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The Fight for Jerusalem

Author: Dore Gold
Publisher: Regnery Publishing • 2007 • 384 pages
The Fight for Jerusalem

Jerusalem: it’s the center of spirituality for millions of believers – and a political football that threatens to engulf the entire world in war. With sites holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Jerusalem has always sat on an inter-civilizational fault line between the East and West. Now, as Dore Gold explains in “The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam,” the West, and the Future of the Holy City, it has become a centerpiece of the global jihad against the West — and even Israeli leaders and Bill Clinton have been anxious to give the jihadists what they want. Gold, the bestselling author of “Hatred’s Kingdom” and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, explains why the battle for Jerusalem is heating up today – and why attempts to give Palestinians control of even part of the city would be a disaster with global repercussions.

Gold reveals why uncovering Jerusalem’s past (including the truth of biblical history) can be the key to saving its future. He provides a brisk summation of the tumultuous history of the region, and details how Muslim control of all or part of the city has always made life difficult and dangerous for non-Muslim residents of and visitors to Jerusalem. Keeping Jerusalem united and free under the sovereignty of Israel, rather than internationalizing it or turning it over to the Arabs, Gold explains, would not be a break from international norms or practice — and is the only hope for preserving the city’s unique and treasured holy sites. He demonstrates that no other state or international body can truly protect the peace, freedom, and religious pluralism of this Holy City for all of mankind.

The battle for Jerusalem is going to get hotter in the near future. Here is a comprehensive guide to clear away the Left’s fog of disinformation when it does.

Dore Gold reveals:

  • Why Hamas was not weakened by the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — which, according to the prevalent international view, should have diminished its influence among the Palestinians and caused them to see that new diplomatic options were possible
  • Muslim claims to Jerusalem as an Islamic holy city: their shaky foundations in Islamic fable about the Muslim prophet Muhammad
  • Why the early Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem – and why they ultimately turned to face Mecca
  • Islamic interpretations of Muhammad’s “Night Journey” that diluted the Islamic connection to Jerusalem
  • The surprising origins of “Palestine” as the name for the region where the Jews had lived for milennia
  • The Crusades: why the Crusaders fought so fiercely to take Jerusalem – and how they made Jerusalem a bigger focal point for Christianity than it ever had been before
  • Why the Muslim warrior Saladin saw the conquest of Jerusalem as a critical prerequisite for defeating the main global opponent to the Islamic world at the time – and how his victory over the Crusaders enhanced the religious status of Jerusalem in the Islamic world
  • How the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century affected both the physical and spiritual status of Jerusalem
  • The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine: how it didn’t create some new right of the Jews to settle in Palestine, but rather acknowledged their pre-existing right to do so, based on their historical connection to the region
  • Jordan’s “moderate” King Abdullah: why he vociferously opposed the internationalization of Jerusalem in 1949
  • Why Jerusalem’s status among Christians has been for many centuries inferior to that of some other cities – and the three main schools of thought with respect to Jerusalem that are current among Christians today
  • Islamic apocalyptic literature that says that the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem is one of the six signs that will take place just before the Day of Judgment
  • How ill-conceived Western policies on Jerusalem just feed, rather than diminish, the wild apocalyptic speculations with clear jihadist overtones, that are currently circulating in the Islamic world about Jerusalem
  • Why Ayman al-Zawahiri and other top al-Qaeda leaders believe that “the way to Jerusalem passes through Cairo”
  • Yasir Arafat’s “the al-Aqsa intifada” against Israel: how its name was intentionally misleading, implying the Temple Mount’s al-Aqsa mosque was in danger
  • Jihadist sermons in Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, calling for war against America and Israel – and even for the overthrow of current Arab regimes
  • Yitzhak Rabin: why his strong words in favor of Israel retaining control over all of Jerusalem were ignored and misrepresented by his successors from his own party
  • Why Bill Clinton was so intent on getting the Israelis to give up control of part of Jerusalem as his presidency neared its end – and why his attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict failed
  • The 1995 Senate vote that overwhelmingly affirmed American support for Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem
  • How and why Israeli officials made sure that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s 2000 proposal to give the Palestinians control over half of Jerusalem would remain a one-time offer, and not become the basis for further negotiations
  • Sobering evidence that turning over part or all of Jerusalem to the Palestinians would be tantamount to turning it over to Al-Qaeda
  • President Bush’s 2004 letter to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel: its significance for Jerusalem
  • Palestinian efforts to erase archeological evidence of the ancient Jewish presence in Jerusalem, and particularly on the Temple Mount
  • Revelations by Palestinian officials during the Al-Aqsa Intifada that led to immense difficulty in bridging the gap between Israel and the PLO over the issue of Jerusalem
  • Why any future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over the status of Jerusalem have very little chance of producing an agreement

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