[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Temple Mount Preservation Act - Petition



Jerusalem, August 7, 2001

Dear Friends,

The Arabs are destroying the remains of the First and Second Temples on the
Temple Mount.  We ask you to read the following petition and add your name.

Nadia and Ruth

***************************

The Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001 (H.R. 2566) is a brand new bill
which was introduced at a press conference at the Sam Rayburn Building in
Washington D.C. July 19th 2001 by Congressman Eric J. Cantor (R-7th /VA).
 
The bill seeks to protect the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, by halting all
funding to the PA, unless the President certifies that all excavation on
the Temple Mount has stopped!

THIS BILL NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!
 
Enclosed is a world wide petition, that seeks one million names of people
everywhere, not only US citizens.
 
This petition will be hand delivered to selected members of Congress, and
will help elicit their support for the bill.
 
TO JOIN THE PETITION, please submit your name, email address and city and
country of residence, and email it to
Shoshanna Walker
rosewalk@concentric.net
 or Murray Kahl kahl1@gate.net
OR
sign up at
http://www.templeinstitute.org/current-events/temple-mount-preservation-act-petition.html
 
Please circulate the petition, and if you print it, please fax it to
516-371-6669  (in NY)
 
PLEASE CALL REP CANTOR to thank him 202-224-3121

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------

PETITION TO HALT ALL US ASSISTANCE TO THE PA AND ITS INSTRUMENTALITIES

We support H.R. 2566 in the U.S. House of Representatives and ask that
these attempts by the Palestinian Authority to desecrate Temple Mount in
Israel be treated as an affront to the religious and historical basis of
Christianity and Judaism.
We applaud Congressman Eric J. Cantor (R-7th /VA) for initiating this bill,
and we respectfully request that all Congressmen will support the bill and
bring it to fruition.

Names and Addresses  (City and Country):

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________


 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
 
FULL TEXT OF H.R. 2566
 
 
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. R. 2566
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. CANTOR introduced the following bill
 
A BILL
To prohibit assistance from being provided to the Palestinian
Authority or its instrumentalities unless the President certifies
that no excavation of the Temple Mount in Israel is being conducted.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the "Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001."


FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:


(1) The Temple Mount, located in the heart of Jerusalem, Israel, has
great religious significance to the world's three major monotheistic
religions, and increasing violence, religious intolerance, and
archeological neglect threaten to destroy this sacred site.
(2) According to the Jewish faith, the Temple Mount (Har ha-Bayit in
Hebrew) is the location where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only
son, Isaac, in the ultimate test of his commitment to God. The Temple
Mount was also the site of the first and second Holy Temples, and it
is a basic tenet of Judaism that it will be the site of the third
Holy Temple.
(3) According to Christianity, Jesus was dedicated on the Temple
Mount in the Second Temple in accordance with the Law of Moses. He
referred to the Biblical Temple as his Father's House, and was
tempted by the Devil at the pinnacle of the Temple Mount.
(4) According to Islam, the Prophet Muhammad ascended into Heaven
riding al-Burak from the edge of the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif in
Arabic). Al-Aqsa Mosque is located on the site of the Prophet's
ascent and is the third holiest site in Islam. The Dome of the Rock
was built over the Holiest Rock, considered in Muslim traditions as
the Center or Core of the Universe.
(5) In June 1967, Jerusalem once again became a united city under
Israel's sovereignty. Since that time, Israel has been legally
responsible for the Temple Mount and has been respectful of the
religious practices of Jews, Christians, and Muslims with regard to
this site.
(6) The Israeli Government elected to delegate the daily oversight of
the Temple Mount to the Temple Mount Waqf (Religious Council), whose
responsibility dates back to 1432, in tacit cooperation with the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan because of the King's capacity as the
Custodian of Haram al-Sharif. In 1994, Jordan's role as custodian of
Muslim religious interests was codified in the Israeli-Jordanian
Peace Treaty.
(7) In the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords, Yassir Arafat's
Palestinian Authority asserted pre-eminence on the Temple Mount
through the subversion of the Waqf and by coercing the
Jordan-affiliated officials and clergymen off the Temple Mount.
Arafat personally nominated the virulently anti-Semitic and
anti-American Mufti Ikrima Sabri as the Imam of al-Aqsa Mosque. In
May 1998, Sabri declared that the Jews have no right to the Temple
Mount.
(8) In 1996, the Israeli Islamic Movement sponsored the expansion of
the underground al-Marawani Mosque on the Temple Mount. The
excavation conducted for this expansion extended beyond  the original
compound, and an ancient underground  structure dating from the
period of the Second Temple (circa 515 B.C. (B.C.E.) to 70 A.D.
(C.E.),  known as the Western Hulda Gate passageway  was converted
into a mosque.
(9) In early 1998, the Waqf, controlled by the Palestinian Authority,
began further excavation. A major underground mosque hall was
inaugurated in August 1999 and an emergency exit was opened to a
mosque located on the Temple Mount. The exit is 18,000 square feet in
size and up to 36 feet deep, and thousands of tons of ancient fills
from the site were dumped into the Kidron Valley. Archeologists have
subsequently determined that artifacts dumped into the Kidron Valley
from the Temple Mount dated from the period of the First Temple
(circa 22 1006 B.C. (B.C.E.) to 586 B.C. (B.C.E.).
(10) In mid 2000, Arafat deployed onto the Temple Mount armed and
unarmed security personnel of Jibril Rajoub's Preventive Security
Forces in violation of numerous past agreements with Israel. Rajoub's
forces evicted the Waqf's personnel and consolidated Arafat's control
and ability to wage the Intifadah (''uprising'') against Israel.
(11) In February and March of 2001, an ancient arched structure built
against the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount enclosure was razed by
bulldozers in order to further enlarge the emergency gate of the new
mosque at the Stables of Solomon.
(12) In early May, Arafat ordered that the underground halls under
the Temple Mount be unified into a single fortified space that would
be both the largest mosque ever built on Haram al-Sharif and a
springboard for the forthcoming Palestinian struggle for control of
the Temple Mount. Given the haste and unsupervised nature of the
ongoing excavation and construction work, there is great fear that
the foundations of the two Holy Mosques will be severely damaged to
the point of collapse.
(13) The actions of Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority
threaten to eliminate all historical evidence of Jewish activity on
the Temple Mount and serve to discredit Israeli claims of sovereignty
over the Temple Mount.
(14) The massive excavation and unsupervised destruction of artifacts
discovered within the Temple Mount are undeniable affronts to the
concepts of religious freedom and tolerance that must be respected in
order to achieve and maintain peace in the Middle East. The
destruction of the Temple Mount, which threatens to incite more
violence, is destroying sacred artifacts and jeopardizing the ability
of Americans to understand and promote their Judeo-Christian heritage.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FUNDS FOR PALESTINIAN AUTHORITIES AND ITS
INSTRUMENTALITIES

(a) PROHIBITION. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds
appropriated or otherwise made available in any Act of Congress may
be used for any form of assistance to the Palestinian Authority or
any instrumentality of the Palestinian Authority unless the President
has certified to the Congress that no excavation of the Temple Mount
in Israel is being conducted.
(b) ANNUAL RECERTIFICATION REQUIRED. Any certification by the
President under subsection (a) shall expire on the last day of the
fiscal year in which it is made.
(c) NATIONAL SECURITY WAIVER. The President may waive the prohibition
contained in subsection (a) for a fiscal year if the President
certifies in writing to the Congress that such waiver is in the
national security interests of the United States.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
 
Press Briefing - Introduction of the Temple Mount Preservation Act -
Remarks by Congressman Eric Cantor (R-Virginia)


Office of Congressman Eric Cantor (VA-07)
For Immediate Release Contact: Jenn Mascott
Thursday, July 19, 2001 (202) 225-2815

WASHINGTON, July 19- Thank you for coming today and for your interest in
this important issue.
I also want to thank my colleagues and friends, Congressman Pence and
Congressman Weiner, for joining me.
I am particularly grateful for your interest in the destruction of the
Temple Mount and what I view as one of the most unprecedented attacks on
religious heritage of our time.
Connected with such destruction is extreme religious intolerance - contrary
to the Jeffersonian principles of the free exercise of religion held dear
by all Americans.
This issue has implications not only for my constituents in Virginia, but
for individuals across the globe.
Thousands of years of Judeo-Christian heritage is under siege at this most
sacred of sites to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
The Temple Mount is the site of the Biblical temple built by King Solomon,
as well as the temple visited by Jesus as a child and again as an adult.
Today, I have information produced by archeologists that provides hard
evidence of the destruction on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
In 1967, Jerusalem was united under Israel's sovereignty. Since that time,
Israel has been legally responsible for the Temple Mount.
The government has allowed equal access for all religions. Shortly after
the 1967 War, the Israeli government delegated authority for the daily
oversight of the Temple Mount to the Waqf, a Muslim Foundation, in tacit
cooperation with Jordan.
Jordan's role as custodian of Muslim religious interests was codified in
the Israel-Jordanian peace treaty of 1994.
In the aftermath of the negotiations surrounding the Oslo Accords, Chairman
Yasser Arafat took control of the Waqf, bringing about a change in the
policy of free access for all religions on the Temple Mount.
He began by replacing the Jordanian-affiliated clergymen and officials and
named Mufti Ikrima Sabri the chief Muslim administrator. Sabri, known for
his anti-Semitic and anti-American views, has since declared that the Jews
have no right to the Temple Mount.
More recently, Arafat has denied Jewish and Christian worshipers access to
the historic Temple Mount and has restricted media from visiting the site.
Beginning in early 1998, Arafat's Waqf has permitted large-scale bulldozing
and destruction of the Temple Mount antiquities. Thousands of tons of fill
have been unearthed and simply dumped into the nearby Kidron Valley.
Archeologists have verified these artifacts date from the period of the
First Temple [circa 1006 BC (BCE) to 586 BC (BCE)].
Anybody with any reasonable perspective would hold that the Temple Mount
should be preserved and any disturbance thereon closely monitored.
But now, there are bulldozers and stone-cutting machines hacking away every
day.
I know that in my District, we are known for historical sites, such as
Montpelier, the home of former President James Madison. I can tell you that
bulldozers come nowhere near the residence, or its estate.
I just returned from Israel two weeks ago.
While there, I met with individuals and government officials who verified
the media reports of the destruction. The Committee for the Prevention of
the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount is comprised of former
government leaders, archeologists, and academics who are concerned and have
banned together to fight the destruction of the religious site.
I saw ancient ruins unearthed from the time of the First and Second
Temples. I saw construction equipment and materials protruding from the top
of the Temple Mount, visible from the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount.
I met with the Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, who confirmed the pattern
of destruction.
At this time, I'd like to turn to the pictures, which reflect the evidence
compiled by these archeologists.
The first series of photographs depict the Temple Mount site as it has
evolved since the mid-1990s.
Particular attention should be given to the heavily treed landscape early
on, and later, the paved plaza replacing the trees.
Attention should focus on the southeastern area of the Temple Mount, under
which an area called Solomon's Stables was connected with the Second
Temple. In this area, Arafat has directed the destruction of what may have
been part of the Temple complex.
The Waqf's action destroyed physical remnants of the religious site,
including arched entranceways and colonnades believed to have played a role
in religious life two thousand years ago.
The pictures depict bulldozers crushing evidence of the religious site and
new construction masking any trace of the temple.
There have been several press accounts reporting this grand-scale
destruction of the Temple Mount, the full text of which are in your packets.
I would like to bring your attention to one in particular.
This is from an Op-Ed carried by the National Review in October 2000, in
which the author stated,
"Moreover, the Waqf has devoted the past 33 years to an extensive campaign
of excavation, systematically destroying any evidence of Jewish and
Christian presence on the Temple Mount, so that they could argue - as they
now do - that it has always been an exclusively Muslim place."
Further evidencing the calculated plan of Arafat's to destroy our
Judeo-Christian heritage, we saw in the Boston Globe in March 2001 a quote
from Sheik Ikrima Sabri:
"The Temple Mount was never there. There is not one bit of proof to
establish that. We do not recognize that the Jews have any right to the
wall or to one inch of the sanctuary. Jews are greedy to control our
mosque. If they every try to, it will be the end of Israel."
The bottom line is, Chairman Arafat's intent is to deny access to the
Temple Mount for any individuals other than followers of Islam.
In addition, the evidence produced today clearly shows that Arafat is
intent on erasing Judeo-Christian connections to the holy site.
And that is why I am introducing today the Temple Mount Preservation Act
that would cut off all aid to Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority
until all unauthorized excavations of the Temple Mount are stopped.
Currently, the United States is on track to send $125 million in aid this
year to the United States Agency for International Development - USAID -
for the Palestinians. This money is part of a $400 million package over
three years appropriated by Congress in 2000.
Additionally, the U.S. annually provides approximately $75 million in
indirect aid to the Palestinians - again administered through the USAID.

 

WOMEN FOR ISRAEL'S TOMORROW (WOMEN IN GREEN)
P.O.B. 7352, JERUSALEM      
91072 Israel
Tel.  02-624-9887      
Fax: 02-624-5380      
http://www.womeningreen.org