PA removes Western Wall report
The Palestinian Authority reportedly removed from its website a paper that denies any Jewish connection to the Western Wall. The report was not on the PA’s official website on Dec. 1, the Associated Press reported. Its author, Al-Mutawakil Taha, a civil servant in the Information Ministry, told the AP that he stands by his report, which says the Western Wall was never a part of the Temple Mount complex. “This wall was never part of the so-called Temple Mount, but Muslim tolerance allowed the Jews to stand in front of it and weep over its destruction,” he wrote. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the claim. Condemnation of the Palestinian position also came from Washington. “Regarding a claim by a senior Palestinian official of the Western Wall is an Islamic Waqf, we strongly condemn these comments and fully reject them as factually incorrect, insensitive and highly provocative,” State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley said on Nov. 30. “We have repeatedly raised with the Palestinian Authority leadership the need to consistently combat all forms of de-legitimization of Israel, including denying historic Jewish connections to the land.”
New Jerusalem neighbourhood
A Jerusalem municipal committee approved the establishment of a new neighbourhood in eastern Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved 625 housing units in Pisgat Ze’ev. The new neighbourhood reportedly will be called North Pisgat Ze’ev. The Obama administration strongly opposed the announcement, according to news reports.
Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the approval showed that Israel had chosen “settlements and not peace.” The Palestinians have said they will not return to peace negotiations with Israel unless Israel halts building in all West Bank settlements and eastern Jerusalem.
Conversions again in doubt
Israel’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar said he will no longer be responsible for any state conversions if the Knesset passes a bill requiring the recognition of all military conversions. In a letter sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rabbi Amar called on the prime minister to prevent the bill from passing. Rabbi Amar has created a committee to look into legal and halachic issues surrounding the military conversions. He asked Netanyahu to allow the committee to conclude its work before allowing the legislation to go forward. “This is to inform you that if this bill passes, I won’t be able to take care of all matters of conversion, and will no longer bear the responsibility for them,” Rabbi Amar said. The Shas Party also called on Netanyahu to quash the bill, telling him that it is a breach of coalition agreements with Shas. The bill to protect Israeli soldiers who have converted to Judaism through military conversion courts from having their conversions annulled was approved on Nov. 28 by the Knesset’s ministerial committee on legislative affairs. It would force all state agencies, including rabbinic courts, the chief rabbis of cities and other Orthodox marriage registrars to accept the converts as Jews.