PA daily columnist: Western Wall has no connection to the Jews, Israel “is based on series of legends,” such as the “legendary Temple,” Arab villages have existed in Israel “since the days of the Canaanites”
Columnist Yihya Rabah writes an open letter to executive director of the Ministry of Information, poet Al-Mutawakkil Taha, in response to the publication of his study on the Western Wall:
"My dear friend, poet Al-Mutawakkil Taha, former secretary general of the Association of Palestinian writers… and [currently] deputy Minister of Information… resting upon the sword of truth and scientific, objective research, has presented us with a very succinct study about the Al-Buraq Wall, which was the reason for the onset of the first problem between us and the Zionist movement in 1929, which was known as the 'Al-Buraq rebellion'. At that time, Great Britain held the Mandate for Palestine, and it insisted on holding the Mandate for Palestine in order to sever it [Palestine] from its Arab context and wholeness and to present it as a gift to the Zionist movement, to establish the State of Israel.
When the Al-Buraq rebellion broke out, Britain – which was at the time the primary ally of the Zionist movement – established a commission of inquiry known as the Shaw Commission. The commission came to Palestine and met all the parties… and arrived at the proven historical truth that the Al-Buraq Wall was an organic part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that it was its south-western boundary, and that it [the Wall] had no connection to Solomon's Temple, which the Jews claim was destroyed by Rome in the year 70 C.E….
We understand why Israel jumps as though bitten by a snake when Al-Mutawakkil Taha points to this document in his study: after all, Israel – as hundreds of intellectuals and scholars say, some of them Jewish… is based upon a series of legends, and it works to ensure that none of these legends will collapse, because the collapse of a single legend means the collapse of a supporting pillar that is one of the pillars of the legendary Temple, to be followed by the fall of the [other] pillars.
We understand well this wave of fury that is washing over Israel against this study and against Al-Mutawakkil… But it is impossible to understand and to justify the anger and reservation of the American administration! And the accusation [by the Americans] that this study is arousing dangerous sensitivities! Obviously, the Israeli government is pleased with the American response, but is it so pleased that it will freeze the settlements, even for 90 days…? Will Israel cease to arouse sensitivities and problems and tragedies when it insists on giving Hebrew names to Arab villages that have existed since the days of the Canaanites, for thousands of years? And will the rabbis and leaders of Israel cease praying to their God, the Lord, to annihilate the Palestinians through a plague, or to cause a tempest in the Mediterranean Sea so that it will swallow the Gaza Strip?"
"My dear friend, poet Al-Mutawakkil Taha, former secretary general of the Association of Palestinian writers… and [currently] deputy Minister of Information… resting upon the sword of truth and scientific, objective research, has presented us with a very succinct study about the Al-Buraq Wall, which was the reason for the onset of the first problem between us and the Zionist movement in 1929, which was known as the 'Al-Buraq rebellion'. At that time, Great Britain held the Mandate for Palestine, and it insisted on holding the Mandate for Palestine in order to sever it [Palestine] from its Arab context and wholeness and to present it as a gift to the Zionist movement, to establish the State of Israel.
When the Al-Buraq rebellion broke out, Britain – which was at the time the primary ally of the Zionist movement – established a commission of inquiry known as the Shaw Commission. The commission came to Palestine and met all the parties… and arrived at the proven historical truth that the Al-Buraq Wall was an organic part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that it was its south-western boundary, and that it [the Wall] had no connection to Solomon's Temple, which the Jews claim was destroyed by Rome in the year 70 C.E….
We understand why Israel jumps as though bitten by a snake when Al-Mutawakkil Taha points to this document in his study: after all, Israel – as hundreds of intellectuals and scholars say, some of them Jewish… is based upon a series of legends, and it works to ensure that none of these legends will collapse, because the collapse of a single legend means the collapse of a supporting pillar that is one of the pillars of the legendary Temple, to be followed by the fall of the [other] pillars.
We understand well this wave of fury that is washing over Israel against this study and against Al-Mutawakkil… But it is impossible to understand and to justify the anger and reservation of the American administration! And the accusation [by the Americans] that this study is arousing dangerous sensitivities! Obviously, the Israeli government is pleased with the American response, but is it so pleased that it will freeze the settlements, even for 90 days…? Will Israel cease to arouse sensitivities and problems and tragedies when it insists on giving Hebrew names to Arab villages that have existed since the days of the Canaanites, for thousands of years? And will the rabbis and leaders of Israel cease praying to their God, the Lord, to annihilate the Palestinians through a plague, or to cause a tempest in the Mediterranean Sea so that it will swallow the Gaza Strip?"