- According to the mythological, but official religious
account, on the traditional Night Journey of Muhammad, (Kuran xvii. 1),
Muhammad was mounted on the winged steed called Al Burak (the Lightning)
and, together with the angel Gabriel for an escort was carried from Makkah
(Mecca), to the Sinai, and then to Bethlehem, after which they came unto
Jerusalem. "And when we reached Bait al Makdis [literally, "the
holy house"], the Holy City," so goes the legend, "we came
to the gate of the mosque, and here Jibrail (Gabriel) caused me to dismount."
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- Hamas's Plans For Temple Mount Foiled
- By Yaakov Katz
- The Jerusalem Post
- 7-2-7
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- Hamas attempts to gain control of the Temple Mount and
recruit new Israeli-Arab operatives in east Jerusalem have been foiled
by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), a senior security official announced
on Monday.
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- According to the Shin Bet, Hamas, over the past few years,
has invested millions of shekels in Jerusalem charities and religious institutions,
as well as in construction on the Temple Mount, in an effort to bolster
its presence and standing in the capital.
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- The official said that Hamas recently paid to enlarge
a library and several prayer halls in Solomon's Stables, as well as for
the renovation of a public restroom facility on the disputed holy site.
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- "Their goal is to gain full control over the Temple
Mount," a high-ranking Shin Bet official said Monday. Hamas, he said,
has also tried to infiltrate its members into the Temple Mount as part
of the maintenance and religious staff who care for the site and preach,
give tours and teach Koran classes there.
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- Hamas, the official said, had taken advantage of financial
troubles in the Jordanian Wakf, which is responsible for the holy site,
to bolster its presence there. The wakf has been suffering from financial
constraints since 2000, when the Temple Mount mosques were closed to paying
visitors.
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- Officials said the Hamas takeover of the Temple Mount
was a "strategic" move and was aimed at bolstering the group's
standing in the Palestinian territories and throughout the Muslim world.
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- The Shin Bet also focused its operations in curbing the
flow of money into Hamas. A senior Hamas official, Yakub Abu Assab, was
arrested for allegedly running a courier service that transferred funds
from the West Bank and abroad to the Hamas headquarters in Jerusalem. Israeli
efforts to stop Hamas also included the arrests of Hamas parliamentarians,
including Khaled Abu Afa, former Hamas minister for Jerusalem affairs.
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- During a year-long operation, Shin Bet arrested 11 Hamas
officials based in Jerusalem, 10 of whom hold Israeli identity cards. All
11 detainees were due to be indicted for membership in a terror group and
for financing illegal terror activity.
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- The Jerusalem Hamas operations received their funding
from the Union of Good - an umbrella charity organization based in Saudi
Arabia that has been outlawed by Israel - which used money changers, bank
accounts in the West Bank, and couriers to send the money to local charity
organizations, which then transferred cash to the Hamas headquarters in
Jerusalem. In the last 18 months, Hamas's Jerusalem headquarters received
more than NIS 1 million in this fashion.
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- The Hamas activities on the Temple Mount were coordinated
with the Islamic Movement, headed by Sheikh Ra'ad Salah. The activities
also included organizing events during Ramadan such as large-scale post-fast
meals, the purpose of which was to recruit support for Hamas and give the
organization a foothold on the Temple Mount.
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- In addition to Hamas's efforts to take over the Temple
Mount, in recent years the movement increased its activity in east Jerusalem,
where it had set up religious institutions and used what seemed to be innocent
festivities to brainwash Muslims with Hamas ideology.
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- To implement its goals, Hamas had also set up a number
of institutions of a semi-religious nature to front illegal activities.
According to security officials, there are no longer active Hamas institutions
in Jerusalem.
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- http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=118
- 3053083917&pagename=JPost%2FJP Article%2FShowFull
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