בילדער: מתנחלים ביי הר הבית (מקום המקדש) מצורף קובץ
This morning I and about 20 of my neighbors made a group visit to the TempleMount, some for the first time. At first there were some problems allowing some members of the group to enter (including myself) but in the end everyone was permitted in, with extra special restrictions (in addition to the normal laundry list of restictions) l'kvod Ramadan.
Here are some pictures with brief explanations and a view you don't often get to see of the makom hamikdash:
The temporary ramp heading up to the TempleMount. Arabs or more accurately Muslims have free access through any of the many gates of the TempleMount. Jews and tourists can only enter during very limited hours after a thorough and demeaning security check and lecture through the Mugrabi (Rambam) Gate which is pictured below from both sides:
The TempleMount is under administrative control of the Wakf Islamic Trust they basically have full jursidiction over the site and de facto sovreignty. A member of the Wakf accompanies the police escort of every group of Jews, mainly to ensure that no one utters a word or prayer or makes any gesture that could remotely be intrepreted as prayer. Yes, you heard correctly praying on the TempleMount is ILLEGAL in the State of Israel and you WILL be arrested and forcfully removed if you are caught doing so:
Notice how low the wall is on this side and how easy it is for the Arabs to throw stones and other objects down upon the Jewish Worshipers at the Western Wall. This used to be a weekly occurance EVERY friday after Afternoon prayers on the Mount (even though it never made the news), and the police did little to stop it and ushered the JEWISH victims away from the Wall instead of the Arab agressors.
Here are some photos of the area directly behind the Western Wall between it and the Dome of the Rock which is according to most opinions where the Beis Hamikdash stood. Notice the abundance of trees which is in violation of specific Mitzvas lo sasay not to plant any trees on the TempleMount .
Here is a photo of the South West Corner of the Mount, I believe there is some Museumof Islam here but Jews are not allowed inside. To the right is th e end of the Western Wall where there are now excavations going on ( Wilson 's Arch I believe). To the left is the Al Aksa mosque (not in the picture):
נשלח ב-16/11/2006 13:14
Here is a veiw of the dome of the rock from directly in front of the Al Aksa Mosque. The mosque blocks part of the Sharai Chulda which was the main enterence to the TempleMount by Jews who ascended from the City of David (where most of the population lived). In the times of the Temple this is the view the Jews would have as soon as they entered the Mount, but obviously with the Beis Hamikdash there instead of the current structure. I couldn't take pictures of the entrence to the Al Aksa Mosque because the Arabs were particularly ancy today, probably as a result of fasting. But it is not much to see anyway, some green doors and cubbies to put your shoes.
Here is a picture of the South East corner, the area known as "Solomon's Stables", which BTW had nothing to do with Shlomo Hamelech or the Temple, and this part of the TempleMount was added by Herod centuries later. The right side is also opposite the Chulda Gates, the main entrence for Jews in TempleTimes and the Eastern side of the Al Aksa Mosque can be seen .
נשלח ב-16/11/2006 13:59
נשלח ב-16/11/2006 14:10
Notice all the construction equipment. The Arabs have turned the entire NE corner of the Mount into a HUGE underground mosque in the process destroying precious holy artifacts from the Temples , and undermining the structure of the walls which had to be fixed by Jordaian engineers. The fill is just dumped in piles on the TempleMount then carried away by dump trucks and discarded like yesterday's trash. In addition to trying to convert the entire TempleMount into one giant Mosque, there is a clear goal of the Arabs to destroy all physical evidence that the Temples ever stood. Sadly, the Israeli government does nothing to prevent this wanton destruction, despite the physical danger of the entire area collapsing potentially killing thousands of Muslim worshipers (let alone the archeological and historical damage to the Jewish People and the deliberate defacement of our most holy site:
נשלח ב-16/11/2006 14:15
Here is a picture of the SE corner directly on top of the huge underground mosque. The scaffolding on the wall is part of the process to repair the buckle in the wall and prevent a full scale collapse:
נשלח ב-16/11/2006 14:29
Here is a newly built entrence to one of the underground mosques. This was not here
last time I was on the TempleMount
נשלח ב-16/11/2006 14:43
Here are piles of stones which are being used to pave the entire surface of the TempleMount. For centuries most of the Mount was unpaved d irt