Hot Spot: Rock the World

Why it matters: The focal point of the Crusades, it’s still the most contested religious spot in the world. To Jews, it is the hallowed Temple Mount, site of the first and second Jewish temples and the place where a third will be built when the Messiah returns. To Muslims, it is known as Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, home to the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, where Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven. Together, as Time magazine has noted, that makes this corner of Jerusalem’s Old City the “most controversial 35 acres on Earth” and “as dangerous these days as a ticking atom bomb.”

Solomons Temple

7/2/07, Hamas's attempts to take over control of the Temple Mount as well as spread its ideology and recruit new members in Jerusalem have been foiled by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), a senior security official announced Monday. The official said that Hamas has recently enlarged a library and several prayer halls in Solomon's Stables and also built a public bathroom facility.

5/24/07, Rabbi Zalman Melamed,the head of the Beit El Yeshiva and a leader among West Bank rabbis, said, “Next year we will all go up freely to the Temple, which will be built, with the ashes of the red heifer, without disagreement and without questions.”

5/16/07, Rabbi Zalman Melamed, the head of the Beit El Yeshiva and a leader among West Bank rabbis, said, "Next year we will all go up freely to the Temple, which will be built, with the ashes of the red heifer, without disagreement and without questions." As a result of the strengthening Palestinian presence on the Mount, religious-Zionist rabbis have been pressured in recent years to permit visits to some parts of it.

5/13/07, At a special cabinet meeting on Jerusalem Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced plans to channel NIS 5.75 billion worth of benefits into the capital over the next five years, in an attempt to reverse the capital's demographic trends which Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski warned could lead to Hamas taking over the city without firing a shot. "Jerusalem could, God forbid, end up not under Jewish sovereignty, but rather that of Hamas," Lupolianski said.

5/11/07, An increasing number of religious Zionist rabbis are allowing their followers to enter the Temple Mount, contrary to the religious consensus on the matter.

5/8/07, An Israeli archaeologist says he has found the tomb of King Herod, the ruler of Judea. Herod was a Roman-appointed King of Judea from 37BC to 4BC. He was a bloody ruler who killed political rivals, such as in the Massacre of Innocents, to protect his throne. He was behind ambitious building projects including expanding the 2nd Jewish Temple and walls around Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock is truly remarkable. The three great monotheistic religions of the world have claim to this spot. Here King Solomon built the First Temple almost 3,000 years ago.

It is a truth going back to the days of Aristotle that not more than one thing can occupy the same space at the same time. Aristotle stated that this is the most fundamental axiom of all. Hence, this site has been controlled by either the Jews, the Christians, or the Muslims since the time when G-d demanded the sacrifice of the first born. Could the Father of man do it? There has been an ongoing struggle between the Sons of Abraham -- the common patriarch of all three monotheistic religions -- since their conception. Yahweh, the Father; and Christ, his son; and the Holy Spirit of the Muslims. They contend for control over this world just the same as the Olympian brotherhood of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.
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Video: In, Thru & Beyond
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This spot on the globe is a center in the the psyche of humanity in the way that the North Pole is a center for the magnetic field. This central region has fractured into two other spots. The Muslims had originally oriented themselves to pray towards Jerusalem. Today they pray towards Mecca. The Christian seat of authority is now in the Vatican City of Rome. As the world converges on towards a central authority, each of the three will seek to sieze that central spot about which all else revolves.
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Video: The Wall