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Italian Islamic Leader: Jerusalem Belongs to Jewish People Yediot Ahronot 29 November, 2007 - 06:52 By Kobi Nachshoni Translated from Hebrew by Yehoshua Friedman “Wanted: new Jewish leadership”, “the nightmare of Oslo returns”, “no prize for terrorists” and even “division of the land is a declaration of war against G-d”. Everyone knows how to recite these slogans, but now it seems that they sound even better in Arabic. The organizers of the preparatory conference of the “New Jewish Congress” which took place two days ago in Jerusalem waved these slogans with great success – joint discussions of the dozens of “competing” right-wing movements and a rare secular presence of about 30%, but the great surprise was supplied by one invited guest who was unable to attend, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, a leader of the Islamic community in Italy, who sent a letter of support to the participants which stole the show, in which he presented politico-religious positions worthy of the rabbis of the right. In his letter Palazzi stated that the territories of Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem belong to the Jewish people and their division would be a declaration of war against G-d. He warned the United States against moves which could cause her to “disappear from the map”, hoped for new Jewish leadership, mentioned the moral obligation of every Jew to struggle for the integrity of the land, blessed the conference participants with the fulfillment of their task to be a “light unto the nations and pavers of the way for the redemption”, and even wondered, just as we do, “what happened to the National Camp”. “Dear brothers and sisters”, Palazzi opened his message, “my heart is with you in these tragic times for the Jewish people, and I pray that these hard times should reach a solution with a new Jewish leadership which will prove that the Zionist dream still lives”. Before analyzing the situation according to his worldview, Sheikh Palazzi sought to calm his audience: “The dream of the Jewish people to live in peace and security in the land of Israel was not crushed by strong governments in the past and will not be crushed even today, despite the attempts of Arab dictators, the American politicians who cave in to their demands and the corrupt Israeli politicians who bow down in submission in Annapolis”. He further presented his position regarding the “nightmare which began with Oslo and has yet to end”, predicting the ascendancy of Hamas over the areas to be vacated by Israel, Jerusalem above all, attacking the US for attacking its own ally and giving a prize to terrorists, and warning of a “catastrophe” – the theft of all of the Land of Israel from the Jews. “One need not be an expert or politician to understand this”, Palazzi claims, “and those who are called the 'National Camp' in Israel are doing nothing to prevent the tragedy”. In addition the Sheikh wonders how President Bush, who claims that he reads the Bible daily, is ignorant of the fact that it is written there that the Land of Israel is G-d's gift to the Children of Israel, the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “It was not given to anyone else, including the descendents of Ishmael”, he mentions,” “They received plenty of territory in other locations.” According to Palazzi, “Whoever attempts to steal any of the divine inheritance of the Jewish people declares war not only on a particular nation, but on G-d and His Word”. He further warns that a change in the foreign policy of the United States will remove from her the “flow of abundance of blessings” which has been given her when she stood up for the rights of Israel in her land, and she is liable “to disappear from the map” like the Soviet Union. Regarding the participants in the conference itself he has only positive words: “As for those who take responsibility upon themselves to generate new Jewish leadership which is capable of defending those areas in the State of Israel which have been liberated through noble efforts and self-sacrifice – I pray that G-d will bless them with the completion of the role of light to the nations and preparation of the path of redemption, by the protection of all of the Land of Israel from further attempts at robbery.” “The New Jewish Congress” With the theme of “Who truly represents the Jewish nation?” a conference was held in Jerusalem two days ago as preparation for the “New Jewish Congress”, which is planned to convene in another half a year and to which all the Jewish organizations in Israel and the world will be invited. The organizers of the event explained that an existential threat is hanging over the Jewish people which proves that the State of Israel has failed in its task of defending it, and that the government is undermining the vital interest of the people. Therefore they have defined the purpose of the Congress as that of making their voice and giving political, religious, social, legal and moral representation to the true interests of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and in the world. 500 people, some of them secular, took part in discussions on topics such as who is a Jew, sovereignty of the Jewish people over the Land of Israel, its relations with the State and its institutions, representation of the interests of Jews before the nations of the world, the United Nations and international organizations and other subjects. Dozens of experts in various fields addressed this special conference, and in the coming days the conference is expected to publish its resolutions which it has concluded on subjects which were raised for discussion. The initiator of the conference, Prof. Hillel Weiss, stated at the opening session that “the immediate purpose is to warn the irresolute both in Israel and among the nations to relate to the sleepwalking, marginal entities which constitute the Israeli government.” According to Weiss, “The Congress is expected to attempt to correct historic errors which have weakened the Jewish State, and to learn lessons in order to assure the safety and security of the Jewish people with the agreement of the major part of the Jewish people and supporting nations.” |
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