Arlene Kushner: Conference On: "Jerusalem: How Important Is It to the Muslims?"

From Arlene Kushner

March 18, 2012

"Islam and Jerusalem"

On March 14, I attended a conference that considered the question, "Jerusalem: How Important Is It to the Muslims?"  Held at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, it was jointly sponsored by the Center and the Middle East Forum, of Philadelphia.

Speakers, in order of their presentations, were:

The Middle East Media Sampler: Worldwide Campaign to Islamize Jerusalem

From DG:

1) On "Judaizing" Jerusalem

You haven't heard Shakespeare until you've heard it in the original Klingon.
Chancellor Gorkon - "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" 

In one of its more blatant attempts to rewrite history, on a recent television program, the Palestinian Authority  claimed that "If I forget thee, Jerusalem ..." is from the Crusaders, not a part of the Bible. (It is from Psalms, chapter 137.) Palestinian Media Watch reports:

Proof Abbas Lied About East Jerusalem At Doha

The following from Missing Peace is reposted with permission:

New plan proves Abbas lied about East Jerusalem in Doha

Missing Peace



This week PA president Mahmoud Abbas held a highly inflammatory speech during a conference in Doha where the ‘defense’ of Al Quds (Jerusalem) was discussed.

He accused Israel of conducting a campaign that “uses the most ugly means to erase the Arab-Islamic character of East Jerusalem”. He also said that “Muslims should fight ‘Judaization’ of the city”, meaning replacing Arabs with Jews (ethnic cleansing)

The best rebuttal of Abbas’ false claim about the ethnic cleansing of the Arab residents of Jerusalem are the population statistics of the city. They show an increase of Arab citizens in Jerusalem ever since the Six Day War in 1967.

But the publication of a new five year plan that aims to improve the living conditions of the Arab residents in East Jerusalem by the Jerusalem Municipalty on February 29^th is the latest evidence that Abbas lied.
An English summary of the plan that was released in Hebrew, can be read below:

Jerusalem: A Tale of One City – Part I

Jerusalem: A Tale of One City – Part I

By: Yedidya Atlas

This week the world media was treated to another anti-Israel performance at the “The International Conference for the Defence of Occupied Jerusalem” in Qatar. According to the Qatar News Agency, a few hundred representatives from Arab, Islamic and other countries convened to discuss “the legal status of Jerusalem before and after the Israeli occupation, the reality and the future of Jerusalem under occupation, and the status of the holy places under international law.”