A mosque, a church and a synagogue open side-by-side

- Jonathan H. Ferziger

The white-stoned mosque, church and synagogue anchoring the Abrahamic Family House, a monumental interfaith compound that was unveiled last week in the United Arab Emirates, will serve as a busy forum for promoting religious cooperation in the Middle East, its founders said.

The individual structures that make up the new complex, which was designed by the acclaimed Ghanian-British architect, Sir David Adjaye, are linked by a central exhibition space, public garden and conference center that will open to visitors on March 1. The project was inaugurated last Thursday in a twilight ceremony in the capital city of Abu Dhabi led by members of the UAE’s royal court and leaders of the three faiths.

[The Circuit]

Get Back To Where You Once Belonged: Reclaiming The Temple Mount

To Win, Israel Must Govern the Temple Mount

- Alex Selsky

It is because of the symbolism of the Temple Mount that Palestinian rejectionists believe Israel is weak and temporary.

The Palestinians are convinced that the Temple Mount is as important to us as it is to them, and meanwhile we continue to fight about it amongst ourselves.

We do not understand the enormous damage caused by this debate, nor the central importance of going up to the Mount in order to strengthen our national identity and our connection to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. Until we do, we will not have achieved victory in our War of Independence, which is unfortunately not yet over.

We must stop fighting religiously and politically over the Temple Mount. The halachic prohibition on going up to the site must take into consideration its national importance beyond its religious importance.

Our enemies must know that the Mount is important to us. The whole world must know that it is important to us—to all of us. Right and left, ultra-Orthodox, religious, traditional and secular. It should be as important to us as the Western Wall and Masada.

After visiting the Temple Mount and seeing how vast it is, it is clear that there is no problem of space. It is mostly empty and unused. There should no logistical problem with allowing worship for Jews and others on the Temple Mount, without disturbing Muslims and without harming their status and their holy places.

[W]e have yet to properly assert our sovereignty on Zion itself, the symbolic center of Zionism. This means that our full independence has yet to be won…

Until we have reversed this, we will not have fully won our War of Independence.

[Jewish News Syndicate]