PLEASE FORWARD THE FOLLOWING TO ALL YOUR LISTS AND CONTACTS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY, YOUR CONGREGATIONS, ORGANIZATIONS, PTA'S, ETC

PLEASE FORWARD THE FOLLOWING TO ALL YOUR LISTS AND CONTACTS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY, YOUR CONGREGATIONS, ORGANIZATIONS, PTA'S, ETC.

The Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001 has been just introduced at a press conference in Washington, DC, on July 19, 2001.

The bill seeks to protect the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, by halting all funding to the PA, unless the President certifies that all excavation on the Temple Mount has stopped!

This is a petition for which we want one million names, of people everywhere in the world!

TO JOIN THE PETITION, please submit your name, email address and city and country of residence, to Murray Kahl <>

or Shoshanna Walker (rosewalk@concentric.net)

PLEASE CIRCULATE THE PETITION (see the text below).

Furthermore, if you are a US citizen you are being requested to contact your representatives and urge them to support this bill

(The bill can be downloaded on the internet by sending a post to bill@free-lebanon.com)

FOR US CITIZENS: To find out how to contact your representatives, go to:

http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml

Enter the 9 digit zip code of your present or last US voting address

If you only know the first 5 digits of the zip code, enter them, click on GO and a page will open up for you with a link to the Post Office.

Click on that link and it will give you a page with a form to fill out with your address

After you have entered your address, click "process", and a page will open with your complete zip code.

Enter the complete zip code in the place for it on the left, click GO, and you will get a page with all your representatives, you can click on each one and get a picture, a bio, and ALL CONTACT ADDRESSES, PHONE AND FAX NUMBERS, and more.

From: Murray Kahl

"Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001"

The "Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001" was introduced at a press conference at the Sam Rayburn Building in Washington D.C. July 19th 2001 by Congressman Eric J. Cantor (R-7th /VA). We praise his actions as man of conscience, and we offer our full support in expediting the passage of this important bill.

The bill calls for the cutoff of all funding to the Palestinian Authority because of their desecration of Temple Mount and sends a clear message to Yasir Arafat that it will no longer be tolerated. The bill specifically asks that all assistance [US dollars] provided to the Palestinian Authority, or its instrumentalities be halted unless the President certifies that no excavation of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is under way.

Enclosed within the bill is a detailed description of illegal activities by the Palestinian Authority after their subversion of the WAQF (Islamic Religious Trust), the Islamic group responsible for the daily oversight of the Mount, by pressuring the Jordanian affiliated officials and clergy off Temple Mount.

Additionally, the bill details illegal construction and destruction of Temple Mount and points to areas such as the expansion of the underground Marawani Mosque, the conversion of an underground structure, dating back to the time of the Second Temple, into a mosque. Additional excavations proceeded in 1998 that included a dominant underground mosque hall and an emergency hall to a mosque located on Temple Mount. The exit measures eighteen thousand square feet and is up to 36 feet in depth. Thousands of pounds of valuable material from the site was dumped into the Kidron Valley. Much of this dumping consisted of artifacts from the time of the First Temple (1006 B.C.E. to 586 B.C.E.

Furthermore, in February and March of 2001, the Palestinian Authority ordered the destruction of an ancient arched structure erected against the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount so as to enlarge the emergency gate of the new mosque at the area known as the Stables of Solomon.

The bill explains how Yasir Arafat politicized the illegal construction by ordering that the underground halls under Temple Mount be unified into a single fortified space that would be the largest mosque ever built on the Mount and to be used for the planned combat by the Palestinians for control of Temple Mount. Experts express much worry that the shoddy workmanship will undermine existing construction on Temple Mount.

The bill expresses its concern over Yasir Arafatís and the Palestinian Authorityís actions as an attempt to destroy all historical evidence of Jewish presence on Temple Mount thereby discrediting Israelís claim to sovereignty over the Mount. The bill expresses its concern over the religious intolerance expressed by Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority and its attempt to not only eradicate valuable archaeological evidence of construction and events in Christian and Hebrew religious writings and its corollary of denying Americans the validation of needed information to comprehend and enhance their Judeo-Christian heritage.

Temple Mount Needs Your Support

There are two facets to this campaign of support:

Enclosed is a petition that seeks one million signatures that will be turned over to the appropriate people. Use it individually or collectively (by turning over to groups) and return the signatures to me.

I am asking all to assist in publicizing this so we can have everyone who holds American citizenship contact their Congressmen and ask them to support this bill.

In Israel, I ask everyone to contact all, individuals and groups, on their mailing lists and ask them to support the bill, particularly if they hold American citizenship, by contacting their Congressman and asking the they support the bill. I cannot stress this too much as voters count, voters make a large impact.

Please notify everyone immediately and ask them to contact me for additional information if needed. I have volunteers assisting in this effort, and they will distribute the petition and turn the names over to me for presentation to Congress..

There is much work that went into this bill and it is a major step in notifying Arafat that he can no longer depend on US support. Since the bill did not give out the amount of total U.S. given to the P.A., I inquired and found that it's approximately 500 million dollars.

The bill can be downloaded on the internet by sending a post to bill@free-lebanon.com. Nothing else is required on the post.

Professor Murray Kahl

kahl1@gate.net

Office of Congressman Eric Cantor (VA-07)

For Immediate Release Contact: Jenn Mascott

Thursday, July 19, 2001 (202) 225-2815

Cantor Introduces Temple Mount Preservation Act

Legislation would stop American taxpayer sponsorship of the erosion of Judeo-Christian heritage in Jerusalem

WASHINGTON -- This morning, Congressman Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) introduced the Temple Mount Preservation Act with bipartisan support. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel, represents thousands of years of our Judeo-Christian heritage and is one of the most sacred sites to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have been excavating and removing ancient religious artifacts from the area under the Temple Mount. Cantor's legislation would cut off all aid to Arafat and the Palestinians until all unauthorized excavations from the Temple Mount come to an end.

Cantor conducted a briefing regarding his legislation and reported on his recent trip to Israel where he witnessed first-hand some of the ongoing destruction of the Temple Mount.

Cantor said, "This issue has implications not only for my constituents in Virginia, but for individuals across the globe."

During the briefing, Cantor presented photographs released by the Committee for the Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, a coalition of Israel's leading archaeologists, authors, and public figures, led by Hebrew University Archaeologist, Dr. Eilat Mazar. The photographs demonstrate the excavation of religious artifacts, paving, and unauthorized construction conducted by Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.

"Connected with such destruction is extreme religious intolerance - contrary to the Jeffersonian principles of the free exercise of religion held dear by all Americans," said Cantor.

Press Briefing - Introduction of the Temple Mount Preservation Act

Remarks by Congressman Eric Cantor (R-Virginia)

WASHINGTON, July 19- Thank you for coming today and for your interest in this important issue.

I also want to thank my colleagues and friends, Congressman Pence and Congressman Weiner, for joining me.

I am particularly grateful for your interest in the destruction of the Temple Mount and what I view as one of the most unprecedented attacks on religious heritage of our time.

Connected with such destruction is extreme religious intolerance - contrary to the Jeffersonian principles of the free exercise of religion held dear by all Americans.

This issue has implications not only for my constituents in Virginia, but for individuals across the globe.

Thousands of years of Judeo-Christian heritage is under siege at this most sacred of sites to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

The Temple Mount is the site of the Biblical temple built by King Solomon, as well as the temple visited by Jesus as a child and again as an adult.

Today, I have information produced by archeologists that provides hard evidence of the destruction on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

In 1967, Jerusalem was united under Israel's sovereignty. Since that time, Israel has been legally responsible for the Temple Mount.

The government has allowed equal access for all religions. Shortly after the 1967 War, the Israeli government delegated authority for the daily oversight of the Temple Mount to the Waqf, a Muslim Foundation, in tacit cooperation with Jordan.

Jordan's role as custodian of Muslim religious interests was codified in the Israel-Jordanian peace treaty of 1994.

In the aftermath of the negotiations surrounding the Oslo Accords, Chairman Yasser Arafat took control of the Waqf, bringing about a change in the policy of free access for all religions on the Temple Mount.

He began by replacing the Jordanian-affiliated clergymen and officials and named Mufti Ikrima Sabri the chief Muslim administrator. Sabri, known for his anti-Semitic and anti-American views, has since declared that the Jews have no right to the Temple Mount.

More recently, Arafat has denied Jewish and Christian worshipers access to the historic Temple Mount and has restricted media from visiting the site.

Beginning in early 1998, Arafat's Waqf has permitted large-scale bulldozing and destruction of the Temple Mount antiquities. Thousands of tons of fill have been unearthed and simply dumped into the nearby Kidron Valley.

Archeologists have verified these artifacts date from the period of the First Temple [circa 1006 BC (BCE) to 586 BC (BCE)].

Anybody with any reasonable perspective would hold that the Temple Mount should be preserved and any disturbance thereon closely monitored.

But now, there are bulldozers and stone-cutting machines hacking away every day.

I know that in my District, we are known for historical sites, such as Montpelier, the home of former President James Madison. I can tell you that bulldozers come nowhere near the residence, or its estate.

I just returned from Israel two weeks ago.

While there, I met with individuals and government officials who verified the media reports of the destruction. The Committee for the Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount is comprised of former government leaders, archeologists, and academics who are concerned and have banned together to fight the destruction of the religious site.

I saw ancient ruins unearthed from the time of the First and Second Temples. I saw construction equipment and materials protruding from the top of the Temple Mount, visible from the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount.

I met with the Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, who confirmed the pattern of destruction.

At this time, I'd like to turn to the pictures, which reflect the evidence compiled by these archeologists.

The first series of photographs depict the Temple Mount site as it has evolved since the mid-1990s.

Particular attention should be given to the heavily treed landscape early on, and later, the paved plaza replacing the trees.

Attention should focus on the southeastern area of the Temple Mount, under which an area called Solomon's Stables was connected with the Second Temple. In this area, Arafat has directed the destruction of what may have been part of the Temple complex.

The Waqf's action destroyed physical remnants of the religious site, including arched entranceways and colonnades believed to have played a role in religious life two thousand years ago.

The pictures depict bulldozers crushing evidence of the religious site and new construction masking any trace of the temple.

There have been several press accounts reporting this grand-scale destruction of the Temple Mount, the full text of which are in your packets.

I would like to bring your attention to one in particular.

This is from an Op-Ed carried by the National Review in October 2000, in which the author stated,

"Moreover, the Waqf has devoted the past 33 years to an extensive campaign of excavation, systematically destroying any evidence of Jewish and Christian presence on the Temple Mount, so that they could argue - as they now do - that it has always been an exclusively Muslim place."

Further evidencing the calculated plan of Arafat's to destroy our Judeo-Christian heritage, we saw in the Boston Globe in March 2001 a quote from Sheik Ikrima Sabri:

"The Temple Mount was never there. There is not one bit of proof to establish that. We do not recognize that the Jews have any right to the wall or to one inch of the sanctuary. Jews are greedy to control our mosque. If they every try to, it will be the end of Israel."

The bottom line is, Chairman Arafat's intent is to deny access to the Temple Mount for any individuals other than followers of Islam.

In addition, the evidence produced today clearly shows that Arafat is intent on erasing Judeo-Christian connections to the holy site.

And that is why I am introducing today the Temple Mount Preservation Act that would cut off all aid to Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority until all unauthorized excavations of the Temple Mount are stopped.

Currently, the United States is on track to send $125 million in aid this year to the United States Agency for International Development - USAID - for the Palestinians. This money is part of a $400 million package over three years appropriated by Congress in 2000.

Additionally, the U.S. annually provides approximately $75 million in indirect aid to the Palestinians - again administered through the USAID.

Petition

Petition to Halt all US Assistance to the PA and its Instrumentalities

We support H.R. [Number yet to be assigned but it can be referred to as: ìThe Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001"] in the U.S. House of Representatives and ask that these attempts by the Palestinian Authority to desecrate Temple Mount in Israel be treated as an affront to the religious and historical basis of Christianity and Judaism.

We applaud Congressman Eric J. Cantor (R-7th /VA) for initiating this bill, and we respectfully request that all Congressmen will support the bill and bring it to fruition.

Names and Addresses:

_________________________________________

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