By: Richard Allen Greene – Cable News Network

A specter is haunting Eastern Europe: the ghost of Communism past.

Twenty years after the collapse of Soviet-backed communist governments across the bloc, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, support for multiparty democracy has fallen in almost every country in the region, according to a wide-ranging new study.

Majorities still support democracy over communism in all but one of the nine countries in the survey, but only two nations have seen a rise in approval for democracy.

And support for capitalism as an economic system has fallen in every single country surveyed.

Eastern Europeans do embrace democracy and capitalism in principle, one of the survey directors said, but they are frustrated in practice.

“They are frustrated with the way democracy is working in their countries,” said Richard Wike, associate director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

“They see a gap between the way they want things to work and the way they see things are working.

“We don’t see people saying they don’t want free speech, free press or competitive elections; we see people saying they want those things,” Wike said. But “they are unhappy with how things are working out.”

Russians “stand out in some ways in this survey,” he said.

“They are less likely to say certain features of democracy are important,” he explained. “There is some nostalgia for the Soviet empire.”

A clear majority of Russians say it is “a great misfortune that the Soviet Union no longer exists,” while just more than one in three Russians disagrees.

Just under half say it is “natural for Russia to have an empire,” up from just over one in three who felt that way in 1991, the baseline year for the survey.

Communist governments fell across Eastern Europe in 1989, as populations rose against systems that had controlled them since the end of World War II. The Soviet Union itself collapsed at the end of 1991 as its constituent republics, including Russia, declared independence from the Soviet state.

Despite the drop in support for democracy and capitalism, more people everywhere across the formerly communist nations in the survey are satisfied with their lives now than they were in 1991.

The numbers of satisfied people doubled or tripled across the region but did not become a majority in any country. The Czech Republic came closest, with 49 percent of people saying they were satisfied. That’s up from just under one in four 18 years ago.

The results were different in the former West Germany, which essentially absorbed its communist other half, East Germany, at great economic cost in 1990. There, the number of satisfied people fell slightly, from just over half to just under it.

Even so, West Germans are about as satisfied as the Czechs and ahead of anywhere else in the region.

Young people were happier than older people about the change from communism to capitalism in every ex-communist country in the survey.

More educated people also tended to say things were better now than less educated people did.

There is “a mixed picture about how people view minority groups within their countries,” Wike said. “Fewer people in Germany today have negative views towards Turks, Jews and Roma [Gypsies], but there are still very high negative views about some ethnic groups — particularly Roma and Jews — in some parts of the region.”

The findings come from a survey of 14,760 people in 14 countries — most in Eastern Europe but also the United States and a few Western European nations — by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, based in Washington.

They compared results to a survey conducted in 1991 by a predecessor, the Times Mirror Center.

Interviews were conducted in August and September.

By: Rebecca Santana – Associated Press

Iraqi politicians have been turning up their rhetoric over Kirkuk, the oil-rich city that both Kurds in the north and Arabs in the south want to control.

The dispute has caused a deadlock over the country’s election law, threatening to delay Iraq’s nationwide elections set for mid-January. Any vote setback could, in turn, disrupt American plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, scheduled to ramp up after the vote.

“We are getting to a crisis,” said Marina Ottoway, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “They have been trying for over a year to reach a compromise on Kirkuk.”

“Now,” she warns, “it is becoming a problem for the United States.”

For years, tensions have simmered over Kirkuk and its surrounding province of about 1.3 million people, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad. Boasting an ancient citadel, it is in many ways an ordinary, if somewhat shabby, Iraqi city.

But it sits on a political and cultural fault line among ethnic Kurds and smaller groups of Arabs and Turkomen, or ethnic Turks. Vast oil fields, dotted with flaming smoke stacks, lie just to the north and west, raising the stakes.

Kurds consider Kirkuk a Kurdish city and want it part of their self-ruled region. But during the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein, tens of thousands of Kurds were displaced under a forced plan by Saddam to make Kirkuk predominantly Arab.

Regaining control of the city is thus extremely symbolic for Kurds and many Kurds have returned since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But other groups claim Kurds have packed more Kurds into the city than before.

The population breakdown remains in dispute but U.S. officials estimated last spring that Kurds make up 52 percent of Kirkuk and its province, with Arabs at 35 percent and Turkomen about 12 percent.

The Arab-led central government vehemently opposes anything that would remove Kirkuk from its control. A referendum on the city’s future — required by the Iraqi constitution — has been repeatedly postponed. The Turkomens have generally sided with Arabs, believing they’ll be treated better than under the Kurds, a longtime enemy of their Turkish supporters.

The immediate dispute centers on voting rolls listing who can vote in Kirkuk in the January national election. While many proposals have been discussed, Kurds have favored using the 2009 voter registry, which likely reflects the Kurdish growth, while Arabs generally prefer the 2004 voter registry, when the Kurdish population wasn’t so large. That has delayed the necessary deal on the election law.

Long term, money also plays a role. Because of the surrounding oil, whoever controls Kirkuk stands to benefit enormously.

The Kurdish-Arab dispute over Kirkuk is different from Iraq’s main political dispute between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs, which plays out more in the capital of Baghdad and surrounding areas.

The Sunni-Shiite split has less relevance in Kirkuk where both Kurds and Arabs are mostly Sunni Muslims. There, the fear among Arabs — both Sunnis and Shiites — is that Kurds will gobble up all jobs and government benefits if Kirkuk joins Kurdistan.

The United States has been watching the debate intensely for any repercussions it may have for the American military withdrawal.

Under a plan by President Barack Obama, all U.S. combat troops will be out of the country by the end of August 2010, leaving about 50,000 trainers and support troops in Iraq. Those remaining troops would leave by the end of 2011.

U.S. military commanders say the majority of the troop departures would come about 60 days after the planned Iraqi election — the idea being to get the country on stable footing before making any major troop changes.

Any delay in the election date could possibly push back the troop withdrawal. U.S. officials have said that they are still hoping the Jan. 16th date will go forward, but say their troop drawdown plan is not set in stone.

As the election approaches, tensions have increased with Arab lawmakers saying Kirkuk is an Iraqi city and Kurdish lawmakers boycotting a parliament session last week over the issue.

Iraq’s central government should have tried to resolve the underlying Kirkuk issue long before now, asserts Mohammed Ihsan, the former Minister of Disputed Territories, who is now in the Kurdistan regional government.

“They forget that without sorting out this issue, you cannot develop a serious partnership throughout the country,” Ihsan said.

But a Turkomen lawmaker, Abbas al-Bayati, said Iraq’s parliament has not given up hopes of a deal on the election law. “Delaying the elections is a red line. Elections must not be postponed at any price.”

The tensions over Kirkuk — already high — rose last week after Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, said in a speech: “We refuse to give Kirkuk a special status in the election.”

The wording refers to an April U.N. report recommending giving Kirkuk such “special status” with oversight by both the near-autonomous Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad. Kurds reject that.

The controversy over Barzani’s words was further complicated, at least initially, by a mistranslation of his remarks on Iraqi state television, which inaccurately quoted him as saying he pledged to “annex” Kirkuk — a more hardline position.

A regional official with state-owned Iraqiya TV, Evan Nasir Hassan, said Saturday the station made the translation error inadvertently when translating from Kurdish to Arabic. The Associated Press used Iraqiya’s Arabic translation in its original story on the speech Wednesday, but subsequently ran a correction describing Barzani’s comments accurately.

The mistranslation aside, emotions run high.

Fawzi Akram, a legislator in radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc, who listened to Barzani’s speech in the original Kurdish, called his comments provocative.

“We must contain the situation, not make it more complicated,” he said. “Kirkuk is an Iraqi city.”

* Czech leader signs Lisbon Treaty Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed the Lisbon Treaty, the final step in the agreement’s ratification.

* Egypt: Israel taking ‘racist steps’ to rid Jerusalem of Arabs The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged the international community to protect Jerusalem from the “racist steps” being taken by Israel to change the demographics of the city.

* Hamas ‘tests long-range rocket’ The Palestinian militant group Hamas has test-fired a rocket capable of reaching Tel Aviv from Gaza.

* Abbas tells Obama envoy he’s adamant on settlement freeze The Palestinian Authority would not resume peace talks with Israel until all construction in the West Bank settlements stopped.

* 20 years after wall fell, study finds less support for democracy Twenty years after the collapse of Soviet-backed communist governments across the bloc, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, support for multiparty democracy has fallen in almost every country in the region.

* Sanhedrin to UN: Goldstone Will Bring Judgment Upon You The Sanhedrin has warned the UN General Assembly not to hold a plenum debate this Wednesday on the anti-Israel Goldstone Report.

* Iran: Anti-Semite appointed deputy minister A top advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is considered the “brains” behind the president’s Holocaust denial, was appointed Monday as the Islamic republic’s new deputy minister of culture.

* Saudi court upholds child rapist crucifixion ruling A Saudi court of cassation upheld a ruling to behead and crucify a 22-year-old man convicted of raping five children and leaving one of them to die in the desert.

* Iran’s Khamenei says US ‘arrogant power’ Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday the United States was a “really arrogant power”.

* EU presidency trio lays claim to political power Leaders of the countries next in line to take on the day-to-day running of the European Union have made it clear that they do not wish to be sidelined by any future EU president.

* Teheran hints it will not export uranium Iran wants to buy ready-made fuel for its research reactor, a senior Iranian envoy said Monday – the latest indication that Teheran is rejecting a US-backed plan that would have the Islamic Republic ship most of its enriched uranium out of the country.

* Karzai declared elected president Hamid Karzai has been declared president of Afghanistan, after election officials scrapped a planned second round of voting.

* EU leaders aim to put treaty in place by December 1 The EU’s new set of institutional rules may come into force in just over a month, ending a marathon stretch of treaty-making that took eight years, included a series of referendums and resulted in an ungainly text littered with footnotes, protocols and opt-outs.

* Clinton moderates her praise for Israel US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton moderated her praise for Israel’s offer to restrain building settlements in the West Bank areas, saying Monday it still falls short of US expectations.

* Iraq signs new overseas oil deal Iraq’s oil ministry has signed an initial agreement with a consortium led by the Italian firm, ENI, to develop the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq.

* Palestinians accuse U.S. of killing peace prospects Pointing an accusing finger at the United States, the Palestinians on Sunday said Washington’s backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.

* Russia ‘simulates’ nuclear attack on Poland Russia has provoked outrage in Poland by simulating an air and sea attack on the country during military exercises.

* Obama Appoints Anti-Israel Chuck Hagel as Intelligence Aide Jewish Republican party officials and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) are among several groups that have called on U.S. President Barack Obama to rescind his appointment of former senator Chuck Hagel as co-chairman of his Intelligence Advisory Board.

* US Report Criticizes Israel’s Jewish Character In its 2009 International Religious Freedoms Report, the U.S. State Department accuses Israel of “governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism.”

* Kirkuk at the heart of Iraq election law deadlock Iraqi politicians have been turning up their rhetoric over Kirkuk, the oil-rich city that both Kurds in the north and Arabs in the south want to control.

* At Abu Dhabi, PA resists US pressure to renew peace talks Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday announced that negotiations with Israel will not be renewed unless Jerusalem completely halts construction in the settlements, including in east Jerusalem.

* Halloween is the devils work, Catholic church warns parents When Victoria Romero, 6, dressed up as a witch for a Halloween party this week she could hardly have imagined that she was provoking the wrath of God.

* Gaza: Thousands rally for Islamic Jihad Tens of thousands of Islamic Jihad loyalists held a rally in Gaza on Friday to commemorate the group’s slain founder.

* US in new push for Mid-East peace US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a new drive to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

* ‘No signs Israel planning immediate war’ Despite recent accusations to the contrary, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said in an article published on Saturday that Israel is not preparing to launch another war against Lebanon in the near future.

* Abdullah to make run-off decision President Hamid Karzai’s rival in the second round of the Afghan presidential poll says he will announce on Sunday whether he intends to quit the race.

* Iranian Lawmakers Give Thumbs Down to Nuclear Deal Iran’s top lawmakers and its president have expressed disapproval of the United Nations-backed draft nuclear deal with the West.

* Blow to Blair’s hope of EU post Tony Blair’s hopes of becoming president of the European Council are fading after his supporters failed to secure the backing of EU leaders.

* China, eager for oil, expands investment in Nigeria and Guinea The global economic crisis may have forced other nations to put their African investments on hold, but not China.

* Barak: Impasse in peace talks only helps Hamas Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Saturday that the impasse in peace negotiations only benefited the militant Palestinian organization Hamas.

By: Jonathan Spyer – The Jerusalem Post

One of the most notable political processes currently taking place in Hamas-ruled Gaza is the growing prominence of “Salafi jihad” organizations.

These are groupings committed to the rigorous, apocalyptic version of Sunni Islamism associated with the al-Qaida network.

The attempt in August by the Hamas authorities to suppress the Jund Ansar Allah group in southern Gaza momentarily cast the spotlight on the growth of the Salafis. They have not gone away.

Following Hamas’s mini-crackdown, the Salafi groupings have continued to grow. No clear line exists between them and the more “moderate” Islamists of Hamas. Rather, Salafi sentiments and loyalties proliferate among rank and file Hamas militants, in particularly in the movement’s armed wing – the Kassam Brigades.

A complex myriad of Salafi groups exists in Gaza. A key question is whether they will succeed in unifying, in order to pose a more serious challenge to the Hamas authorities.

Among the most significant are the Jund Ansar Allah, the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam), and the Jaish al-Umma (Army of the Nation.) The Jaish al-Islam is built around the powerful Doghmush clan of Gaza. The Jaish al-Umma, meanwhile, is headed by Sheikh Abu Hafez al-Maqdisi, a well known Salafi cleric from southern Gaza. But it is the Jund Ansar Allah which is considered by many analysts to have the best chance of acting as a unifying force for the plethora of small sects which make up the Salafi subculture in Gaza.

Hamas’s crackdown on Jund Ansar Allah came after the group attempted in August to proclaim an Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip. The Salafi movement’s leader, Abdul Latif Abu Moussa (Abu al-Nur al-Maqdesi) was killed in the August fighting. His movement, however, has survived and is now attempting to bring other, smaller groups under its banner.

Among the most noteworthy of these groupings is the Suyuf al Haq al-Islamiyyah.Also of note is the Fatah al-Islam group, consisting of 120 survivors of the Lebanese group of the same name, which was bloodily suppressed by the Lebanese Armed Forces in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.

Behind this confusing swirl of names is a common process whereby young former gunmen of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Hizb al-Tahrir party are increasingly being attracted to the Salafi groups. The reason is quite simple. A considerable number of young Gaza Palestinians want to engage in “armed struggle” and military action against Israel.

Hamas has been of necessity in a situation of de facto cease-fire since Operation Cast Lead. A situation of de jure cease-fire was in place in the months preceding the operation. So the formerly peripheral Salafi groupings are acting as a channel for grass-roots militancy.

The Salafis benefit from a lack of real competition. The secular nationalist Palestinian groupings are largely an irrelevance. The popular Hizb al-Tahrir Party does not itself engage in armed militancy – rather, its role tends to be as a way station and “university” for young activists on the way to violent activity. And Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which might once have been expected to have picked up disaffected former Hamas activists, is generally regarded as starved of cash and close to being defunct.

Jund Ansar Allah and the groups around it have proven in the last year that their commitment to Islamist militancy is more than purely verbal. The largest attempt at an attack on Israel took place on June 8, 2009. This (barely) foiled attack is largely remembered with a certain amusement in Israel, because of the involvement of seven jihadis-on-horseback in it. However, the attack also involved around 40 IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and would have carried a heavy death toll if it had succeeded.

In addition to the rocket and cross-border attacks, Jund Ansar Allah and its associates are also considered responsible for a large number of “honor killings” in Gaza, and for attacks on the small Christian population, on Internet parlors and other examples of non-Islamic life in the Strip.

The organization is now thought to command around 700 fighters, with a much larger network of supporters. The perceived inactivity of Hamas is also aiding the growth of the Salafi tendency within the ruling movement. The “Jaljalat” – as the Salafi groups within Hamas are known – came into being during the period of the cease-fire.

Powerful figures in Hamas are associated with these elements. Sheikh Nizar Rayan, who was killed during Operation Cast Lead, was a key figure behind them. Ahmed al Ja’abari, commander of the Kassam Brigades, is also a known Salafi.

The Jaljalat groupings appear to be maintaining a curious half-in, half-out relationship with Hamas at the present time. Adherents have begun to organize militarily outside of the framework of Hamas, while maintaining their membership in the movement. The Hamas leadership is watching events carefully. They are reluctant to move against the Jaljalat, for fear that this could precipitate a split in Hamas. At the same time, localized suppression is undertaken, when Jaljalat militants are seen to have undertaken actions which could challenge Hamas’s prestige as the sole ruling authority.

Salafi activity both within Hamas and outside it is aided, according to diplomatic sources, by large-scale support and financing from outside of Gaza. The growth of this trend is a product of the meeting of grass roots Islamic militancy, plentiful outside support and a clear, religious-oriented ideological outlook.

The Salafis are now firmly established on the Palestinian political map – a little way from the main spotlight of daily events. There are those who see them as the wave of the future.

* EU treaty closer to ratification after Czech deal agreed The EU came a step closer to full ratification of the Lisbon Treaty after it managed to agree to a sensitive demand by the Czech Republic on the new institutional rules without upsetting other member states.

* Netanyahu to Mitchell: UN Iran initiative ‘a positive first step’ In yet another push for Middle East peace, US Mideast envoy George Mitchell met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem early Friday afternoon.

* EU summit sees fresh discussion on top appointments France, Germany, Spain and Austria stuck daggers into the Blair EU presidency bid in and around a summit in Brussels.

* EU: Iran must stick by uranium offer European leaders pressed Iran Friday to stick by a deal that would limit its uranium enrichment.

* Post-war events intrude upon EU summit Europe’s bloody past hung over EU leaders as they gathered in Brussels to finally try and bring a conclusion to the Lisbon Treaty soap opera.

* Analysis: New fundamentalist movements on the rise in Gaza One of the most notable political processes currently taking place in Hamas-ruled Gaza is the growing prominence of “Salafi jihad” organizations.

* Internet addresses set for change The internet regulator has approved plans to allow non-Latin-script web addresses, in a move that is set to transform the online world.

* 14 years on: Israel remembers Rabin As the Knesset met in a special Thursday session to remember the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the nation’s political leadership searched for lessons learned in the ensuing 14 years regarding the nature of Israeli society.

* US admiral concerned about China military buildup A U.S. Navy admiral expressed new concern Friday over China’s military buildup and urged Beijing to be clearer about its intentions.

* Arab World: Who will be the next leader of Egypt? A new name has been added to the list of contenders for the presidency in Egypt.

By: Hana Levi Julian – Arutz Sheva

Turkey’s new ambassador to Israel has appealed for Jerusalem’s “understanding” in his first statement to the media since taking the position earlier in the week.

Tensions have mounted between the Jewish State and Turkey since January, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan passionately criticized Israel for its counterterrorist military incursion into Gaza, Operation Cast Lead. Erdogan, an observant Muslim, has periodically continued his verbal sniping at the Jewish State since that time.

“I arrived here a few days ago,” Ahmet Oguz Celikkol pointed out, adding, “I am new in this position, although the politics of the region and the Turkish-Israeli relations are not new to me.”

Celikkol told a conference at Bar-Ilan University on Thursday that although his country’s relations with the Jewish State are important, it is equally essential for Israelis to be clear about Turkey’s relations with others.

“Everyone knows how important the relationship is between Israel and Turkey. But it is also essential to understand Turkey’s role in the world and the region as well,” the new ambassador said.

Celikkol’s statement came on the heels of a call by his country’s leader, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for Western powers to stop pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear development activities.

Turkish PM Cozies Up to Iran
Erdogan arrived in the Islamic Republic Monday night for an official state visit, just about the same time that Celikkol took up his new duties in Israel. The Turkish prime minister told reporters at a news conference Wednesday in Tehran that Ankara’s main goal in foreign policy is “attracting friends and having no enemies,” which he called “our basic thinking at national and international levels.”

According to the Fars news agency, Erdogan also said that Turkey and Iran “share common views” on settlement of regional issues. He added that on economic issues, “we can also perform some works jointly.”

On Tuesday, Erdogan had called for closer ties between Iran and Turkey in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. He also insisted that it is the “legitimate right of all world countries, including Iran,” to pursue the development of nuclear technology “for peaceful purposes.”

Turning Away from the West?
Turkey appears to be strengthening ties with its Muslim neighbors — Erdogan was recently in Syria for similar talks, which ended with open borders and elimination of visa requirements — and is slowly moving away from Western influences. The trend may be grounded in more than simple religious politics, however; Turkey’s application for admission to the European Union has been dragging on for months.

One opponent is French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who insists that Turkey should not be admitted to the EU because it is not geographically located in Europe. Another European leader who has expressed reservations about the application is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. An additiona; reason for the delay has to do with Turkey’s long-standing dispute with Cyprus, which has created numerous difficulties in various negotiations on other issues.

The European Union’s unwillingness to admit Turkey into its family of nations, however, is of great concern to the United States, which worries that Russia will fill the void. Turkey is strategically located between the East and West, making it an excellent distribution hub for Russia’s vast supply of energy resources. Closer economic ties would bring closer political ties as well.

* Kurds snub parliament vote on Iraqi election law Kurdish lawmakers pushing for control of a northern oil-rich city boycotted a parliament session on Thursday.

* ‘J’lem to be majority Arab in 20 years’ A new report presented to Israeli parliamentarians has found that despite decades of government attempts to ensure a Jewish majority in Jerusalem, Palestinians will make up the majority of the city’s population within 20 years.

* UN ‘hopeful’ after Iran response The UN’s nuclear watchdog says it is hopeful an agreement with Iran can be reached after Tehran’s response to a new offer on uranium refinement.

* Saudis and Iran in pre-Hajj tensions Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a veiled threat to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

* Pakistan army targets Uzbek base Pakistani troops fighting the Taliban in South Waziristan have surrounded a key stronghold of Uzbek fighters.

* Jerusalem Official: PA has De Facto Control Parts of Capital Israeli control over eastern Jerusalem is a “fiction” while the Palestinian Authority has a presence in many areas.

* Israel marks 14 years since Rabin assassination Israel commemorated on Thursday 14 years since the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin with an official state memorial service at the national cemetery of Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

* New Turkish Envoy: Israel Must Understand Ankara’s Mideast Role Turkey’s new ambassador to Israel has appealed for Jerusalem’s “understanding” in his first statement to the media since taking the position earlier in the week.

* EU leaders head for difficult summit on climate and institutions EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday (29 October) for a two-day summit to try and shape a common position on climate issues.

* EU leaders to debate Blair presidency on summit sidelines European government chiefs gather in Brussels this evening for a summit likely to be the first occasion to broach the divisive subject of Tony Blair’s candidacy to be Europe’s first president.

By: The Jerusalem Post

It’s a dilemma for mainstream Israelis: How to resist capitulating to Arab violence on the Temple Mount – driven by irrational fears of Zionist plots against it – while not encouraging marginal Jewish groups who feverishly yearn to make the Arabs’ worst nightmares come true?

Israel’s “Third Templars” don’t seem to care about the consequences of stoking an apocalyptic religious war with Islamic civilization – 56 countries, 1.57 billion faithful, most of them currently on the sidelines of the Arab-Israel conflict.

Jewish tradition holds that the Mount, site of Solomon’s Temple (and the Ark of the Covenant) and later the Temple built by the returnees from the Babylonian exile, retains an intrinsic holiness. Disagreements among Torah authorities over which, if any, sections of the Temple plateau may be traversed without treading on the sacred ground of the Holy of Holies date back centuries.

To this day, most ultra-Orthodox Jews avoid the area. And yet for those who consider themselves part of the Jewish collective regardless of denominational or political persuasion, the Mount embodies the civilizational core of our shared past.

In 638, Arab invaders defeated the Christian Byzantines (inheritors of the Roman Empire) for control of this land. Within 50 years they had constructed the Dome of the Rock to enshrine the holy stone Muslims believe to be the place where Abraham prepared to sacrifice… Ishmael. Subsequently, the Aksa Mosque was constructed on the southern end of the plateau.

AFTER ISRAEL captured the area from Jordan in 1967, Moshe Dayan decided to be magnanimous in victory and continue the authority of the Muslim religious trust, or Wakf, to administer the site. Jews, previously barred by Muslims from reaching the holy places, were allowed to ascend the Mount during visiting hours. In keeping with Jewish tradition and in cognizance of Muslim sensibilities, they were, however, prohibited from conducting religious services.

This seemed the perfect compromise, enabling Muslims to worship at the shrines, as was their custom, and Jews (as well as tourists of all faiths) to visit the site for silent meditation and inspiration. The Orthodox establishment of the day, running the gamut from haredi to Zionist, opposed going up to the Mount.

Now a diverse group of mostly post-Zionist settler rabbis, messianic followers of the late Lubavitcher rebbe and practicing “Third Templars” – abetted by a smattering of ultra-right-wing Knesset members – have banded together to force the “hand of God.” Ostensibly, they are calling upon the Jewish masses to ascend the Mount and assert a Jewish presence there; we suspect that what many of them really want is to “disappear” the Muslim shrines, put up a Jewish temple and recommence animal sacrifices.

Therein our dilemma: Step back from the Temple Mount, and Arab intimidation wins. Assert Jewish rights, and risk heartening a band of Jewish extremists high on a toxic potion of piety and politics. That even a “moderate” Palestinian leader like Mahmoud Abbas does not accept the Temple Mount as sacred to Jews further complicates the predicament.

ONE POSSIBLE approach is for the government to explicitly remind the Wakf that its administrative role on the Mount derives from the authority vested in it by the Jewish state. Successive governments have abdicated their fiduciary responsibilities by failing to monitor Wakf treatment of Jewish visitors and, most troublingly, looking the other way as the Muslim trust carried out unauthorized excavations.

In parallel, we want to clearly hear Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denounce as folly the actions of those agitating for a Third Temple built on the ashes of the Muslim shrines. He should disabuse anyone who imagines that the antics of these “Third Templars” have support on the sane Right.

Given the Palestinians’ endemic intransigence and quick resort to violence – including, it should be stressed, via malevolent inflation of tensions on the Mount – it is easy to be dismissive of all their grievances over Jerusalem. But sometimes, more sensitivity could be applied. The Palestinians are not always wrong to complain that municipal authorities are placing unreasonable demands on them in seeking building permits while facilitating scatter-site Jewish housing (with no security value) in densely populated Arab neighborhoods.

In the final analysis, Israeli sovereignty is best manifested by providing the same level of municipal services to all taxpaying Jerusalemites – and by insisting on the same adherence to the law from all.