UN - Abbas Disavows Jewish Ties to Temple Mount
There is no proof of Jewish ties to the area of al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said at the United Nations as he referenced Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount and its adjacent Western Wall.
“They [Israel] dug under al-Aqsa… they dug everywhere, and they could not find anything,” Abbas said.
Israel has in the past waged a stiff diplomatic battle against Palestinian attempts at the UN to disavow its connection to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Abbas also repeated the claim, which Israel has denied, that Palestinians were not given freedom of worship on the Aqsa Mosque compound.
He compared Israel’s rendition of its historical narrative to the kind of misinformation disseminated by Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels during World War II.
Abbas told the UN it was important that there be a “return of the refugees to their towns and villages of which they were displaced so that this tragedy does not constitute a scar for humanity.”
He said the UN should implement the hundreds of resolutions it has issued upholding the rights of Palestinians, including Resolution 181 from 1947, which he said called for the establishment of an Arab state “for the Palestinian people on 44% of the total area of historic Palestine alongside the state of Israel.”
Israel should be forced to accept Resolutions 181 and 194 on the return of Palestinian refugees or face suspension, Abbas said.
“We demand today officially” that the UN must insist that Israel respect “these resolutions or suspend Israel’s membership in the UN,” he said.
-www.jpost.com, 15 May 2023
Arno's Commentary
There are geopolitical conflicts all over the world. Most can be eventually settled, provided one employs proper diplomatic approaches. That, however, is virtually impossible when dealing with Palestinian Arabs, whose leaders publicly express their desire to eliminate the Israeli entity. How can one talk to a people who send their young ones as suicide terrorists, targeting the killing of innocent civilians? And afterward, call those murderers martyrs, resulting in streets being named in their honor? How can someone deal diplomatically with a people who teach their children that to kill Jews is a great honor and earns favor with their god, Allah?
Abbas is right by stating that Resolution 181 called for the establishment of an Arab state with 44% of the territory. But, simply put, they rejected it. Instead, five well-armed national military forces were called to annihilate the newly founded State of Israel. Yet the opposite happened: much of the so-called 44% Palestinian territory was taken possession of by the Jewish State.
Besides, is there any country on the face of planet earth that was not established by military force?
Take, for example, America (North and South). All 35 now sovereign states were established on the territory of Native Americans. They were dispossessed, placed on reservations, and their young ones forced into concentration camp-like residential schools, where they were not permitted to practice their culture, language, or religion. That’s history.
What the Arab Palestinians and those who have declared themselves enemies of Israel, say with their words and actions is reflected in Psalm 83:4: “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” Yet the prophet Joel proclaims: “But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion” (Joel 3:20-21).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
