In May 1948, immediately after Israel declared its independence, the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq attacked the new Jewish state.
The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, comprised of about 2,000 Jewish residents, were quickly besieged by the Jordanian Arab Legion.
The quarter was shelled with mortars and fell within days.
Abdullah el-Tal, the Jordanian commander, told his superiors: "For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews' return here impossible."
The Hurva Synagogue, originally built in 1701, was blown up by the Jordanian Arab Legion. During the next 19 years of Jordanian rule, a third of the Jewish Quarter's buildings were demolished. According to a complaint Israel made to the United Nations, all but one of the 35 Jewish houses of worship in the Old City were destroyed. The synagogues were all razed or stripped and their interiors used as hen houses or stables.
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But in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel recaptured the Jewish Quarter.
June it will mark 50 years since Israel recaptured this historically Jewish community, yet the United Nations and Barack Obama's administration believe repopulating and redeveloping the Jewish Quarter over that time is somehow illegal.
They refer to the building apartment buildings, universities, hospitals and businesses by Israel in a distinctly Jewish community, appropriated by force for a period of 19 years, part of a policy of "illegal settlements."
It's an absurdity.
And this brief, simple but accurate historical narrative explains why compromise between the Palestinian Authority and Israel on Jerusalem is a political impossibility.
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. And there can be no compromise over Jerusalem.
Imagine another nation in the world being lectured by the U.N. or Obama on why it is inappropriate to build apartments and businesses in its own capital.
Likewise, now, thanks to Obama's incendiary support for the recent anti-Israel U.N. resolution, the Palestinians are threatening war over the possibility the U.S. under Donald Trump's administration may move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, a senior official of the Palestinian Authority on religious affairs, said of the proposal by Trump:
- "It is a declaration of war on all Muslims."
- "This will not pass in silence."
- "In matters of religion, faith, values, ethics, and history, there can be no compromises."
Another Palestinian official, Sultan Abu Al-Einein, had this to say: "Transferring the American embassy to Jerusalem will lead to bloodshed."
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Muslim Council and head preacher at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, offered this: "What this means is that America recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of the Jews, and in doing so America will declare a new war against the Palestinians and also against the Arabs and the Muslims."
Secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, said: "If you transfer the embassy and agree to the annexation of the settlements in the West Bank, you will drag the region into a state of anarchy, extremism and lawlessness."
Fatah Spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi said: "Any step regarding transferring the American embassy from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem will directly cause an explosion."
The radical Muslims in charge of the Palestinian Authority have learned from experience that by using this kind of fiery rhetoric, they can get their way. Intimidation of this kind clearly works. It leads to the kind of capitulation to force the world clearly respects, as the recent U.N. resolution shows.
Yet, it's been 50 years since Israel won back this relatively small Jewish community in the heart of its capital city, real estate that includes Judaism's most revered holy site, the Temple Mount. This is no longer "disputed territory." It was only in the hands of Arab Muslims for 19 years because it was captured by force.
During the time it was in the hands of the Jordanians, all the synagogues were destroyed, all the Jewish homes were taken, all of the Jews were killed or run out of their community.
Today, the Jewish Quarter is brand-spanking new – completely rebuilt, beautiful. The Israelis have preserved some of the ruins as a reminder of what happens when their neighbors over run them. The hollowed-out shell of that 300-year-old synagogue is but one example.
How the world could even consider the idea of challenging Israel's absolute right to such land smacks of the most hideous form of anti-Semitism.
Do Obama and the U.N. not understand the meaning of "Never again"?
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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