D – Denial of Ancient Jewish History
Incredible as it may seem to Westerners living in a society built on Judeo-Christian foundations, even “moderates” among Palestinian Arabs deny not only that the Jewish Temples ever existed and that the still-standing Western Wall was part of the Temple Mount’s structure, but also that Biblical history ever occurred. The M.S.M. has, on occasion, treated such delegitimizing seriously, and has joined in calling Israel’s demand to be recognized as the Jewish state “a new stumbling block” to peace talks’ resumption.
New York Times: “A Myth Used to Justify Conquest and Occupation?”
The August 5, 2005, N.Y. Times and International Herald Tribune reported on Israeli archeologist Eilat Mazar having unearthed in the City of David area of Jerusalem an enormous well-preserved public building dating back to the 10th century B.C.E. that may have been King David’s palace.
N.Y. Times:
The find will also be used in the broad political battle over Jerusalem–whether the Jews have their origins here and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians have said, including the late Yasser Arafat, the idea of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a myth used to justify conquest and occupation.
International Herald Tribune’s language went even further, ending that “many Palestinians believe–including the late Yasser Arafat–that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism.”
The Palestinian Authority’s Cut & Paste Propagation of “No Western Wall”
The Jerusalem Post (11/22/10) headlined a Khaled Abu Toameh article “Jews Have No Right To Western Wall, P.A. ‘Study’ Claims.” A week later (11/29/10), the Jerusalem Post op-ed by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, “Palestinian Revisionism is the Only Obstacle To Peace,” placed the “study” into context, calling it “sadly, yet another attempt at political historical revisionism”:
The recent “study”…attempting to “refute” the Jewish claim to the Western Wall is merely the latest in a series of efforts, stretching back more than 100 years, to deny the Jewish people’s connection with its homeland.
Then, a Jerusalem Post article (12/1/10) reported that “a Palestinian Authority ‘study’ that rejects Jews’ claim to the Western Wall” had “disappeared…from the official website of the Palestinian Ministry of Information,” and that “a senior P.A. official in Ramallah revealed that the controversial report was cut at the request of the United States.”
What actually transpired, however, was not “cut,” but “cut and paste.” Three days later (12/4/10), the Jerusalem Post headlined:
Study Denying Jews’ Right to Kotel Resurfaces; Document which sparked strong condemnations from Israel and the US, returns on official website of the P.A.’s news agency Wafa.
That Jerusalem Post article led:
Only days after it was removed from the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information website, a “study” denying Jews’ rights to the Western Wall has resurfaced, this time on the official website of the PA’s news agency, Wafa.
By publishing the document on Wafa’s website, the official mouthpiece of the Palestinian Liberation Organization {“PLO”} and P.A., the authority has sent a message that it has officially endorsed its findings.
Denial hadn’t always been the Arab position. In 1924, the Supreme Muslim Council, at the time headed by Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, published “A Brief Guide to Al-Haram Al-Sharif” (reproduction by Simon Wiesenthal Center) stating:
The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest (perhaps pre-historic) times. Its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which “David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.” (citing 2 Samuel XXIV, 25).
It also states, regarding the subterranean chamber called “Solomon’s Stables”:
Little is known for certain of the early history of the chamber itself. It dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon’s Temple. According to Josephus, it was in existence and was used as a place of refuge by the Jews at the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 A.D.