Thursday, October 27, 2005

MORE ON SHEIKH KAMAL HATIB (KHATIB). Whether or not WorldNetDaily quoted him correctly, his organization does seem to indulge in Jewish-Temple denial. This from an Haaretz article ("Focus / `False' dreams, and temples, on the Mount" dated 23 June 2005 (according to Google cache):
Last week, before he was arrested, Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, head of the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch, slammed Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy for his comment that the police were considering allowing Jews to go to the site. Salah said that Levy's remarks "reveal the tragic circumstances of the existence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the occupying Israeli rule."

Following this week's wave of arrests of top Islamic Movement members, the organization published a declaration saying that the campaign against it was part of the "rosy, narcissistic, false dream" of the Israeli government "to build their false temple on the blessed land of Al-Aqsa."

Ra'ad's deputy, Sheikh Kamal Khatib, told Haaretz this week that the steps against his movement also serve the interests of the Palestinian Authority - and especially the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) - which is concerned about the control the organization is beginning to wield over the Mount.

The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement holds an annual Al-Aqsa Festival, which it first started in the 1990s and which draws thousands and thousands of participants. The movement fundraises intensively for renovations via its Al-Aqsa Association and publishes propaganda in the form of books and articles on the "false temple" Israel plans to build once it has rid the Temple Mount of all mosques.

Brousing through the books sold at the movement's store in Kafr Qana, for example, one suddenly comes across "scientific" proof showing that the First and Second Temples never stood on the site, as the Jews believe. ...

Note also the intensely anti-historical attitude he takes in these comments in an exchange with the Catholic Archbishop of the Galilee, Butrus Al-Mu'alem, reported by MEMRI (Special Dispatch Series - No. 41, "Muslim-Christian Tensions in the Israeli-Arab Community").
Archbishop Al-Mu'alem stated: "I want to be clear that we are the Christians of this land and not uninvited intruders. We were Arabs before the appearance of Islam, we are still Arabs, and we will continue to be Arabs. We were the first to congratulate [the Muslims] who came in the days of the Caliph Omar. I send you back to history."

Sheik Khatib responded: "Revered Archbishop, is it a day of struggle or a day of reconciliation…? If anyone else had said those things we may have forgiven him, but coming from you - there can be no forgiveness. What do you mean when you say you were here before the appearance of Islam? It means that Islam is a foreign phenomenon here. …You should know that for us Islam is not only the religion of the Prophet Muhammad, but also the religion of Moses, Jesus, and Abraham [who according to the The Koran are considered prophets of Islam]...

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