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Nearly two and a half years after police closed the Temple Mount to non-Muslims due to concern over renewed Palestinian violence, efforts are under way to convince Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to reopen the site to visitors.
An advertising campaign, sponsored by several American Jewish magnates, was launched last week.
The 10-day, NIS 2 million advertising blitz, labeled "Temple Mount the Heart of the Nation," which includes radio, newspaper, and public advertisements on buses and billboards is aimed at increasing public awareness about the closure of the Temple Mount, a spokesman for the group of international donors, Yitzhak Roth said Sunday.
Roth, who declined to name the sponsors, would only say they are secular entrepreneurs who want to see the site reopened. He added that the campaign was launched immediately after the election, so as to bring the issue to the attention of the public and create enough pressure to force the issue into coalition negotiations.
The 28-month closing is the longest period Judaism's holiest site has been closed to Jews and Christians since the unification of Jerusalem in 1967. But the issue, until now, has failed to attract large-scale interest, which some attribute to the ongoing violence.
A September demonstration, sponsored by the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, marking the second anniversary of the closure drew a mere 1,000 people.
It is against this public nonchalance that the campaign was launched, Roth said.
The radio advertisements feature the voice of the late Mordechai Gur, commander of the Paratroop Brigade during the Six Day War, announcing that "the Temple Mount is in our hands."
In a separate move last month, a group of leading rabbis from the settlements met directly with Sharon, urging him to reopen the mount to Jewish worshipers. He told them that he is determined to allow Jews back on the mount, but asked that they allow him to work quietly and gradually to achieve this goal.
Sources close to Sharon said Sunday that the issue would only come up after the formation of a new government and is not "on the table" at the present time.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1044162709043
An advertising campaign, sponsored by several American Jewish magnates, was launched last week.
The 10-day, NIS 2 million advertising blitz, labeled "Temple Mount the Heart of the Nation," which includes radio, newspaper, and public advertisements on buses and billboards is aimed at increasing public awareness about the closure of the Temple Mount, a spokesman for the group of international donors, Yitzhak Roth said Sunday.
Roth, who declined to name the sponsors, would only say they are secular entrepreneurs who want to see the site reopened. He added that the campaign was launched immediately after the election, so as to bring the issue to the attention of the public and create enough pressure to force the issue into coalition negotiations.
The 28-month closing is the longest period Judaism's holiest site has been closed to Jews and Christians since the unification of Jerusalem in 1967. But the issue, until now, has failed to attract large-scale interest, which some attribute to the ongoing violence.
A September demonstration, sponsored by the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, marking the second anniversary of the closure drew a mere 1,000 people.
It is against this public nonchalance that the campaign was launched, Roth said.
The radio advertisements feature the voice of the late Mordechai Gur, commander of the Paratroop Brigade during the Six Day War, announcing that "the Temple Mount is in our hands."
In a separate move last month, a group of leading rabbis from the settlements met directly with Sharon, urging him to reopen the mount to Jewish worshipers. He told them that he is determined to allow Jews back on the mount, but asked that they allow him to work quietly and gradually to achieve this goal.
Sources close to Sharon said Sunday that the issue would only come up after the formation of a new government and is not "on the table" at the present time.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1044162709043