisting from acting forthwith all measures and actions taken by it designed to alter the status of Jerusalem;

4.Calls upon Israel scrupulously to observe the provisions of the Geneva Convention and international law governing military occupation and to refrain from causing any hindrance to the discharge of the established functions of the Supreme Moslem Council may desire from countries with predominantly Moslem population and from Moslem communities in relation to its plan for the maintenance and repair of the Islamic Holy Places in Jerusalem;

5. Condemns the failure of Israel to comply with the aforementioned resolutions and calls upon it to implement forthwith the provisions of these resolutions;

6.Reiterates the determination in paragraph 7 of resolution 267 (1969) that, in the event of a negative response or no response, the Security Council shall convene without delay to consider what further action should be taken in this matter;

7. Request the Secretary-general to follow closely the implementation of the present resolution and to report thereon to the Security Council at the earliest possible date.

Adopted at the 1512th meeting by 11 votes to none, with 4 abstentions (Columbia, Finland, Paraguay, United States of America.)

Source: Encyclopedia of Palestine Problem by Issa Nakhleh.

During the June 1967 war, the Israelis bombarded the Holy City of Jerusalem. The central gate of Al Aqsa mosque was shattered. One of the Al Aqsa minarets received a direct hit and its dome was damaged. After the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, Israelis held demonstrations, dancing festivals and immoral parties in the sacred area of Haram Al-Sherif. The gates of the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque were opened for Jewish tourists of both sexes with their dogs. Men and women entered these holy places dressed in shorts and committed acts of indecency, disrespect and desecration.

Israel dynamited 135 buildings and Mosques owned by Muslim Waqfs in old Jerusalem in order to clear the way for a square in front of Al Buraq, the Western Wall of Al Aqsa Mosque.

On August 26, 1967, fourteen Muslim and Christian leaders of Jerusalem submitted a memorandum to the personal representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in which they described the desecration by Israelis of Muslim and Christian Holy Places. Paragraph 7 of that memorandum states:

The Israeli authorities did not respect the sanctity of Muslim and Christian religious shrines and thus forced the custodian of the Holy Places to close some of the churches. Moreover, the Chief Rabbi of the Israeli army. Brigadier Goren, conducted a prayer, together with some followers, in the Haram Al-Sherif (Holy Mosque), thus blatantly offending Muslim susceptibilities and infringing upon their established rights, while the Minister for religions in Israel announced that the Muslim Mosque is Jewish property, and that sooner or later they will rebuild their temple there. Finally, the Minister of religious Affairs announced its intention of expanding the Wailing Wall area by destroying some of the Muslim buildings surrounding it, and constructing a synagogue there, in contravention of the status quo, and in an outright violation of the rights of Muslims and Muslim Waqf.

Source: Encyclopedia of Palestine Problem by Issa Nakhleh.