[font=Verdana]Yes I am an American Jew. I have a very strong Jewish identity- I try to educate myself about my people’s history and also the current situation in Israel. I spent one year in Israel (2001-2002) after the Intifadah had already started. [/font]
[font=Verdana]So you want some history? Jerusalem has been the Jewish capitol since over 3,000 years ago (1010BCE) when King David pronounced it as such. Solomon built the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to contain the Ark of the Covenant. This kingdom lasted until 722BCE, when the Jews were conquered by the Assyrians, then the Babylonians (597BCE), Persians (560BCE), and the Greeks (332BCE). The Jews were living in Jerusalem throughout this whole time, yet they were controlled and persecuted by their conquerors. The Jews finally successfully rebelled against the Greeks and won their independence until 63BCE, when the Romans conquered them. Under the Roman Empire, the Second Temple was built (including the walls that surround the Temple- parts of it remain today). More Jewish persecution, etc etc and the Jews revolted again- and lost to the huge Roman Empire. Second Temple was destroyed, as well as over one million Jews massacred and others enslaved. In about 135CE Rome declared Jerusalem a Pagan city and no Jews were allowed to enter. Jews were persecuted and sent into exile. It is at this time, when the Jews were exiled, that the emphasis in Judaism became more on study than on being in Jerusalem, as they could not physically be in Jerusalem due to their being exiled from their land. Hence, the worldwide spread of Jewish population (which still only consists of 1/3 of 1 percent of the entire world population). However, even though the Jews could no longer pray at the Temple, Jerusalem always remained in their thoughts and prayers- even to this day, we say in our prayers (those who do not live in Israel), “Next year in Jerusalem.” In 638 the Jews helped the Muslims to regain Jerusalem from the Persians, and both Muslims and Jews lived in peace. The Crusades came along after that, and the Muslims fended them off several times. All the while, Jews still inhabited Jerusalem and guarded the Temple Mount, which is all that remains of the Second Temple. Then in the 16th century the Ottoman Turks conquered the land, and held it until WWI, and lost it to the British. To sum up, the Jews have been living in Jerusalem continuously for thousands of years (and since 1840s have made up the majority of its population). [/font]
[font=Verdana]We have been persecuted in every single country in the world, for no reason other than being different. We were a nation without a country for a very long time (since our exile from our land). No one wanted us, and we had nowhere to go. The idea for a Jewish country has been around since before the 19th century, although Theodore Herzl officially started the Zionist movement in the early 1800s, and wrote about the need for Jews to have a country of their own. [censored] was certainly not the first to persecute Jews, yet after the murder of over 6 million Jews, it became apparent to many other people that Jews need a country of their own. [side note- Limerickman, I am not sure where you get your information about more Christians dying under Nazi rule than any other group- but anyway there is a very big difference between killings that occur during war or change of government, etc and genocide- (according to Encarta Dictionary) ‘the systematic killing of all the people from a national, ethnic, or religious group.’ [censored]’s goal was to rid the entire world of the Jews.]. [/font]
[font=Verdana]You are correct in that no one should prevent another from visiting their holy site. That is why Israel’s law states, ‘Whoever does anything that is likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the various religions to the places sacred to them is liable to imprisonment for a term of five years.’ Also, Israel allows the different religions to govern their own holy sites. Even the Temple Mount is actually under Palestinian control. This is a very different approach then the one that Jordan took. In 1947 the UN approved a partition plan for Palestine. The land was to be divided into a Jewish country and a Muslim country. However, the Arabs rejected this, and in 1948 when Israel was declared a country, all of the surrounding Arab countries declared war on Israel. Arabs killed about 1500 Jews living in Jerusalem, seized the Old City, and expelled the Jews. Jerusalem was taken by Jordan, and no Jew was allowed to enter- no Jew could visit our holiest site. This went on until 1967 when the Arab countries again declared war on Israel. Israel regained Jerusalem, and ever since then, it has been open to people of all religions. [/font]
