Het was natuurlijk wel een provocatie om deze heilige plaatsen op de officiële lijst van nationaal erfgoed te zetten, en Netanjahoe geeft zelf toe dat hij dit onder druk van de ultraorthodoxen van Shas deed. De Palestijnse reactie erop, en het klakkeloze gelijk dat zij krijgen van de VN, waren voorspelbaar. Ondertussen blijkt wel weer hoezeer de Palestijnen de werkelijkheid omdraaien: niet Israel probeert hun nationale geschiedenis te stelen en uit te wissen, maar zijzelf claimen de duizenden jaren oude Joodse heilige plaatsen als islamitisch, zoals ook de Klaagmuur, die opeens Al Burak heet omdat Mohammed daar zijn halfpaard zou hebben vastgebonden. Niet alleen is dat laatste duidelijk een mythe terwijl de Joden daadwerkelijk de tempel bezaten en gebruikten, het gaat hoogstwaarschijnlijk niet om Jeruzalem maar om een moskee in Saudi-Arabië. Zie ook: Palestijnse Autoriteit verzint islamitische geschiedenis voor Joodse heilige plaatsen
RP
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Netanyahu: Abbas remarks on heritage sites are lies, hypocrisy
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Last update - 22:44 23/02/2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151763.html
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Last update - 22:44 23/02/2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151763.html
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel is obligated to ensure the freedom of religion for all faiths at all holy sites, in a response to allegations from Palestinian leaders that Israel's heritage sites could spark a religious war.
"We are talking about a campaign of lies and hypocrisy," read a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, issued after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Israel's addition of two West Bank sites to its national heritage list a dangerous provocation, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for a new uprising against Israel.
"Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are burial sites dating from more than 3,500 years ago of Israel's forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the nation's foremothers, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel - and are worthy of preservation and renovation," said the statement from Netanyahu's office.
In a speech to the parliament in Brussels, Abbas said Israel's attempt to steal the Palestinian heritage is part of a larger scheme to take over religious Muslim sites.
On Sunday, Netanyahu announced that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem would both be added to the list of national heritage sites that the government plans to promote.
Also on Tuesday, Hamas' ruler in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, urged Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up against Israeli forces in response to Netanyahu's recent decision.
"The decision requires a real response in the West Bank and for the people to rise up in the face of the Israeli occupation and to break every shackle in confronting it," Haniyeh told reporters, according to media reports.
"[The project] aims to erase our identity, alter our Islamic monuments and steal our history," he added.
Hanieyh made the comments during a session of the Gaza Legislative Council, where he declared that the Palestinian Authority should respond to the Israeli government's move not by renewing negotiations but by inciting a new intifada.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that rightist religious party Shas persuaded him add the two sites to the list.
"Our existence depends not only on the IDF or our economic resilience - it is anchored in...the national sentiment that we will bestow upon the coming generations and in our ability to justify our connection to the land," said the premier.
The United Nations on Monday expressed concern over the recent decision to include the two holy sites in a planned "heritage trail," Robert Serry, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East said.
The Yesha regional council praised Netanyahu's decision and said that "the plan strengthens the connection with land of our forefathers."
The plan has a government budget of over NIS 500,000 to renovate and restore the national heritage sites.
Last month, Netanyahu dedicated part of his speech at the Herzliya conference to the national heritage sites, and said, "the country's strength does not depend entirely on it's military strength, weapons, economic power or ingenuity, but on the knowledge and national sentiments which parent pass down to their children, and as a state, on the education system."
"We are talking about a campaign of lies and hypocrisy," read a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, issued after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Israel's addition of two West Bank sites to its national heritage list a dangerous provocation, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for a new uprising against Israel.
"Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are burial sites dating from more than 3,500 years ago of Israel's forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the nation's foremothers, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel - and are worthy of preservation and renovation," said the statement from Netanyahu's office.
In a speech to the parliament in Brussels, Abbas said Israel's attempt to steal the Palestinian heritage is part of a larger scheme to take over religious Muslim sites.
On Sunday, Netanyahu announced that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem would both be added to the list of national heritage sites that the government plans to promote.
Also on Tuesday, Hamas' ruler in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, urged Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up against Israeli forces in response to Netanyahu's recent decision.
"The decision requires a real response in the West Bank and for the people to rise up in the face of the Israeli occupation and to break every shackle in confronting it," Haniyeh told reporters, according to media reports.
"[The project] aims to erase our identity, alter our Islamic monuments and steal our history," he added.
Hanieyh made the comments during a session of the Gaza Legislative Council, where he declared that the Palestinian Authority should respond to the Israeli government's move not by renewing negotiations but by inciting a new intifada.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that rightist religious party Shas persuaded him add the two sites to the list.
"Our existence depends not only on the IDF or our economic resilience - it is anchored in...the national sentiment that we will bestow upon the coming generations and in our ability to justify our connection to the land," said the premier.
The United Nations on Monday expressed concern over the recent decision to include the two holy sites in a planned "heritage trail," Robert Serry, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East said.
The Yesha regional council praised Netanyahu's decision and said that "the plan strengthens the connection with land of our forefathers."
The plan has a government budget of over NIS 500,000 to renovate and restore the national heritage sites.
Last month, Netanyahu dedicated part of his speech at the Herzliya conference to the national heritage sites, and said, "the country's strength does not depend entirely on it's military strength, weapons, economic power or ingenuity, but on the knowledge and national sentiments which parent pass down to their children, and as a state, on the education system."
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