Thursday, February 15, 2007
This is actually a fairly interesting use of a "moderate" Islamic state: Turkey to inspect Mughrabi excavation
Erdogan said Olmert had shown him photographs of the construction work near the Temple Mount during the prime minister's two-day trip to Turkey. However, the Turkish prime minister said Olmert had failed to convince him that the work would not harm the holy sites there. Olmert agreed to a Turkish suggestion for a technical team from Turkey to inspect the site, Erdogan said...Despite some disagreements, Olmert said Israel considered Turkey as a "bridge between Israel and the Islamic countries" and he reiterated Israeli positions at a joint news conference with Erdogan...
Of course, I'm told he Turks themselves have a bad history when it comes to preserving other cultures' monuments, particularly the Armenians', but of course, there is no one on the "other side" who has any particular bona fides when it comes to protecting other cultures' treasures. You think the Taliban were an aberration?
Who smashed the great Sphinx?
Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, writing in the fifteenth century, attributes the vandalism to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi fanatic from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada. In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose. Al-Maqrizi describes the Sphinx as the "Nile talisman" on which the locals believed the cycle of inundation depended.
Muslims have a lousy record.
Regardless, it's an example of cooperation between Muslims and Jews and between Israel and another Middle Eastern state.
The use of cameras is an excellent idea as well. The only way to dispell conspiracy theories and myths and propaganda, is to show what's actually going on.
I found the UAL's objection interesting and amusing.
To paraphrase the words of Talib al-Sanaa, "What does al Aksa have to do with Turkey?"
Well, it can't be both ways. If al Aksa is sacred to all of Islam, it has plenty to do with Turkey.
Or, is this really just a political power play?
Frankly I think it's pretty clearly the latter.