Nadine the Dome of the Rock was build by the Bizantines as a church 80 years after Mohammed died, Malik's son, Abd El-Wahd - who ruled from 705-715 - reconstructed the Christian- Byzantine Church of St. Mary and converted it into a mosque. He left the structure as it was, a typical Byzantine "basilica" structure with a row of pillars on either side of the rectangular "ship" in the center. All he added was an onion-like dome on top of the building to make it look like a mosque. He then named it El-Aksa, so it would sound like the one mentioned in the Koran. this name also faded away quite quickly as many scholars long ago established, it is logical that Mohammed intended the mosque in Mecca as the "Sacred Mosque," and the mosque in Medina as the "Furthest Mosque." So much for the Moslem claim based on the Aksa Mosque.
Further Mohammed issued a strict prohibition against facing Jerusalem in prayer, a practice that had been tolerated only for some months in order to lure Jews to convert to Islam. When that effort failed,Mohammed put an abrupt stop to it on February 12, 624. Jerusalem simply never held any sanctity for the Moslems themselves, but only for the Jews in their domain.
As to the amount of Arabs living at the start of Jewish resettlement around 1870, the entire population west of the Jordan River was barely 120,00 to 140,000.
Travellers to Palestine from the Western world left records of what they saw there. The theme throughout their
reports is dismal: The land was empty, neglected, abandoned, desolate, fallen into ruins
Nothing there [Jerusalem] to be seen but a little of the old walls which is yet remaining and all the rest is
grass, moss and weeds. — English pilgrim in 1590
The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of
population — British consul in 1857
There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] — not for 30 miles in either
direction. . . . One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings.
For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee . . . Nazareth is forlorn . . . Jericho lies a
moldering ruin . . . Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation . . . untenanted by any living
creature . . . .
A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds . . a silent, mournful
expanse . . . a desolation . . . . We never saw a human being on the whole route . . . . Hardly a tree or
shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost
deserted the country . . . .
Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes . . . desolate and unlovely . . . . — Mark Twain, The Innocents
Abroad, 1867.
Many Arabs West of the Jordan River are descendants of outcast and criminals from Egyptian, Sudanese, Syrian and Lebanese migrants, who settled in the current boundaries of Israel during 1830-1945. . . . . Migrant workers were imported by the Ottomans and (since 1919) by the British authorities . . . . Illegal Arab laborers were also attracted by the relative boom, stimulated by Jewish immigration, which expanded labor-intensive enterprises (construction, agriculture, etc.).
The (1831-1840) conquest, by Egypt's Mohammed Ali, was solidified by thousands of Egyptians settling empty spaces between Gaza and Tul-Karem up to the Hula Valley. .30,000-36,000 Syrian migrants (Huranis) entered "Palestine" (in 1934) Syrian rulers have always considered the area as a southern province of Greater Syria. Az-ed-Din el-Qassam, the role-model of Hamas terrorism, who terrorized Jews in British Mandate Palestine, was a Syrian, as were Said el-A'az, a leader of the 1936-38 anti-Jewish pogroms and Kaukji, the commander-in-chief of the Arab mercenaries terrorizing Jews in the thirties and forties.
Western travelers identified over 15 Arab nationalities who settled in Jaffa. Libyan migrants and refugees settled in Gedera, south of Tel Aviv. Algerian refugees (Mugrabis), escaping the French conquest of 1830, settled in Safed, Tiberias and other parts of the Galilee. Circassian refugees, fleeing Russian oppression (1878), Moslems from Bosnia, Turkomans, Yemenite Arabs (1908) and Bedouin tribes from Jordan (escaping wars and famine) diversified Arab demography there.
In 1948, Azzam Pasha, the former Secretary General (of the Arab League), assured Arabs that the occupation of Palestine, including Tel Aviv, would be as simple as a military promenade . . . . Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their land . . . . Most 1948 Palestinian refugees were from the coastal plain and the valleys of Israel . . . . their roots were tenuous, being descendants of Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese and Sudanese migrants, who arrived to the area during 1830-1944 Many felt more secure in their countries of origin. Most Palestinian political and financial leaders left, accelerating the refugee phenomenon.
Jamal Al-Husseini, acting Chairman of the Arab Higher Committee threatened on November 24, 1947 that "Palestine shall be consumed with fire and blood," if the Jews get any part of it. The November 29, 1947 Partition Plan was violently rejected by the Palestinians and the Arabs as they did with the partition proposals of 1921 and 1937. . . . |
