MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) proposed a bill in the Knesset yesterday that would forbid burial on the Temple Mount. The initiative came in response to reports that Yasser Arafat intends to be buried there so as to strengthen the Arab claim to Judaism's holiest site. "I intend to prevent the transformation of the Temple Mount into a Palestinian national site," Eldad said.
MK Eldad's proposed law would also prohibit burial within Jerusalem's Old City. He said that the Husseini family, which claims ownership to a burial plot adjacent to the western wall of the Temple Mount, is prepared to hand it over to Arafat. Feisal Husseini, who died in May 2001, was buried in a burial chamber above the Hasmonean Tunnels, together with his father and grandfather. The chamber is adjacent to the Mount, with which it shares a common wall and window.
It should be noted that shortly before Husseini's burial, Noam Federman appealed to the Supreme Court against Husseini's burial adjacent to Judaism's holiest site. Federman maintained that Israeli law allows burial only in a recognized cemetery, and certainly not in an archaeological site such as the Temple Mount. The three-justice panel - Dorner, Matza, and Chief Justice Barak - rejected the suit, explaining that it was filed too late for it to be properly reviewed; that the coffin was already on its way to the site; and that the burial would technically be not on the Temple Mount, but adjacent to it.
"Jewish tradition from the Second Temple period has forbidden burial anywhere within the walls of the Old City," MK Eldad explained. "The only exceptions were the Jewish residents of the Old City killed during the War of Independence.
"The Arab occupiers are attempting to bury their dead within the Old City walls and on the Temple Mount as a means of creating political and religious facts on the ground in Jerusalem," Eldad said. "Many Jews want to be buried in the land of their fathers and request that their bodies be brought to Israel for burial, and I similarly propose that Arafat be returned to Egypt, his homeland, for burial."
MK Eldad's proposed law would also prohibit burial within Jerusalem's Old City. He said that the Husseini family, which claims ownership to a burial plot adjacent to the western wall of the Temple Mount, is prepared to hand it over to Arafat. Feisal Husseini, who died in May 2001, was buried in a burial chamber above the Hasmonean Tunnels, together with his father and grandfather. The chamber is adjacent to the Mount, with which it shares a common wall and window.
It should be noted that shortly before Husseini's burial, Noam Federman appealed to the Supreme Court against Husseini's burial adjacent to Judaism's holiest site. Federman maintained that Israeli law allows burial only in a recognized cemetery, and certainly not in an archaeological site such as the Temple Mount. The three-justice panel - Dorner, Matza, and Chief Justice Barak - rejected the suit, explaining that it was filed too late for it to be properly reviewed; that the coffin was already on its way to the site; and that the burial would technically be not on the Temple Mount, but adjacent to it.
"Jewish tradition from the Second Temple period has forbidden burial anywhere within the walls of the Old City," MK Eldad explained. "The only exceptions were the Jewish residents of the Old City killed during the War of Independence.
"The Arab occupiers are attempting to bury their dead within the Old City walls and on the Temple Mount as a means of creating political and religious facts on the ground in Jerusalem," Eldad said. "Many Jews want to be buried in the land of their fathers and request that their bodies be brought to Israel for burial, and I similarly propose that Arafat be returned to Egypt, his homeland, for burial."