Israel blasted for allowing mosque

 Wednesday, 24 November 1999 0:03 (GMT)

    (UPI Focus)
  Israel blasted for allowing mosque
 By JOSHUA BRILLIANT
    NAZARETH, Israel, Nov. 23 (UPI) - The Israeli government Tuesday
 found itself gunned by the Vatican, put on the spot by Muslims and
 criticized by Jews for letting the Islamic Movement build a mosque a few
 hundred meters from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
    Muslims Tuesday laid the cornerstone for the mosque amid bursts of
 fire crackers and chants of "Allahu Akbar," (God is Great). Police
 said some 5,000 to 6,000 people attended the ceremony.
    In an unusually harsh statement, the Vatican's spokesman said the
 Israeli government bears main responsibility for creating tension and
 divisiveness.
    He argued that even the Palestinian High Islamic Committee opposed
 construction of the mosque so close to the basilica.
    Patriarchs of the Latin, Greek-Orthodox and Armenian denominations
 closed their sanctuaries for two days in protest. The action shut the
 doors to key Christian sanctuaries - the Church of Nativity in
 Bethlehem, the Holy Sepulcher and at Gethsemane in Jerusalem, as well as
 the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
    In a pointed barb they issued a statement welcoming Saudi Crown
 Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz' offer to finance building a mosque - in
 another place in Nazareth. The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported
 that offer.
    The Patriarchs said they believe Crown Prince Abdullah's initiative,
 "aims...to support the Christian-Muslim co-existence, which is the
 basis of our historical relationship."
    Hinting at common bonds they said dialogue is the only way to
 promote, "our national unity."
    Earlier Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tried to persuade the
 Nazareth Muslim leaders to drop their plans and in a last minute appeal,
 the High Islamic committee in Jerusalem asked them to postpone the
 ceremony.
    In its rebuttal the Israeli government rejected outright claims it
 sought to instill discord between Christians and Muslims.
    It said it acceded to local Moslems' request to build a mosque there,
  "because of the need to preserve freedom of religious worship for all.
 "
    It brushed aside the Palestinian High Islamic Committee's
 intervention noting it was a failed initiative, "rejected by those who
 initiate (the mosque's) establishment."
    Israeli Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who headed the
 ministerial committee that let Muslims build the mosque on Wakf land and
 some state owned land, said he had done so because the government had to
 strike a compromise.
    Ben-Ami has said he realized the government cannot please everybody
 on such an issue, but a Muslim site has been there, the place would be
 open, and aesthetic.
    Ben-Ami said the government will guarantee freedom of access and
 security for Christian pilgrims. Architects will devise ways to prevent
 the mosque from spilling into the square and a police station will be
 built there to enhance security.
    But Tuesday he faced criticism also from a Cabinet colleague,
 Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Cohen, who said the government
 "yielded to violence."
    Cohen alluded to the fact that the Muslim groups had seized control
 of state owned land at that site after the local authorities demolished
 a school building. They built a tent-mosque there which they guarded
 round the clock for some three years and dismantled only after the
 government let them build a permanent mosque at the site.
    Cohen said the Moslems thus, "Forced their position."
    He said he will raise the matter with Prime Minister Ehud Barak who
 is due back in Israel on Wednesday.
    Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud Olmert was equally scathing. The decision to
 let Moslems build a mosque near the Basilica showed "lack of
 sensitivity," he said. "Why should we lend a hand to the most
 inciting, most extreme elements in the Islamic world?" he asked.
  --
    Copyright 1999 by United Press International.
    All rights reserved.
  --
 Copyright 1999 by United Press International

==========
Muslims lay mosque cornerstone

 Tuesday, 23 November 1999 20:12 (GMT)

 (UPI Focus)
 Muslims lay mosque cornerstone
 By JOSHUA BRILLIANT
    NAZARETH, Israel, Nov. 23 (UPI) - Muslims Tuesday laid a cornerstone
 for a controversial mosque, a few hundred meters from the imposing
 Christian Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
    In an unusual public rebuke, the Vatican Tuesday criticized the
 approval of the mosque by an Israeli ministerial committee. A Vatican
 spokesman said the Israeli decision will cause tension and controversy,
 and that even the High Islamic Committee opposed the mosque.
    An Israeli expert on Vatican policy, Yitzhak Minervi, said Israel and
 the Vatican have had differences before, but the Vatican never has been
 as harsh as it was Tuesday. There was concern that as a result, the pope
 might bypass Nazareth during a planned visit to Israel next year.
    The Latin, Greek-Orthodox and Armenian churches closed their
 sanctuaries Monday and Tuesday in protest of the mosque. Nazareth was
 quiet during the day, but police stationed anti-riot forces near the
 Basilica of the Annunciation. They were equipped with clubs, tear gas
 and rubber bullets.
    The area's police commander, Moshe Valdman, estimated that 5,000 to
 6,000 people attended the ceremony, in which Muslim leaders placed a
 marble slab on a stand.
    The ceremony began with an early afternoon prayer and later was
 punctuated with explosions of firecrackers, which startled participants.
 Speakers led chants of "Allahu Akbar," meaning God is Great, and,
 "With blood and spirit we shall redeem thee, Shehab e-Diinn."
    The mosque is to be named after Shehab e-Dinn, a relative of the
 famed Saladin (Salah el-Dinn) who defeated the Crusaders in 1187. For
 some three years the Muslims have had a tent mosque there, which they
 guarded round the clock, demanding to build a permanent mosque at the
 site.
    The government eventually decided to let them build a mosque after
 Pope John Paul II's planned visit next March. The Palestinian
 Authority's president, Yasser Arafat, had tried to dissuade Nazareth's
 Muslims from building the mosque.
    In a last minute attempt, the High Islamic Committee urged Nazareth's
 Muslims to postpone the ceremony, apparently to avoid a rift between
 Muslims and Christians. Saudi Prince Abdallah reportedly offered to
 finance construction of a mosque elsewhere in town.
    But Salman Abu-Ahmad, who leads the local group, told UPI he had not
 heard of the Saudi offer and that anyway the decision is a local matter.
 "We know what is good for the city, what is not," he said.
    The leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Ra'ed Salah,
 told reporters that the High Islamic Committee's call was not sincere.
 "The statement came from its tongue, not from its heart, not from its
 brains," he said.
    At dusk participants took off their shoes, knelt and bowed their
 heads, touching the ground in prayer. Fireworks illuminated the sky.
    Many Muslims were happy with the development. The owner of the Salam
 Restaurant, Nassaar Hafez, said he used to pray with four or five other
 people near Sheab elDinn's grave.
    "At last we'll have a big mosque, a respectable one, and many people
 will come."
    But others were not so sure. Up the street, a 37-year-old teacher who
 asked not to be identified complained that the government had yielded to
 the Islamic group. "It will hurt Christian-Muslim relations and all the
 Arabs' interests. "If we fight among ourselves, we shouldn't be
 surprised what the Jews will do," she said.
  --
    Copyright 1999 by United Press International.
    All rights reserved.