By: – Col. Bob Maginnis

President Obama renewed his pledge to end the military’s ban on homosexuals at a fund-raising dinner in Washington Saturday night. His speech was designed to buy more time from the impatient gay community that aggressively supported his bid for the presidency.

“I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Obama promised 3,000 supporters of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a far-left group that promotes forcing Americans to embrace homosexual behavior. The commander-in-chief said “That’s my commitment to you” but he offered no timetable.

He assured the cheering audience “I’m here with a simple message: I’m here with you in that fight.” Then Obama said “Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach” and “my commitment to you is unwavering.”

He reviewed his campaign pledge to be “a fierce advocate for gay and lesbian Americans” and then outlined evidence of his pro-homosexual accomplishments and the way-ahead.

Obama reminded those at the $250-a-plate black tie event that his administration has extended benefits to the spouses of homosexual federal employees, hosted a “Gay Pride” month celebration and distributed tickets to gay “families” to attend the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. He also appointed John Berry to serve as Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the highest-ranking openly homosexual official in U.S. history.

Obama promised to re-invigorate the nation’s response to HIV/AIDS. He will host public forums to develop a national HIV/AIDS strategy, end a policy that prohibits HIV-positive foreigners from entering the country and renew the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act. That act is the country’s largest federally funded program for people with HIV/AIDS.

But his pro-gay list of achievements is thin, which disappoints anxious activists. He did celebrate the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill that recently passed the House and is expected to be considered by the Senate this week. He promised to eagerly sign the bill, which has become a centerpiece of the homosexual community’s political agenda because it includes crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation.

He admitted “We know there is more work” to do and then promised to work hard on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). “It’s not fair to get fired for being gay,” Obama said but he made no promise when he will try to push ENDA through Congress. The proposed bill would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation.

Obama says he does not support homosexual marriage, a position that enjoys strong bipartisan support across the country. But he does see “…a time relationships between two men and two women are just as admirable as a man and a woman.” For now, Obama’s same-sex relationship vision is blunted unless the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is repealed, an idea he favors. There is a pending House bill to repeal DOMA but opponents outnumber supporters and twenty-nine states have banned same-sex marriage.

The president said “We are moving ahead on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’” and indicated he is working with “the Pentagon and House.” He explained, “We should not punish patriotic Americans who serve this country, especially when fighting two wars.” Then he invoked a common canard about the issue, “We cannot afford to cut from our ranks people with critical skills.”

Anyone serving in the military knows about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on homosexuals serving openly. That means gay service members lied to join. Besides, the vast majority of those dismissed for homosexuality — more than 12,000 or 3.2 percent of all forced discharges since 1994 — are junior people with few skills.

There is no need to reverse the policy based on recruitment or retention, the most-often cited justification for reversing the policy. The military has no shortage of recruits and retention is at record levels.

The 1993 ban was passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by President Clinton. It is intended to protect combat effectiveness which the Pentagon’s 1993 task force on homosexuality said is threatened by openly serving gays. Until there is objective and independent evidence that military effectiveness won’t be harmed by gays serving openly, Congress will likely keep the ban no matter what Obama says or does.

Obama’s appearance at the HRC dinner and advocacy for radical change marks him as “…the most divisive president in American history,” said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law. Staver continued, “He seems to relish in promoting radical policies and ideas that drive a wedge between people who hold contrasting beliefs and values.”

The president concluded his speech with an anecdote about a young man struggling “to fall asleep with a secret.” The young man’s secret, said Obama, is his homosexuality and the president promised “his future is bright” because our “common ideals [are] stronger than division.” Obama promised there are “still laws to change and hearts to open.”

Obama’s speech demonstrates conclusively that he intends to forcibly change America’s moral compass by rewriting our laws to force all Americans to embrace the radical gay agenda.

* PM to Arab citizens: Don’t believe lies Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday called on Israeli-Arabs not to be deceived by “lies” about Israel digging under the Temple Mount.

* Preparing for Service in the Rebuilt Temple Jews in the town of Mitzpe Yericho are taking practical steps to prepare for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, by preparing descendants of Cohanim (priests) and Levites for service.

* Turkey drops joint drill because of IAF In another sign of continued tensions between Ankara and Jerusalem, the Turkish military canceled a planned joint exercise with the Israel Air Force scheduled for this week, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

* After drill cancellation, Barak says Turkey major player in ME Following Turkey’s cancellation of a joint military exercise on Sunday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that “despite the ups and downs, Turkey continues to be a major player in our region.”

* N Korea ‘test-fires five rockets’ North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles off the east coast of the peninsula, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency has reported.

* Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two- quarter rout in almost two decades.

* Interpol to help UN in peacekeeping missions Interpol, the global police organization, said Monday it will provide enhanced technical and advisory support to the United Nations in the world body’s peacekeeping missions worldwide.

* Jordan threatened to expel Israel envoy over Temple Mount clashes Jordan threatened to expel Israel’s ambassador to the Kingdom last week in the event of Israel choosing to forcibly enter the Temple Mount during clashes in Jerusalem.

* Poland ratifies Lisbon Treaty as Czech cloud hangs overhead Polish President Lech Kaczynski signed the Lisbon Treaty at a ceremony in Warsaw.

* Clinton to press Russia on Iran, arms control US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton travels to Russia on Monday hoping to win Moscow’s backing for a strong stance on Iran’s nuclear program and looking for progress on a new arms control pact.

* Iran threatens to ‘blow up heart’ of Israel if attacked Iran would “blow up the heart” of Israel if it was attacked by the Jewish state or the United States.

* Pakistan gunmen ‘take hostages’ A number of militants who earlier attacked Pakistan’s military HQ near Islamabad have taken 10-15 security personnel hostage.

* Iran: Israel’s threats inexplicable Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaee, sent a letter of protest to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

* Mitchell says meeting with Abbas positive US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday.

* EU Council president must manage national leaders, says Barroso European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says a future permanent president of the European Council must be able to stand up to member states that seek to pursue their own interests.

* Polish leader ratifies EU treaty Polish President Lech Kaczynski has signed the European Union’s much-delayed Lisbon Treaty.

* Iran dominates Clinton trip to Europe, Russia Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton departed for Europe late Friday on a five day trip.

* Armenia-Turkey agreement delayed A landmark agreement normalising ties between Turkey and Armenia after a century of hostility has been delayed.

* Fresh clashes mar al-Aqsa prayers Clashes have broken out in East Jerusalem amid high tensions after Palestinian groups called for a day of protest over access to al-Aqsa mosque.

* China says time to act on NKorea disarmament talks North Korea appears keen to improve ties with the U.S. and its neighbors in Asia and perhaps rejoin nuclear disarmament talks.

* Iran will blow up the heart of Israel Iran will “blow up the heart of Israel” if the United States or the Jewish state attacked it first, a top official with Iran’s most powerful military force, the Revolutionary Guard, warned Friday.

* Palestinians urged to defend al-Aksa The Fatah Central Council has called for a general strike in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Friday in protest of Israel’s “measures against al-Aksa Mosque.”

* Diplomat: EU to sign partnership with Syria this month Source says new treaty will help union ‘develop substantial dialogue on human rights situation in Syria’

* Leaving Iraq Is a Feat That Requires an Army There is no more visible sign that America is putting the Iraq war behind it than the colossal operation to get its stuff out.

* Barroso fears powerful European president European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has sided with smaller member states in trying to restrict the role of the proposed president of the European Council, a new post created by the Lisbon Treaty.

* US crash lands probes into Moon NASA scientists are assessing preliminary data after crashing two unmanned spacecraft into the Moon in a bid to detect water-ice.

* U.S. furious over Israeli incitement against Obama The US administration is furious over Israeli incitement against President Barack Obama, Democratic congressmen close to Obama told an Israeli source who returned from a visit to Washington this week.

* Jordan’s King to Haaretz: Nuclear transparency applies to Israel as well For a long while, the “Jordan is Palestine” formula – of which many Israelis, notably Ariel Sharon, were fond – rattled the royal house.

By: Associated Press

The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a report Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report provides a precise number for a population whose size has long has been subject to guesswork, with estimates ranging anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.

The project, three years in the making, also presents a portrait of the Muslim world that might surprise some. For instance, Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined, and Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan.

“This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report,” said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University who reviewed an advance copy.

Pew officials call the report the most thorough on the size and distribution of adherents of the world’s second largest religion behind Christianity, which has an estimated 2.1 billion to 2.2 billion followers.

The arduous task of determining the Muslim populations in 232 countries and territories involved analyzing census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, the report says. In cases where the data was a few years old, researchers projected 2009 numbers.

The report also sought to pinpoint the world’s Sunni-Shiite breakdown, but difficulties arose because so few countries track sectarian affiliation, said Brian Grim, the project’s senior researcher.

As a result, the Shiite numbers are not as precise; the report estimates that Shiites represent between 10 and 13 percent of the Muslim population, in line with or slightly lower than other studies. As much as 80 percent of the world’s Shiite population lives in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.

The report provides further evidence that while the heart of Islam might beat in the Middle East, its greatest numbers lie in Asia: More than 60 percent of the world’s Muslims live in Asia.

About 20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 percent are in Europe and 0.3 percent are in the Americas. While the Middle East and North Africa have fewer Muslims overall than Asia, the region easily claims the most Muslim-majority countries.

While those population trends are well established, the large numbers of Muslims who live as minorities in countries aren’t as scrutinized. The report identified about 317 million Muslims – or one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population – living in countries where Islam is not the majority religion.

About three-quarters of Muslims living as minorities are concentrated in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million).

In several of these countries – from India to Nigeria and China to France – divisions featuring a volatile mix of religion, class and politics have contributed to tension and bloodshed among groups.

The immense size of majority-Hindu India is underscored by the fact that it boasts the third-largest Muslim population of any nation – yet Muslims account for just 13 percent of India’s population.

“Most people think of the Muslim world being Muslims living mostly in Muslim-majority countries,” Grim said. “But with India … that sort of turns that on its head a bit.”

Among the report’s other highlights:

• Two-thirds of all Muslims live in 10 countries. Six are in Asia (Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey), three are in North Africa (Egypt, Algeria and Morocco) and one is in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria).

• Indonesia, which has a tradition of a more tolerant Islam, has the world’s largest Muslim population (203 million, or 13 percent of the world’s total). Religious extremists have been involved in several high-profile bombings there in recent years.

• In China, the highest concentrations of Muslims were in western provinces. The country experienced its worst outbreak of ethnic violence in decades when rioting broke out this summer between minority Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese.

• Europe is home to about 38 million Muslims, or about five percent of its population. Germany appears to have more than 4 million Muslims – almost as many as North and South America combined. In France, where tensions have run high over an influx of Muslim immigrant laborers, the overall numbers were lower but a larger percentage of the population is Muslim.

• Of roughly 4.6 million Muslims in the Americas, more than half live in the United States although they only make up 0.8 percent of the population there. About 700,000 people in Canada are Muslim, or about 2 percent of the total population.

A future Pew Forum project, scheduled to be released in 2010, will build on the report’s data to estimate growth rates among Muslim populations and project future trends.

A similar study on global Christianity is planned to begin next year.

By: Akiva Eldar – Haaretz

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has asked Haaretz to relay a message to the Israeli public that it disavow the illusion that the status quo can be perpetuated, because as a result of the diplomatic impasse, “We are sliding back into the darkness.

“Is Israel going to be fortress Israel or is it going to be part of the neighborhood? Because if there is no two-state solution, what future do we all have together?” he asked in an exclusive interview on Tuesday at his palace in Amman at the height of the disturbances in East Jerusalem.

“Show me the future of Israel 10 years from now. Where do you want Israel to be vis-a-vis its relationship with Jordan and other Arab countries? I understand that you tend to live in the here and now. You are worried about the next threat. It is difficult for an Israeli to look into the future because of the security aspect. But if there is peace and stability, then people can look into the future.”

Jerusalem is “a tinderbox that will have a major flashpoint throughout the Islamic world,” he added.

The king said he had raised the sanctity and sensitivity of Jerusalem with every Israeli prime minister, including Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that it “is important to understand the need of ending all settlement activities and other unilateral actions that threaten the identity of the holy city.”

Abdullah said he had also discussed the issue with the U.S. administration. He warned that attempts to change the situation in the city could destabilize relations with Jordan, which by agreement has a special function in Jerusalem, and could damage efforts to renew negotiations with the Palestinians.

When asked whether he supports bringing back the wall that divided the city until June 1967, Abdullah said: “I don’t believe in dividing the city with a wall. We don’t want to see walls anywhere. Walls eventually do come down. Putting up walls have never helped societies.”

Jerusalem should be a symbol of coexistence for the three monotheistic faiths, he added.

With the Israel-Jordan peace treaty approaching its 15th anniversary, the 48-year-old Jordanian leader recalled the glory days of relations between the two neighboring countries. He spoke of the feelings of friendship and faith his father, the late King Hussein, had for Yitzhak Rabin. He said that unfortunately, “our relationship is getting colder.”

The king, who this year marked his 10th anniversary on the throne, attributes the gap between the two countries to foot-dragging on negotiations with the Palestinians and the settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Abdullah called for a renewal of talks on the basis of understandings that had been reached with previous Israeli governments, and not to begin from point zero.

In reference to his decision to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in Jordan, Abdullah pledged that it would be done with the safest and most efficient technology available, to protect the facilities from natural disasters or terror attacks. “We will, and we all should, be transparent when it comes to nuclear energy,” he said.

When asked whether, in this reference to transparency, he had Israel in mind, he said, “It’s sort of a dark subject. And that applies to Israel as it applies to other countries.”

* Survey: Global Muslim population hits 1.57 b. The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam.

* UN body to debate Gaza ‘crimes’ The UN has brought forward a regular Security Council meeting on the Middle East after Libya demanded an urgent debate on alleged war crimes in Gaza.

* IDF fears spread of J’lem violence The IDF is raising its level of alert ahead of Friday morning prayers in Jerusalem and out of fear that violence there will spread to Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

* Peace an illusion, says Israel FM Israel’s foreign minister has said there is no chance of an early solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and told people to “learn to live with it”.

* American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned.

* Blair seeks religious leader unity on Jerusalem Former British Prime Minister and Middle East envoy Tony Blair called Wednesday for a joint appeal by Jerusalem’s religious leaders on keeping the holy city open to all faiths even as tensions flare.

* Warning over global oil ‘decline’ There is a “significant risk” that global production of conventional oil could “peak” and decline by 2020.

* Jordan’s king to Haaretz: Without two states, there is no future Jordan’s King Abdullah II has asked Haaretz to relay a message to the Israeli public that it disavow the illusion that the status quo can be perpetuated.

* Brussels in limbo over Klaus treaty delay The heads of the EU’s three main institutions on Wednesday (7 September) came together to point out to Czech President Vaclav Klaus the “costs” to Europe if he continues to delay ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

* Rabbis Discuss Blocking Jews, Gentiles from Temple Mount The Temple Mount is sacred to the People of Israel, rabbis agree, but at least one — Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv — has urged President Shimon Peres not to allow Jews to tread the site.

By: Paul Reynolds – BBC News

The ‘Yes’ vote by Irish voters on the Lisbon Treaty has brought forward the prospect that the European Union might play a greater role in world affairs.

There are two provisions in the treaty which might make this possible. These are for a permanent president of the European Council and a beefed-up foreign policy representative.

The hope among supporters of the treaty is that these posts will enable the EU to speak more clearly and coherently on major world issues.

The fear among critics is that this will go too far and take away the role and influence of national governments.

However, it can only go so far, because national vetoes remain over joint EU-wide foreign policy and security decisions – unlike trade, where member states pool their powers by majority voting if necessary.

So even a powerful new president could not speak for the EU as a whole if it was divided, as it was over the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

But the negotiations with Iran, for example, show how things could develop.

Three EU member states – Great Britain, France and Germany – work alongside the present EU foreign policy representative, thereby enabling individual governments to retain their independence of view while combining together for greater effect.

President’s impact

The president would chair summit meetings of the heads of state and government – the European Council. He or she would be elected by the council by qualified majority and would not need the approval of the European Parliament.

The term of office is set at two-and-a-half years initially, followed by a similar period on re-election. A qualified majority vote could also sack the president.

At the moment, the office is held by the head of state or government whose country has the six-monthly revolving presidency.

Six months is hardly time for anyone to say much, let alone do much.

Clearly, a full-time president would have far greater impact internally and externally in terms of setting agendas and speaking out.

Much depends on who would get the job. An outspoken president could make a big impact. Someone quieter might be sidelined by national leaders.

It seems you have to have been a prime minister or at least a foreign minister to fit the bill, but there would be no shortage of candidates.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair carries baggage from the Iraq war but would give the EU a prominent voice on the world stage.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker is a possible runner from the right, not well-known internationally but experienced in EU negotiations.

Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has a good reputation in economic affairs and for helping to reach the Northern Ireland agreement, but he is from a smaller country and some might want a bigger hitter.

Others possibilities include former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and former Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Pipponen.

Money power

The other more powerful post proposed is that of the so-called high representative. There is one already: Javier Solana, who is very active but perhaps not known much to the European public.

The new holder would chair the meetings of foreign ministers and combine not only the right to speak and lead for the EU on agreed policies but would additionally administer the multi-billion euro aid budget and would have a seat on the European Commission.

The power to hand out money would inevitably increase the power of the post.

In the original constitutional proposals this position was called the foreign minister but Britain, for one, felt that was gave too much away to the EU and in the treaty the name reverted to high representative.

This foreign policy chief would have his or her own diplomatic service, building on the EU representatives already present across the world.

This again has raised worries among some national foreign offices about a reduction in their power over time. It is not yet clear how important this service will become, but it certainly has the potential to become very much so.

As with the president, there would be limits on what the high representative could do, given the sensitivities of some governments in foreign affairs.

One potential delicate area would be the so-called “enhanced co-operation” available if nine or more member states agree. This would be extended to foreign affairs and security under Lisbon, raising the prospect of a fast-track group.

Those wanting closer military ties might also get into what is called structured co-operation. Where would the high representative position him or herself in those cases?

There might also be rivalries with the president on big issues.

Mr Solana is leaving soon anyway, and whoever replaces him would be well placed to take on the larger role.

Names mentioned include Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is losing his job as German foreign minister after the elections, Carl Bildt of Sweden, Finnish EU commissioner Olli Rehn and former British Commissioner Chris Patten.

The game is nearly on.

By: Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper – The Jerusalem Post

Here we go again. As Jews celebrate in their tens of thousands the festival of Booths, Succot, religious extremists like Sheikh Raed Salah incite Palestinian masses to recapture Jerusalem with “blood and fire.” Not to be outdone, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah rushed in to pour fuel on the fire as it protests a “plan by Jews to perform religious rituals” on the Temple Mount,’ and called on the international community to “force Israel to put off its attempts to take over Jerusalem.”

So as Israel struggles to stop the stone throwers’ verbal assaults, and the next spate of resolutions, it’s worth reminding the world that ever since the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, millions of people have safely streamed to the Western Wall to offer their prayers and insert hand written supplications to the Almighty. While most visitors shedding their tears adjacent to Judaism’s holiest site – the Temple Mount – are Jews, not all pilgrims are. Witness Pope John Paul II inserting his own kvittel (written prayer) within the Wall’s cracks; pilgrims from Africa, tourists from Indonesia, Swamis from India, Evangelicals from the Americas, Buddhists from across Asia – all come and go to the Wall.

The only price of admission: donning a cardboard yarmulke or scarf. Presidents and prime ministers flock to the Western Wall as well, armed with the latest great hope for peace in the Holy Land. From the Oslo Accords to the Quartet Middle East road map for peace, every official, regardless of religious denomination, or lack of one, finds a welcome private moment of silent prayer or reflection at the Western Wall.

AND YET earlier this week, in the midst of the Jewish High Holy Days, French tourists on the Temple Mount were pelted by irate Palestinian worshipers who “mistook” them for Jews. And the stones, and orchestrated crescendo of violence have continued unabated. During this seemingly annual exercise, has any diplomat, foreign minister, religious icon, or political pundit asked himself, or better yet the Palestinians, one simple question – why? Why can we all pray in peace at the Western Wall, but the very notion of a Jew praying on the site of Solomon’s Temple begets only violence, denial and threats?

he centrality of Jerusalem to the Jewish people was never lost on friend or foe.

Two thousand years ago the Romans, after destroying the Temple, plowed under its remains and banned Jews from returning. Emperor Hadrian tried to bury the very name of City of Peace, renaming Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina. Later, Christians, for theological reasons, extended that painful ban and it was only conquering Muslim leaders who recognized the right of Jews to “return” to live in this small area of land.

Indeed, the Christian patriarchs unsuccessfully lobbied conquering Caliph Omar in the seventh century, and again when Saladin drove out the Crusaders in the twelfth, to prevent Jews from living in or returning to Jerusalem after the Christians had expelled them from the city. Such efforts by Christians were to be repeated and denied by various Muslim authorities for hundreds of years.

How to explain Muslim attitudes over the centuries? Because the Koran itself recognized Solomon’s Temple as a “Great place of prayer,” and Muslim leaders saw no theological problem with Jews praying adjacent to the Dome of the Rock and the nearby Al Aqsa Mosque. Indeed, in its 1924 guide to Al-Haram Al- Sharif (the Temple Mount) the Supreme Muslim Council wrote “It’s identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute,” adding this quote from the Book of Samuel: “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.” That language would remain until the 1950s.

So why are things so dramatically different in 2009?

Simply put, generations of Palestinians, “educated” by Yasser Arafat and company, have been taught not believe there ever was a Solomon’s Temple. Textbooks and Palestinian media all repeat the self-delusionary canard denying any historic Jewish continuity or legitimacy in the Holy Land. Indeed, president Bill Clinton was reportedly shocked when Arafat called the Western Wall – the Jewish people’s holiest place – “a Muslim shrine” and the Palestinian leader’s chief negotiator at the make-or-break Camp David peace talks denied the ruins of Solomon’s temple lay beneath the Dome of the Rock.

TRAGICALLY, EVER since Israel magnanimously turned over religious control of the Temple Mount to the Muslim Wakf in June 1967, successive generations have been taught that Israelis are Nazi-like invaders, illegitimate neighbors and enemies.

And “friends of peace,” far from urging Palestinians to deal with reality, help feed the delusion of denial. Witness the World Council of Churches, the largest umbrella group of Protestants, which recently launched the so-called Bern Initiative at its “Promised Land” conference in Switzerland. Its answer to Israel’s alleged “apartheid situation” in the Holy Land is to reinterpret the Bible by differentiating between “biblical history and biblical stories . . . as well to distinguish between the Israel of the Bible and the modern State of Israel.”

The current violence and rabble rousing by the Palestinians won’t make it any easier for US President Barack Obama, but the first thing he must do is not stop illegal nursery and bathroom add-ons in east Jerusalem but admonish the Palestinian leadership to stop denying the legitimacy of the Jewish people.

Simply put: There can be no peace in the Holy Land without the Arab and Muslim world acknowledging what their Holy Book and ancestors recognized as the historic link of the Jewish people to its land and its Holy sites. Unless and until that happens, there will be no peace in our time.

By: Rebecca Anna Stoil – The Jerusalem Post

Raed Salah, the outspoken leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel’s northern branch, called Tuesday on all Israeli Arabs and residents of east Jerusalem to immediately make their way to the Old City and “shield the Aksa Mosque with their bodies.”

Salah, who was arrested later on Tuesday, is no stranger to controversy, but his militancy continues to drive a wedge within the decades-old organization, between those who say they believe in working within the political system and those advocating violent methods outside of it.

After cabinet ministers called for his indictment on Tuesday morning, a defiant Salah said he and his supporters “would pay any price to defend the Aksa [Mosque],” Israel Radio reported.

In response to accusations of inciting the Muslim violence in Jerusalem in recent days, Salah said that if forced by the government to choose between imprisonment and defending the mosque “and occupied Jerusalem,” he would choose the former without hesitation.

Prof. Yitzhak Reiter, from the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that support for the movement had remained steady among Israeli Muslims at 20 to 25 percent, but that many more supported Salah when it came to the Temple Mount.

“Both [of the Islamic Movement’s] factions together represent approximately 20 to 25% of the Muslim population, but that doesn’t mean that people who vote for Hadash or even Labor won’t agree with Salah when he speaks about Al-Aksa,” Reiter said. “And they will evaluate the situation like he does, because they don’t trust the government institutions’ line about it.”

But Reiter also emphasizes that there is a limit to Salah’s influence even regarding the Temple Mount.

“In 2007, when Israel was working on the Mughrabi gate entrance, and Salah called on people to defend the mosque, few people actually came – even on the buses that he organized to come to Jerusalem – because they understood that he took one step too far.”

In that case, Reiter said, the authorities took important steps to stem the furor by simulcasting live footage of the building project, which helped refute Salah’s allegations.

“He works by building castles of conspiracy theories, and this destroyed them,” explained Reiter, arguing that in the recent violence, Israel could have taken steps to explain to Israeli Arabs that Salah’s conspiracy theories were just that and nothing more.

Salah, whom Reiter described as the force behind the split between the Islamic Movement’s two fronts, has continued to function as one of the movement’s most recognized leaders for decades. But he was far from the only member who has pushed the boundaries between millennialist political thought advocating the establishment of an Islamist caliphate based in Jerusalem and outright support of terrorism.

The Islamic Movement was established in 1971 and even in its early years was accused of walking a narrow line between political activism and terrorism. The movement was founded by Abdullah Nimar Darwish with the goal of establishing private Islamist welfare services as an alternative to those offered by the Jewish state.

But a parallel organization called The Families of Jihad was also established by Darwish and several other leaders within the movement, and their stated goal was to establish an “Arab Islamist state in Palestine.”

Eight years later, the organization’s leadership was arrested after attempting to carry out a terrorist attack, and from then on, the movement officially renounced terrorism.

After a surge of support in the early ’80s, the movement began to run candidates in municipal elections, and Salah first achieved electoral success in the Wadi Ara city of Umm el-Fahm, which subsequently became an ideological center for the movement.

It was in the early ’90s that cracks in the movement’s unified front began to emerge, with the northern faction opposing the Oslo Accords and the southern front welcoming them. That division was further strengthened – and the split became official – when in 1996 the southern front decided to team up with MK Ahmed Tibi’s Arab Democratic Party to form the United Arab List-Ta’al. Salah, however, advocated boycotting elections, maintaining the faction’s complete boycott of all Israeli institutions.

Twice during that decade, the movement’s charitable wing was closed after the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) discovered that it was giving money to Hamas members’ families.

Salah, together with then-MK Abdul Malik Dahamshe was blasted for his role in inciting the October 2000 Wadi Ara riots, and then – similar to now – Salah incited followers to violence to protect the Temple Mount following then-prime minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Jerusalem holy site.

Salah continued to incite his followers to violence, frequently using the Aksa Mosque as the emotional focal point of his calls to action. In 2002, the northern branch’s newspaper was ordered closed by then (as now) Interior Minister Eli Yishai after it blasted Israel for allowing “the flea rabbis to harm Al-Aksa.”

Salah himself was arrested in 2003 for allegedly aiding Hamas, but was released in 2005 following a plea agreement.

He once again courted jail time in 2007 when he called on Muslims to defend the Temple Mount during the Mughrabi Gate project, but returned to lying relatively low in the ensuing two years. But last year, after a series of stone-throwing incidents in northern Israel, the movement returned to the headlines when two Israeli-Arab youths told a reporter for the Yisrael Hayom newspaper that northern front activists had paid them to attack passing vehicles.

Rather than denying the allegations, an unnamed senior member of the movement confirmed the report, and added as explanation: “We want autonomy like the Catalans and Basques in Spain, while all means are valid on the path to this goal.”