Netanyahu: Abbas remarks on heritage sites are lies, hypocrisy

in order to keep peace from it,s door. The goal of a greater Israel must trundle along at all costs---and it will---but the cost will not only be The Greater Israel" but little Israel as well. All gone --compliments of a suicide bomb ironically referred to as the "Demographic Time bomb" Conceived, constructed and delivered by Israel ----to Israel. Whooosh----gone.Au revoir/asta la vista/so long, it aint been good to know you. Your choice---peace or ???? self annihalation.

And one thing we can be sure of is that Bibi is an expert on lies and hypocrisy.

he's NO prime minister!

Oh, oh, oh Miriam! Ask any certified archaeologist and he or she will tell you that there is no proof that a man named Abraham, who purportedly led his family from Ur in Mesopotamia to Canaan, ever existed, ditto for Sara, Hagar, Ishmael (hey, kicking one's concubine and one's own son into the desert is far worse than a child's bad behaviour!), Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Rachel, Leah, etc. etc. Just because some Bronze Age writers scripted these ancient tales c. 700BC does not make them any truer than Homer. Just because the ruins of Troy (actually, several cities) were discovered by Schliemann does not prove that Achilles, Paris, Priam, Helen, etc. ever existed. I went down into the Diktyon Andron last year, in Crete, the cave where Zeus was born. So that proves that Zeus lives, right?

Jewish Bible hero Joseph is a shining role model for all people for all time! Only G-D knows how many millions of times children and young people have been taught to follow the example of Joseph how to behave and how to live! The violent Islamic attacks on Joseph's Tomb have been very vicious. Muslims murdered several IDF soldiers at the sacred Tomb. It means a great deal to tourists and Israelis to visit this very special Jewish holy place. Protect it. Guard it. Place it on the list!

And now he pretends that anyone else is responsible Is there something more disgusting than someone who refuses to accept responsibility for his own actions? Bibi Netanyahu will not even take responsibility for the war he is provoking. Rather, he will insist that everyone ignore everything he has done since he took office and blame anyone else he blames. He refuses to take responsibility for his action, Bibi shows disgraceful fear and timidity rather than be honest.

"Correct me if i am wrong but didn?t Israel setup the parameters for the Vatican (last year) to maintain administrative rights over the Christian holy sites?" I would like to correct you. Talks with the Vatican have broken down. Israel still refuses to return Church properties seized during their wars with neighbouring arab states; the Room of the Last Supper being an example.

It's a lovely mosque, what are you going to do with it?

Just for the sake of precision, the story of the sacrifice of Isaac is in the Book of Genesis and not Exodus. The Muslims did not fake the sacrifice of Ismail; according to the Bible, he and his mother were expelled from Abraham's household into the desert, and if it weren't for a miracle they would have perished there without water. The Muslim tradition has it that Ismail and his mother reached Mecca. Abraham came to visit them and reinstated the kaba' ritual and the sanctuary adjacent to it which fell into disrepair since the time of Adam. Whether the Muslim or the Jewish tradition is historical is irrelevant, yet Abraham (Ibrahim) is celebrated in Islam as a major prophet and founder of monotheism. Both claims to Abraham are legitimate and they show the common roots of both religions. It's O.K. for Bibi to refurbish the sacred tomb, as long as he recognizes that it is alsoa Muslim heritage sight and allows Muslims to worship there.

I was talking about the construction of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. It was contracted to Byzantine (Christian) artisans. Presenting a fact is not "dissing". I guess you assume that because Dubai has the tallest building in the world, that this too is an example of Muslim architectural savvy. Sorry, but the building is 100% designed and built by foreign countries. Only Arab money.

Did someone forget to mention to the spiritual leaders on both sides that over 65% of those nutmeats killing each other have the same DNA? In most countries the indigenous peoples don't fight to kill each other! They (seed of Abraham) are effectively wiping out Abraham's seed (their own) while the scientifically informed anti Semites outside the near east sit back and lustfully drool in delight! How will you explain that factoid to your Creator when you finally meet Him? How can the media like Haaretz.com justify not telling them (all sides) the Truth about the issue of the Haplogroup J1 discovery!

Apparently supporting airplane hijackers is not enough for Palestinaians - they now want to hijack these Jewish Holy Sites. Abbas is showing his true colors threatening violence again and only the insane think the road to Peace is with another Medieval Monarchy, Religious Extremist or Thugery Dictatorship State in the Middle East!

"They only reason the (heritage sites on the WB) have not been brought up in the past is choosing good timing, not a lack of interest in our holy sites." Complete hogwash I'm afraid. The only reason the sites have been extended to include the West Bank - despite the predictable controversy and US fury with Israel's appalling timing - is that the settler lobby has demanded another proof of life of coalition commitment to the Eretz Israel enterprise... and Bibi has, as usual, folded like a pack of cards. "As we get closer to peace, the Arabs need to become sensitive to Jewish interests..." Err, and what about Jewish sensitivity to Arab interests - their shepherds are being beaten up, women as well, their homes are being bulldozed, their land stolen, their youths locked up without trial, their roads and building permits blocked, their olive groves cut down... Yet you think a little ethnic/religious triumphalism on these sites is a timely card to play??? LOL

a second mansion(first one was purchased for 5 million dollars). Oh, yeah, let regular brain-washed palestinians do dirty work for him so he could feel secure in his lucrative position.I am very proud of Netanyahu for promoting Israel and making it tourist friendly for all religions.

Here is the pot calling the kettle black. Words can build bridges or close doors. People in power need to watch their vocabulary carefully if, that is, they want dialogue.

If you realy want to know about moslem architecture try to find out about Iranian, Ouzbekistanian, turkish and north African ones. It may make you change your ideas in this field. PS the Dome of the Rock is not as bad as tha and it had nothing to do with Bizantinian art, and tha Taj Mahal which is more recent is one of the greatest masterpieces of all times.

Not really news. What I expected from Israel. taking something that is not theirs to call their own

Bibi has just about drained the Zionism right out of my blood and the Palestinians-ughhh. Enough is enough. My commitment to that region is all but gone and I really don't care any more who wins and who loses. You want to be run by the Hamass and the Netanyahu-Liebermans of the world fine. You broke it you bought it. Lay in the bed you made--whatever cliche fits. You're all a bunch of lunatics. You deserve each other like a couple in a bad marriage.

Yes, and he's got every right to do so. What's Jewish is Jewish. It's that simple. We gentiles owe the Jews more that the world thinks. From sience through art to democracy absolutely everything. It was time for the Jews to get back what is rightfully theirs.

In the same way the Palestinians made a stink about the scrolls, which they have no claim to whatsoever, they're making more ridiculous claims here. While there may be some shared claim to the Cave, there is no claim at all to Rachel's Tomb. Palestinians seem to think that because it rests on land they 'claim' for a future state, that they own the rights and the history of that site. That just isn't true. What the Palestinians can't win militarily from Israel, they have always tried to win with propaganda and typical Muslim revisionist history. It's one thing to fight for what's yours. It's totally another to fight for what isn't. As I've mentioned a million times on this site, making peace, not war, with the Israelis, is the Palestinian's only way forward. Otherwise they really will see another 60 years of poverty. Abbas, Haniyeh, and Mashaal don't care about Palestinians. They can't see beyond their own hatred and political agenda.

The Jews have contributed a lot to world culture, but you can't just dis the entire world of Islamic culture by saying "Engineering and architecture were not the Muslim strong suit" You look at the glories of medieval Islamic culture from Samarkand to Baghdad, to Moghul India to Cairo, Damscus, Marakesh, Grenada. Maths, medicine, archaitecture, engineering, science, literature etc. etc. OK, Islamic culture's fallen behind a bit recently, but generally Judaism has very little to offer to compare with Islamic art until very recently.

Would Israel accept the declaration of Palestinian Heritage Sites extending back to the Philistines and Canaanite culture? There would be HUNDREDS of Palestinian heritage sites! Israelis need to become a democracy and treat people of different faiths equally.

Those "Islamic beauties" you cite were designed and built by Byzantine artisans under contract to the conquering Muslims. Engineering and architecture were not the Muslim strong suit. Look it up. The Kaaba in Mecca is pretty much the high point of real Islamic architecture.

I also think it would be prudent to redefine these sites as Jewish Heritage sites... Though for the religious Israelis there is no distinction between Israel and Judaism... The Dome of the Rock is a Muslim heritage site and when Israel took over east Jerusalem in 1967 they handed over administrative rights to the Muslims... I think Israel is trying to establish similar parameters so when Hebron and Bethlehem become part of Palestine these "religious heritage sites" will be administrated by some sort of Jewish Organization... just like the one setup by the Jordanians... Correct me if i am wrong but didn?t Israel setup the parameters for the Vatican (last year) to maintain administrative rights over the Christian holy sites? Perhaps a joint religious commission should be established to administrate these sites so that ones religious identity is not threatened?

What chutzpah of Bibi - calling the burial places of Abraham and Rachel part of the Jewish State's heritage. Next he'll probably claim the same for Moses' burial place. Hmmmmm.

Don't they ALWAYS threaten "Holy War"? Ever since the days of the astounding wicked, Grand Mufti Al-Husseini, the Arabs of Palestine have been manipulated by their leadership in this exact manner!

All we want and need is to have some peace for a change. Now if you, the settlers, the hareddis and the lieberman's people continue to push us to the bottomless pit of permanent war which will be our end , and the destruction of the third jewish dream. dont forget that Bar Cochva encoureged by Rabbi Akiva who treated him as the Messaia, drove us to the last destruction and a final one for two thausand years. So dont trust the old one, he has been esleep and could not see the pogromms and the holocaust nor the spanish inquisition etc

its not your link or desire doesn't make it yours...if you ask nicely you may visit

dude, you have one mixed up mind. i hope what you wrote was intended to be ironic, and a mockery of reality. sadly though, i do not think this is the case, but rather you have adopted the generic identity of "victim" that will forever haunt your life. i guess that is your karma, and you'll never understand reality until you learn your history. good luck to you!

Jews have been deprived of their Holy sites and had them desecrated and destroyed when under Arab control. The site listed are THE holy sites for Jews and were only later adopted for completely other reasons by Moslems to assert a replacement theology. You've got it backwards - as we get closer to peace the Arabs need to become sensitive to Jewish interests they have trashed for centuries. They only reason they have not been brought up in the past is choosing good timing, not a lack of interest in our holy sites.

Having said that, lots of Jewish heritage in Israel consists of piles of ancient rather delapidated stones like Masada and Megiddo or ugly, modern buildings. The Islamic heritage by contrast has beauties like Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock, and there's quite a lot of impresive Roman and Christian stuff as well.

Is time for my president to stop all this nonesense stop all the support for a goverment that is looking only for war! and to stop Israel weapon and money!!!!! this goverment is more a terrorist than the real one! what wrong bibi you feel obove other country because your mossad assassin are around you??

The UN needs to grow some and step in. This would be very very bad if this happens.

This hysterical, bombastic response to Bibi simply designating well-known Jewish holy places as "Heritage Sites" is some of the best proof yet that Abbas and his PA (and Hamas, of course) are really not interested in an independent state alongside Israel. What people supposedly "yearning" for independence creates all these crazy road-blocks?? Did the Jews go berserk because Jerusalem and Hebron were not included in the UN Partition Jewish State, and refuse to move forward? NO! No real people yearning for statehood act like the "Palestinians", endless crazy demands. Bibi effectively put PA on notice that in a peace agreement (in exchange for free access and/or sovereignty of the Temple Mount mosques), the PA will have to agree to reciprocal measures to insure Jewish access to important Jewish religious "Heritage" sites, which goes without saying anyway - or they will stay Israeli! Wild reaction of AbbasHamas is the reaction of people who are looking for any excuse to fight a war.

"Israel aims to erase our identity, alter our Islamic monuments and steal our history" The PA has done exactly that about Israels history and monuments on the templemount and by rewriting history. This remark can be attributed to coprolalia

after years of war in iraq, hamas fihters experience will hit hard! netanjahu needsa little more sensitiveness!

Palestinians are so upset at the project because they consider these places Moslem, with no legitimate Jewish connection. Moslems don?t recognize Jewish history, let alone recognizing Israel. In NYT article, Palestinian leader refers to Rachel's tomb and cave of patriarchs as "Palestinian sites in Hebron and Bethlehem". Haniyeh said the aim of the project is "to erase our identity, alter our Islamic monuments and steal our history". Since they don't see these places as Jewish, Moslems consider Israel's actions inexplicable except as aimed at destroying Islam/Arabs. This is a microcosm of the conflict. Whether Israel keeps these shrines or not, there will be no possibility of Moslems making peace until accept historical reality of ancient Jewish presence in Israel. World leaders should make support for Palestinian state, and Israeli withdrawal from W. Bank, contingent on Pal'n recognition of Jewish history. This will force the Pal'ns to think about the issue, and perhaps lead to peace

sites it wants... just Like Serbia did in Kosovo before the Albanians in Kosovo unilateraly declared and most of the 1st world countries recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent country. All the Palestinians need are images/stories of brutalized Palestinians herded into isolated refugee camps and threats of "transport" to the east, across the Jordan river.

Funny how Martin and Edifice use identical headlines at the same time. Telepathy, twins or the Aipac mob arriving to do battle? This one for Edifice, on the (typical Zio red herring) issue of UK sovereignty over the Falklands. It was declared in 1833. Argentina, having only become independent 17 years earlier, had not visited, settled or claimed the islands. If they want to dispute sovereignty, they can happily go off to the international court and make their case. Trouble is, they don't have a case - it's just a nationalist fiction. Rather like the Eretz Israel mob and their claim to Palestine. If Israel indeed believes the land is 'disputed', great, why doesn't it buzz of to the international courts and try its luck at getting ownership? For the same reason as the Argentinians - if the claim is ruled out then that whole excuse for a land-grab is gone. By the way, the Falklands can declare independence anytime the islanders want. Now, about Palestine...

Well, I can't understand what the current Israeli government is after! They have an "Israeli heritage list" since when and what it is really about? I can understand, for instance, that there are some sites related to Judaism since they have lived their and there has been prophets also related to Judaism. So how come and what does it mean to have a list for "Israeli" heritage; it would be less arguable if they said Jewish, at least from a religous perspective, because we as muslims cannot deny the fact that there has been Jews living in this region. Eventually, the Israeli government is just trying to use religion for political purposes as the name "Israeli" emphasizes the "Israelization" of the Palestinians land. Some may have other arguments, but we the Pals, never said that Jerusalem, for instance, is a Palestinian heritage, but rather its an Islamic holy site. Also, if we are required not to deny the Jewish history in the region, they must do the same as well!!!

EZ, if abbas and the palestinians are declaring a holly war, you are calling for a War of Mass destruction against Peace, the palestinians, and all Atabs.Ah, you forget to call for the annexation of Iran as well.

until recently...your true homeland is chechnya....go there now and help you muslim cousins set it free from the evil ruski

A Jewish leader has the temerity to declare that Jewish historical sites are -- God protect us! -- Jewish, and the world screams right along with the anti-Israel chorus. Can you imagine how the same folks would react if the Vatican made a similar declaration about Jerusalem or Nazareth? Mum. And if Israel was silly enough to complain about such a declaration? No doubt the usual torrent of criticism.

And not a threat alone but institgation to riot. But hey, next month he'll be warning that he will resign unless this or that tantrum gets results.

Well...israel is not offering peace. They are offering to just talk....to get the world off their back...While settlements continue to push the palestinians into Jordan. If israel really wanted peace they wouldnt elect a PM who doesn't really believe in a 2 state solution.

Palestinians want to rewrite Jewish history and claim that Kever Yosef, Rachel, Maarah, Iyr Dahvid, even Har Habayit are all Moslem sights. Israel is asserting it's heritage claim, not to displace Arabs surrounding these locations, but to insure Jewish access to these sights - something Jordan denied Jews prior to 1967, and the Palestinians deny as well if the World ever granted them full Sovereignty over these locations. If Abbas wants to hold the peace process hostage by denying Jewish claims to their own Jewish holy sights, so be it. Let the west bank chock and die like Gaza, for all any Israeli or Jew will care.

Unlike France and Belgium, the sites in question are in walking distance from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the site on which Muslims decided to build a mosque and the site that is the most important symbol for Jews. History Mr. Cummings, did not start 60 years ago.

read again the terms of the treaty...it says JERUSALEM, not HEBRON

How about that little real estate called The Falklands which Britain expropriated from Argentine and where they now want to drill for oil.

The Vatican has just declared Jerusalem a national Christian heritage site, and it will feature as part of a Vatican heritage trail. The Vatican has also kindly agreed to make money available to re-develop this important Christian site, in order to bring out the particular importance of the site to the millions of Christian visitors expected. The Vatican will also provide troops in Jerusalem to keep order during Christian pilgrimages. The troops, and Chrsitian visitors, will be under strict orders to treat non-Christians humanely, in line with the precedents established during the first four Crusades. In particular, any Chrstians found persecuting the local non-Chrsitian inhabitants will be spoken to sharply, and told to stop, at least while the TV cameras are running.

CUmmings is full of nonsense. People should get real. Call it what you will. Jerusalem is called El Quds. Should Jews get upset about it? No, Jews control it and respect it. Not so for any Jewish site in the West Bank. Who is going to protect it? THis helps a little and puts the PA on notice that when they run the place, they had better take care of it. Forget about it being good business (just look at the way they destroyed the great houses and structures in Gaza territories that were given back). Lets declare it a WORLD HERITAGE SITE. Of course, the UN agency in charge would never do this. You have to understand that if some Muslims had their say, there would be no Jewish site whatsoever. Only anti-semites would agree and we know this is only an anti zionist position, not anti-jewish. Huh? Werent the patriarchs pre ZION?

Imagine the thousands of Synagoges around the world being attacked - Europe and the Americas - a religious war with 1 billion people is not good for anyone -

Arabs failure to share. Once again.

The graves that Israel has declared National Heritage sites are the graves of exclusively Jewish ancestors and have no value to the Arabs other than it is meaningful to Jews. Abraham who threw Ishmael out of his home for guess what, surprise - rotten behavior, was long ago minimized in Islamic history, and was replaced with the legacy of Mohammad.

Bibi allways was looking for an excuse how not to give away the West Bank. Now he find a new one. The Zionism was not for the protection of the holly sites, but rather the Jewish national and liberation mouvement by building a Jewish homeland

Religious tolerance and respect for religious sites go both ways. If they don't accept Jewish heritage sites then why bother keeping the "Dome of the Rock" intact? That's some good real estate there.

It would be so much better if Jews, Arabs, Moslems, Iranians would concentrate more on where they are going rather than where they come from. While pride in one's history is admirable, it easily morphs into ethnocentrism and bias. The region has absolutely no vision nor leadership for the future.

sites in occupied territory that it is supposed to be in the process of negotiating the independence of? I'm sure Britain would like to rope off heritage sites for Agincourt in France and Waterloo in Belgium, problem is, they wouldn't be allowed, it being someone else's land. Netanyahu caves in to the settlers and Yesha Council at the first whiff of grapeshot, is he a man or is he a cardboard cut-out? This heritage action in the West Bank is provocatively nuts and shows one thing clearly - Israel has no intention of ever letting there be an independent Palestine outwith the Jewish strangelhold. I don't know why anybody believes a word he says really. Actually, with the possible exception of the US Republicans, they don't.

article 9 of Wadi Araba (peace treaty with Jordan) states: "Holy places Freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance. Israel would respect the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines. The states also pledged to promote interfaith relations among Judaism, Islam and Christianity, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace." Israel now broke the peace treaty with Jordan.

Nothing would gratify Netanyahu and Lieberman more than a third infitada.

Abbas never misses an opportunity to act tough

Declare Palestinians the true descendants of Abraham. After all, according to the Islam teachings it was Ishmael whom Abraham was about to sacrifice, not Isaac. The book of Exodus was clandestinely altered to swap the name Isaac and Ishmael in early 20-th century Zionists to give them the moral ground to grab land by claiming historical connection to the land that never existed (the last is optional, of course). This way, all the Jewish holy sites, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel?s Tomb in Hebron, are automatically Palestinian property that is being claimed by pretenders. It will be much easier for an average EU member to understand the level of identity theft, grave robbing and injustice that have been visited upon Palestinians by Israelis who have no connection to the original Jews. Anti-Semites of the world: UNITE !

Rather than being understanding and generous concerning the preservation of ancient Jewish sites, Abbas and the Palestinians offer a 'Holy War'??? Welcome to their status quo. They can pray anywhere but the Jews are threatened with violence and arrested by their own when they seek to revere religious sites that were rightfully LIBERATED during war. Israel made a huge mistake in being so generous all of these years. They should have kept the Sinai, FULLY annexed the Golan, Annexed Gaza and the West Bank and been done with it. By now, the rifts would have healed, there would have been no further wars (except perhaps skirmishes with Lebanon) and the arab world would have gotten the message: don't fight with Israel or they'll follow the rules of war, annexing conquered lands and never giving in. Now, Israel is the worlds knock-about. Go figure.

Having lost the military option Arabs and their forward unit, the PA Authority, with General Abbas in charge, have been waging the PR war against Israel for some years now. Nothing new here.

if he wants it, he can have it.