Canary In The Coal Mine

Senate Distinguishes Between Palestinian Refugees and Descendants

From: JTA.org | May 24, 2012

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved language that would distinguish between Palestinian refugees alive in 1948 and their descendants.

The amendment to the foreign appropriations bill, initiated by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and passed Thursday, requires the State Department to report within a year on approximately how many people are receiving assistance from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency "whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict; and who are descendants" of those people.

The State Department had expressed concerns about the language in the amendment, but Kirk prevailed.

"This will have major implications for future negotiations over final status issues with regard to refugees," said a senior Senate aide involved in shaping the amendment.

Should the Obama or any subsequent administration heed the new requirement, it would deliver a diplomatic blow to Palestinian efforts to leverage their refugee status in peace talks with Israel by aligning U.S. policy with Israel on the matter.

Palestinian negotiators have spoken of a "right of return" of refugees to Israel, and have suggested they would concede this in exchange for a final status package.

UNRWA, the main body assisting Palestinians, unlike other U.N. agencies assigns refugee status to descendants of Palestinians who fled the area during the 1948-1949 war, although in its definition it is careful to distinguish between the two populations. As a result, 5 million Palestinians are currently eligible for UNRWA services.

An estimated 30,000 Palestinians would fit the stricter definition of refugee.

The United States is a major UNRWA funder.

Source: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/24/3096476/senate-distinguishes-between-palestinian-refugees-and-descendants

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Israeli Archaeologists Find Earliest Evidence of Bethlehem's Existence in Jerusalem Dig

by Nir Hasson | Haaretz.com | May 23, 2012

A piece of clay was found during archaeological excavations at the City of David, in Jerusalem, bearing the name of the city of Bethlehem in ancient Hebrew script. The piece of clay dates back to the First Temple period (1006 – 586 BCE), making it the first tangible evidence of existence of the city of Bethlehem in ancient times.

The artifact, called a “bulla,” is a piece of clay typically used as an official seal on a document or object. Impressed with the seal of the sender of the document, an intact “bulla” upon deliver was proof that a document had not been opened by anyone unauthorized to do so.

The “bulla” measuring around 1.5 cm was found during the sifting of soil removed from archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is carrying out in the City of David.

The sifting is underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation’ in a project being conducted in the Emek Tzurim National Park.

Three lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the artifact, including the words “Bat Lechem,” an ancient name for Bethlehem.

The artifact is of significant importance because that the area of biblical Bethlehem has yet to be archaeologically excavated, making the “bulla” the only proof of the city’s existence found outside of the bible. Elik Shukron, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said “There’s a difference between reading the name of a city in the Bible, and reading that name written in ancient Hebrew script on an artifact.”

Shukron provided some historical background for the object. “It seems that in the seventh year of the reign of a king (it is unclear if the king referred to here is Hezekiah, Manasseh or Josiah), a shipment was dispatched from Bethlehem to the king in Jerusalem.The ‘bulla’ we found belongs to the group of ‘fiscal bullas’ – administrative ‘bullas’ used to seal tax shipments remitted to the taxation system of the Kingdom of Judah in the late eighth and seventh centuries BCE,” said Sukron.

“This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period, which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods,” continued Shukron.

In the Bible Bethlehem is first mentioned in the verse “in Ephrath, which is Bethlehem”, and it was on the way there that Rachel died and it is where she was buried (Genesis 35:19; 48:7).

In a video accompanying the IAA's announcement of the finding, Shukron says the bulla was evidence of tax being sent from Bethlehem to the king in Jerusalem.

“We know the name Bethlehem appears 41 times in the bible,” he said, adding that the unearthing of the bulla was a “one-time finding, you don't excavate these kinds of things every day.”

“After many years of digging here, it's the first time I found written evidence from the time of the First Temple that links Bethlehem to Jerusalem in an amazing way,” he said, adding that it was a very “exciting and important thing for this place [Jerusalem].”

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Source: http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/?p=8150

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Pictured below: – The artificat found bearing the name of Bethlehem in ancient Hebrew script. Image courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Islam’s Cultural Revolution

by Giulio Meotti  |  FrontPageMag.com  |  May 24, 2012

 

Mao’s Cultural Revolution was one of the darkest chapters of the 20th Century: communist zealots, known as “the Red Guards,” attached revolutionary messages to Buddhist statues; seventeen professors from the Shanghai Music Conservatory committed suicide; intellectuals were harassed in public trials during which they had to confess their “sins,” kneeling on makeshift rostrums; thousands of churches, temples and monasteries were demolished; ancient libraries went up in smoke; imperial ceramics were smashed and religious relics melted down. Millions of people were killed.

A new Cultural Revolution is now taking place in the Middle East, where Islam’s Red Guards are obliterating the non-Muslim heritage. If Mao’s Guards took inspiration from the “red book,” Islamic zealots have the Koran. Their targets are Jewish shrines, Christian churches, ancient monuments and  cultural masterpieces.

A few days ago in Timbuktu, Mali, Islamists destroyed the tomb of a Sufi saint, Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar. Timbuktu is known as “the city of the 333 saints”, classified as Unesco World Heritage Sites. Sufism is a mystical dimension of Islam, but extremists believe Sufi shrines are “sacrilegious.” The UN cultural body didn’t raise its voice against this Islamic iconoclasm.

A few weeks before, Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah Al al-Sheikh, the grand mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, issued a religious fatwa, saying it is “necessary to destroy all the churches in the Arabian Peninsula.” The most important Muslim cleric in the land that gave birth to Islam called for the destruction of churches without his rule attracting any global condemnation.

While in Libya Jews have been throw out again after trying to restore Tripoli’s ancient synagogue, Egyptians are planning to block Israelis from making the pilgrimages to the tomb of a Jewish saint, Yaakov Abuhatzeira.

An Islamic mob destroyed the Institute of Egypt in Cairo, founded by Napoleon and containing 192,000 books and documents from as far back as the XIX century. Now, it’s gone. Napoleon’s legendary “Description de l’Egypte” is also lost (in 1822 Jean-François Champollion used this document to unveil the mistery of the hierogliphycs). Unesco, again, stood silent. As it stood silent when Egypt’s former cultural minister, Farouk Hosni, said he “would burn Israeli books in Egyptian libraries”.

Like in Mao’s China, Islamic salafists are trying to ban ancient statues that dot Egypt and suggested that the pagan treasures “could be covered with wax”. The sirens that embellish the fountain of Zeus in Alexandria have already been deemed “inappropriate” by the Salafist party, which decided to “veil” them completely with a sheet. Salafi leaders are also terrifying liberal intellectuals by calling for banning the novels written by Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab Nobel Prize laureate for Literature who has been called “Egypt’s Balzac”, because his works “encourage drinking alcohol and using drugs”. Mahfouz’s novel “Awlad Haretna” is labelled as “atheistic”. Islamists also want to ban the greatest masterpiece of oriental literature, “One thousand and one arabian nights”, because it’s “depravity” and “offensive to the public good”.

In Israel, Palestinian Muslims are erasing any Jewish trace on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most holy site. In 2005 thousands of Arabs torched the synagogues in Gaza’s Katif Bloc. It was an orgy of hate, like that of the Red Guards. Twelve years ago, Arabs destroyed Joseph’s tomb, Judaism’s fourth holy site, smashing the stone structure and ripping it apart, brick by brick, as the Red Guards did with Tao’s temples. The arson attack on the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho and the continuing gunfire at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem are two other examples that come to mind in the Israelo-Palestinian conflict.

Islam’s cultural revolution began when the Taliban destroyed the two wonderful Buddhas in Bamyan, Afghanistan. It was a turning point for a proto-Nazi ideology bent on the physical eradication of its enemies and their religious symbols. If Mao’s Red Guards destroyed the imperial Chinese heritage, Islam’s Red Guards want to cancel any non-Muslim trace in the Middle East. It’s a Koranic Inquisition.

 

Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/05/24/islams-cultural-revolution/

Video: Pennsylvania Textbooks Blatantly Lie About History, Promote Islam

From: FamilySecurityMatters  |  May 24, 2012

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/detail/pennsylvania-textbooks-blatantly-lie-about-history-promote-islam

 

 

Netanyahu: Ceding Temple Mount will Lead to War

by Gil Ronen | IsraelNationalNews.com | May 20, 2012

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At a ceremony honoring the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made some of his strongest statements to date regarding the right of the Jewish nation to sovereignty over its ancient capital of Jerusalem.

"A lasting peace can only be made with a strong nation," Netanyahu asserted. "Without a united Jerusalem, the state of Israel will be a body with a weak heart. Our heart will never be divided again."

Speaking at a Jerusalem Day ceremony on Jerusalem's Ammunition Hill, Netanyahu noted that wherever Jewish people pray, anywhere in the world, they do so facing Jerusalem – "the place that was always the center of our lives; the place that reminds us of our glorious past and serves as a focus for our future hopes."

"We will not turn our backs on those who faced Jerusalem throughout the ages," he said. "We will safeguard Jerusalem because Israel without Jerusalem is like a body without a heart – and it was on this hill that the heart went back to beating at full strength."

"On Jerusalem Day, the divided city became whole – and it will remain that way."

"I have doubts, to put it mildly, that if we deposit the Temple Mount with foreign forces, we will not very quickly slip into a religious sectarian war," he said. "Only under Israeli sovereignty, the accessibility and freedom of worship for all religions is a certainty, and will remain a certainty. Only under Israel are peace and quiet maintained."

Photo:

Binyamin Netanyahu
Israel news photo: Flash 90

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/156012#.T7k512t5mK0

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Coins Reveal New History for Temple Mount

by Julie Stahl, CBN News Reporter  |  CBN.com  |  December 3, 2011

 

Coins dated 17/18 CE were discovered beneath the Western Wall of Temple Mount, providing scientific confirmation that the Western Wall and Robinsons Arch construction were not completed in King Herods lifetime. Photo: DailyMail.co.uk

 

JERUSALEM -- A new archaeological discovery in Jerusalem indicates an ancient king known as "The Builder" did not construct the historic Western Wall of the Temple Mount.

One of the greatest projects credited to King Herod was the expansion of the Temple Mount. With a circumference of about a mile, it's the largest edifice ever built in the land of Israel.

The Western Wall, where Jewish people and others pray, is a part of the outer retaining wall of the ancient temple.

For nearly 2,000 years, it was believed that Herod built those walls. But now archaeologists say new evidence shows he never saw them.

"Before the wall was built, there were domestic houses here. Each was taken off by Herod's workers. What they did not or could not take away -- those parts which were cut in bedrock, like cisterns, basements, mikvaot, which are ritual Jewish ritual baths," explained Ronny Reich, an archaeologist with the University of Haifa.

Workers filled one of those baths with debris before building the Western Wall's first layer.

Under that layer, archaeologists found ancient coins that provided key evidence.

"If Herod passed away in the year 4 B.C., the coins are 15/16 Common Era. It means they were minted 20 years after his death, which means that the first layer of stones of the Western Wall at this particular point could not have been earlier," Reich told CBN News.

Reich has been digging around Jerusalem for more than 40 years.

"We know today (the wall) took several generations to complete," he said. "Not only during Herod's days, but probably in the forties or fifties of the first century Common Era," he explained.

That means the expanded Temple Mount stood for about only 20 years before the Romans destroyed the temple.

This discovery came during work by the Israel Antiquities Authority on a 2,000-year-old drainage canal.

Earlier this year, excavations of that canal yielded a gold bell believed to have fallen from the high priest's garment.

The gospel of John backs up the idea that it took a long time to build the temple. Speaking of His body as the temple, Jesus says if it's destroyed He could rebuild it in three days.

"Then His disciples say how come this edifice that was built for 46 years and you can do it in three days. I don't know if it took 46 years. But 46 years matches perfectly with the long duration that we are now speaking of," Reich said.

According to Reich, the most exciting thing about the discovery is adding information about the history of Jerusalem.

"If I add something new, what we didn't know, then I'm happy," he said.

 

 

Source: https://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2011/December/New-Evidence-Herod-Did-Not-Build-Temple-Expansion-/

The Enemy Within

by Malcolm Hedding  |  JPost.com  |  October 29, 2011

 

"The enemy within" is still hard at work undermining the legitimate position and place of Israel.

Shrine to Maccabees in Cologne, Germany

I recently watched a TV program in which the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was being discussed in the wake of Mahmoud Abbas’s request to the United Nations for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s rebuttal-address to the UN General Assembly. The program was clearly and unashamedly biased toward the Palestinians, so I did not expect in any way a balanced approach to the issue. They were clearly out to demonize Israel and portray her as the real obstacle to peace in the conflict.

However, what shocked me was that Israelis, “sabras” at that, appeared on the program and happily went about trashing their own people, government and history! Naturally, all this was done in the name of academia and thoughtful insight. Yet actually, it was an attempt to rewrite history, debunk the Bible, deny the threat of Islamic radicalism and offer respectability to terrorist groups like Hamas. The latter were cast as well-meaning advocates for peace! In short, it was garbage. There is no other word for it.

The question is: What motivates Israelis to turn against their own people, distort the truth and collaborate with Israel’s enemies? To me it appears as if they want to be accepted so badly that they are unwilling to bear the reproach of standing with a people who are isolated and condemned by the world.

These “new Israelis” are seeking to join the world as they see it and probably hope to gain recognition and prestige by these acts of betrayal. They are the enemy within.

Some years ago, in October 2000 after the beginning of the second intifada, the ANC majority government called for a debate in the South African parliament to discuss the unfolding conflict in Israel.

Naturally, given its long relationship with PLO chief Yasser Arafat, it took a biased pro-Palestinian position, and thus the debate was one-sided and anti-Israel. To my amazement, a prominent South African Jew was then called to take the podium and condemn Israel! It was a brilliant PR move and it left me shocked.

In fact, and sadly, we read repeatedly of this problem, particularly of liberal-leaning Israeli academics exploiting the democratic freedoms of Israel to condemn their own nation and people.

This plays directly into the hands of Israel’s antagonists. I have time and again been challenged by the fact that, when defending Israel internationally, some prominent Israelis disagree with me and would seek to fold groups like Hamas into the negotiating process.

This is not helpful! This is not a new problem. Way back in the second century BCE, Jews joined forces with Hellenists (the Bible calls them the “sons of Greece” – see Zechariah 9:13) in order to undermine the foundations on which the nation was built.

Daniel, also referring to this, writes: “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits” (Daniel 11:32).

In those days, this “enemy within” sought to drag Israel into the gentile Grecian world and thereby refashion her in the image of the world. All this required Israel to abandon her history and her biblical foundations and values. Not much has changed! The enemy within is still hard at work undermining the legitimate position and place of Israel.

Our encouragement, however, comes from the fact that the God of the Bible is not dead, is ever watching and will raise up people of faith to counter this foolishness, and they will do “great exploits” in His name and from a source of truth.

This we clearly witnessed in the conclusion to the attempt to hellenize Israel and the Jewish people in the second century BCE. God raised up a family of Hasmoneans and they began a revolt that saved Israel, enabled her to recover her independence, and retain her faith.

Great exploits were done and we celebrate this every year in December at what is called the Festival of Lights or Hanukka. God is faithful! 

Rev. Hedding is vice chairman of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem; www.icej.org

Source:  http://www.jpost.com/ChristianInIsrael/Comment/Article.aspx?id=243553

Twisted Mea Culpa From Deborah Orr of The Guardian

Why it's right to weigh your words carefully

by Deborah Orr  |  Guardian.co.uk  |  October 26, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

I was wrong to use poorly chosen words to describe Israel, but that doesn't mean the country is above criticism.

Last week, I upset a lot of people by suggesting Zionists saw themselves as "chosen". My words were badly chosen and poorly used, and I'm sorry for it. But accusations of antisemitism have also been intemperate. One can accept the right of Israel to exist, while still believing that the manner in which the nation was created – against the wishes of many of the people already living there, hundreds of thousands of whom became refugees – was problematic and made a contribution to Israel's subsequent and terrible troubles. (This, in turn, does not imply that the violence against Israel has been either justified or deserved. It has done the Palestinian cause much damage, and rightly so.)

Nevertheless, it would be absurd to believe that Jewish people are any more or less capable of making geo-political miscalculations than anybody else, or any more or less likely to be called to account for them. Evidence from every corner of the world, throughout the ages, attests to the fact that such behaviour is all too typical of humans, as is reluctance to accept that such actions are bound to have their critics.

 

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/26/call-israel-to-account?newsfeed=true

 

ACTION NEEDED NOW! Call to Support Israel and a Unified Jerusalem!

Call to Support Israel and a Unified Jerusalem!

BACKGROUND:  Secretary of State Clinton, in a sharp departure from her stance when she was a senator, is currently warning that any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel must be avoided for the reason that it would jeopardize the peace process.  Send this action alert to show support for an undivided Jerusalem!  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama must continue to affirm that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the state of Israel as specified in H.R. 1006.

Your email will be received by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Leadership and the Knesset.

CLICK HERE TO SEND YOUR LETTER

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,

This past May, Israel celebrated a historical 43rd anniversary of the reunification of the city of Jerusalem.  This holiday is called Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day.  It marks the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 at the end of the six-day war.  Jerusalem and the Jewish people have been entwined for more than three thousand years.  During this entire time, Jerusalem has played a central role culturally, spiritually and politically.  This history is documented in the scriptures.  Jerusalem was the Jewish ancestral home throughout the 2,000 years of the diaspora. 

This central role in Jewish history is currently being challenged with an effort to divide the city prior to restarting Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.  Jerusalem’s accepted centrality to Judaism is being challenged by the Palestinians whose Koran never refers, not even once, to the city of Jerusalem.  In contrast, it is mentioned more than 600 times in the Bible.  Mecca and Medina are cities towards which all Arabs face when praying, while turning their backs on Jerusalem.

Secretary of State Clinton, in a sharp departure from your stance when you were a senator, you are currently warning that any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel must be avoided for the reason that it would jeopardize the peace process.

Your warnings were issued in a brief you just filed with the Supreme Court — in which you are arguing that a law you voted for when you were Senator is unconstitutional because it could require the U.S. government to give to an American citizen born at Jerusalem papers showing the birthplace as Israel.... (Clinton, in a Sharp Turnaround, Warns Against Even Symbolically Recognizing Jerusalem as Capital of Israel, Rick Richman, Special to the Sun, September 27, 2011)

I ASK THAT YOU, INSTEAD, TAKE A POSITION IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL AND H.R. 1006 (SUPPORTED BY 50 SPONSORS).

H.R. 1006 SEC. 2. RECOGNITION OF JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL AND RELOCATION OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM follows:

    (a) Policy- It is the policy of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel, both de jure and de facto.

    (b) Sense of Congress- It is the sense of Congress that--

        (1) Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected as they have been by Israel since 1967;

        (2) every citizen of Israel should have the right to reside anywhere in the undivided city of Jerusalem;

        (3) the President and the Secretary of State should publicly affirm as a matter of United States policy that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the State of Israel;

        (4) the President should immediately implement the provisions of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-5) and begin the process of relocating the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; and

        (5) United States officials should refrain from any actions that contradict United States law on this subject.

Israel is our one true ally in the volatile Middle East. I implore you to support a united Jerusalem and a secure Israel.

Respectfully,

CLICK HERE TO SEND YOUR LETTER

 

PA Rewriting Jewish History

by Giulio Meotti  |  Ynetnews.com  |  October 11, 2011

 

Special: Palestinian archeological revisionism aims to nullify Jewish connection to land.

Palestinians are using archeology to advance their statehood bid. Prominent archaeologist Gabriel Barkai called it "cultural Intifada."

The PA will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem, once the UN’s cultural agency (UNESCO) admits them as a full member. Hamdan Taha, the Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and culture, also listed Nablus and Hebron among 20 cultural heritage sites which he said could be nominated as World Heritage Sites.

Professor Taha is a pioneer of the new Palestinian revisionism. Last January National Geographic magazine ran a “Travel Palestine” ad that appeared to blot out the State of Israel’s existence. Published by Taha’s Ministry of Antiquities, the ad said that “Palestine lies between the Mediterranean coast and Jordan River.” This is just one example of Taha’s propaganda successes around the world.

'Illegal excavations' in Jerusalem's City of David

Taha's bid at UNESCO is supported by the Vatican Custody of the Holy Land, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Church. As th UN bid brings the Palestinians closer to an independent state, the historical and archeological claims are playing an increasingly prominent role in the building of the national consciousness.

Taha, who did his undergraduate work in Berlin, worked in Jericho with Paolo Matthiae, an Italian scholar who discovered Ebla, the Syrian site that is most famous for the “Ebla tablets.” In Herodion (Herod’s fortress in the Judean hills), Taha worked with Michele Piccirillo, a Fransciscan priest who has been one of the most famous Italian archaeologists. Taha gets funds and support from UNESCO, European governments and societies like the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, a major Catholic association in Jerusalem.

The former Vatican’s archbishop in Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, who just promoted an appeal to the UE and US to “stop the Hebraization of Jerusalem,” and the current Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, who is denouncing the “Judaization of the city,” are just two major Christian figures who embraced Taha’s rhetoric.

‘Bible a mythological narrative’

Taha manages 10 research excavations conducted with foreign funding. The Dutch government, through UNESCO, just donated 300,000 euros to the Palestinian Authority, meant to finance the excavation of an ancient city outside Nablus. A feature entitled “Jerusalem, a City Crying Out for Justice” in the PA’s Internet site said that “all historic studies and archeological excavations have failed to find any proof” for the existence of the ancient Jewish temples.

Taha is now trying to put together a case to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to condemn the Israeli excavations near the Temple Mount as “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” This is the most inflammatory calumny that was directly connected to the deaths of dozens of Israelis and Palestinians during the so-called “Western Wall Tunnel riots” of 1995.

From his office in a restored house in Ramallah, Taha is also mastering a new Palestinian denial meant to cancel any trace of Jewish presence in the Holy Land. According to Taha, the Bible is a “mythological narrative,” Israeli archeology is “Eurocentric,” “land was confiscated in the name of God and archaeology” and the Israeli works are rooted in “imperialism.”

Taha just finished a project, in cooperation with the Dutch University of Leiden, on the outskirt of Nablus, Tel Balata, home to the Joseph’s Tome, one of Judaism’s holiest sites. The renewed excavations at Tel Balata and the establishment of the archaeological park are being conducted jointly by Taha’s ministry, the government of the Netherlands and UNESCO. Taha hopes that the dig will help in “writing or rewriting the history of Palestine.”

‘Worse than Holocaust denial’

Despite Tal Balata being identified with ancient Shechem in Samaria, where the Israelites buried Joseph’s bones when they returned from Egypt, Palestinians now claim that the tomb in reality is the final resting place of Sheikh Yusuf Dukat, a locally venerated Muslim who lived about 150 years ago.

When last year Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that two religious sites, Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and Cave of Patriarchs in Hebron, would be among 150 Israeli heritage sites considered for renovation, Taha declared that the Jewish character of the two holy shrines was “artificial” and “a robbery.” He said that even the Dead Sea Scrolls were “stolen” from Palestinians.

The town of Shiloh is another target for Taha’s revisionism. Despite Shiloh being the capital of the Jewish nation for nearly four centuries and the Jews having brought the Tabernacle there, making Shiloh the religious center of the Israelites before Jerusalem, Taha is convincing the international community that the Jewish Shiloh never existed: “In Shiloh the settlers pretended to have found the tabernacles,” he proclaimed. “They can find the chicken bone my grandfather ate 50 years ago and say it was a young calf for ancient sacrifice.”

Rachel's Tomb: Whose heritage? Photo: AP

On October 21, 2010, UNESCO formally declared that Rachel’s Tomb is the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque - endorsing one of Taha’s lies. Israel, under a direct assault on the foundations of the Jewish people, is drawing back and the world now literally believes that the Jews stole the past, the Jewish monuments are Arab treasures stolen by the Zionists, and that the Jews are no more than invading colonizers.

Archaeologist Barkai once said that this revisionism is even worse than Holocaust denial. Yet for now, Palestinians are winning the war to rewrite history.

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism.

Source:  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4134091,00.html