The following material is from Dr. Peter Feinman, the founder and president of the Institute of History, Archeology, and Education. It is painful to see how the Palestinians have come to deny the historic Jewish connection to Jerusalem, but this should not be taken as proof that the Palestinians do not also have a centuries-old link to this city. A resolution of this conflict requires a sharing or re-division of the city.
This is a reality that Golda Meir denied when a peace treaty with Jordan might otherwise have been possible in the early 1970s with King Hussein of Jordan, and that Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert acknowledged in their aborted negotiations with Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas respectively. Unfortunately, the Israeli position on Jerusalem seems again to be in denial mode, under Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with the national and municipal governments allowing (and in some ways encouraging) the forcible takeover of Palestinian homes and properties in East Jerusalem. With this said, here is this material from Dr. Feinman:
[Palestinian denials of Jewish claims]:
“Our forefathers, the Canaanites and Jebusites, built the cities and planted the
land; they built the monumental city of Bir Salim [Jerusalem]…”: Yasser Arafat,
Land Day speech, March 30, 2000, in Al-Quds
“I am a Palestinian. I am a descendant of the Jebusites, the ones who came before
King David. This [Jerusalem] was one of the most important Jebusite cities in the
area…. Yes, it’s true. We are the descendants of Jebusites, ” Faisal Husseini, an
advisor to Arafat and minister for Jerusalem affairs, interview New York Times
Magazine, October 3, 1999
Until recently, Palestinians generally acknowledged that the Beit Hamikdash
existed. A 1929 publication, A Brief Guide to the Haram al-Sharif, written by
Waqf historian Aref al Aref, declares that the Mount’s “identity with the site of
Solomon’s temple is beyond dispute. This too is the spot, according to universal
belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt and
peace offerings.” But in recent decades, amid the intensifying quarrel over the
sovereignty of East Jerusalem, a growing number of Palestinian officials and
academics have voiced doubts. “I will not allow it to be written of me that I
have…confirmed the existence of the so-called Temple beneath the Mount,”
Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat told President Bill Clinton at the Camp David
peace talks in 2000. Arafat suggested the site of the Temple Mount might have
been in the West Bank town of Nablus, known as Shechem in ancient times.
[What is Beneath the Temple Mount?, Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian April
2011]
The following are the words of Palestinian researcher Dr. Hayel Sanduqa on PA
TV, claiming that the Hebrew Bible’s psalm was actually first said by a Crusader:
“[The Israelis] have acted to change Jerusalem’s character. Even the expression
(Psalm 137:5) ‘If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee.’
This statement, said by the Frankish [Crusader] ruler of Acre shortly before he
left, was borrowed by the Zionist movement, which falsified it in the name of
Zionism.” [PA TV (Fatah), June 2, 2011]
The Biblical Record
Joshua 15:8 then the boundary goes up by the valley of the son of Hinnom at the southern
shoulder of the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem); and the boundary goes up to the top of the
mountain that lies over against the valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the
valley of Rephaim; [allocation of the tribe of Judah]
Judges 19:10 But the man would not spend the night; he rose up and departed, and arrived
opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled asses, and his
concubine was with him. 11 When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant
said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night
in it.”
1 Chronicles 11:4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is Jebus, where the
Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 5 The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will
not come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.
2 Samuel 5:5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem
he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years. 6 And the king and his men went to
Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will
not come in here, [but the blind and the lame will ward you off (or “incited them saying”)” –
– thinking, “David cannot come in here.]” 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion,
that is, the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, “Whoever would smite the Jebusites,
let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul.”
[Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”] 9And David dwelt
in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built the city round about from the
Millo inward.
Paraphrase: Whoever strikes down a Jebusite must deal a fatal blow, for otherwise the city will
be filled mutilated man whom we have wounded but not slain, and I find such men intolerable.
2 Samuel 24:16 And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD repented of the evil, and said to the angel who was working destruction among the
people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing
floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 18 And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go
up, rear an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” [SACRED
SPACE]
2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on
Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had
appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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