REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GAZA -- Since the 19th century, the Zionist movement has sought to exploit the story of the Temple of Solomon and revive it from the fold of ancient history. It's as a ruse to occupy Palestine.
In fact, historical facts prove that the Jews had no political entity except for 70 years. This was the period in which the Prophets David and Solomon took power from 1000 BC to 928 BC.
Palestine has been an Arab-Islamic territory since the Islamic conquest in the 7th century AD to the present. The short period of time in which the Jews established their power did not give them any historical basis on which to claim Palestine.
The extremists of the Zionist movement claim that the site of the Temple of Solomon destroyed in 70 AD is the same place where the Al Aqsa Mosque was built. Because of these claims, zionists continue to search the former ruins of the Temple of Solomon and rebuild them on top of the ruins.
But many Muslim historians and archaeologists dispute that claim. Including the claim that the Al Aqsa Mosque was built more than a thousand years before the appearance of the Prophet Solomon and still survives today.
Most scholars also conclude that the one who built the Al Aqsa Mosque was a prophet of God, both the Prophet Adam, the Prophet Ibrahim and the Prophet Jacob. The one who built the Temple of Solomon was also a prophet, namely the Prophet Solomon.
In that context, it makes no sense for a prophet to come to destroy a place built by an earlier prophet, building a temple to himself on top of the ruins.
Numerous references mention the construction and demolition of the Temple of Solomon several times. But there was not a single reference to the demolition of the Al Aqsa Mosque. That is, it confirms that the location of this Temple or Haikal Sulaiman is not in the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Nevertheless, the efforts to rebuild the Temple or Haikal Sulaiman never stopped. Precisely in 1929, during the British Mandate Over Palestine, a revolution broke out known as the Buraq Revolution in 1929. It happened after a group of Jews stormed the Buraq Wall in Jerusalem.
Muslims clashed with a group of Israeli citizens who wanted to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque and hold religious events at the Buraq Wall. Later, the Al-Aqsa Mosque Guards Association was formed, whose branches spread throughout most Palestinian cities. Christians participated alongside the leaders of the National Movement in defending the Palestinian territories.
During that period, the Executive Committee of the Islamic Christian Conference was elected, making visits to Arab countries and several European capitals. Its purpose was to warn of the dangers facing the Al Aqsa Mosque, and of attempts by Jews to build a house of worship for themselves on its ruins.
As a result of that political movement and unrest, the League of Nations established an international commission to investigate the ownership of the Wall. They issued their own report in 1930.
The results stated that the ownership of the Buraq Wall and its rights belonged to Muslims, considering that the wall was an integral part of Al Haram Al Sharif. Also, the sidewalks that Jews use for worship belong to Muslims.
Regardless, the Al Aqsa Mosque or Baitul Maqdis is constantly under assault. Especially after the Nakba events of 1948. In 1966, a Jewish extremist tried to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Although Muslims and Christians tried to extinguish it, the fire remained and almost touched the dome of the mosque. Fire-fighting efforts remained in place despite obstacles from Israeli authorities. The fire caused damage to Shalahuddin's pulpit and ignited flames on the roof of the south mosque and the roofs of three corridors.
A year after the fire, the 1967 war broke out and the Israelis referred to it as the Six-Day War, which was between Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq against the Israeli occupation. This war led to the Israeli occupation of Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan. Considered to be the third war in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The war caused the deaths of between 15 and 25 thousand people in Arab countries, and 800 in Israel.
The effects of the 1967 war have not ended until now. Israel still occupies the West Bank, and also annexes Jerusalem and the Golan into its borders. The consequences also include the outbreak of the October War in 1973, the separation of the West Bank from Jordanian sovereignty, and the acceptance by Arab states of the principle of “land for peace” since the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991.
The conference stipulated the return of the border to the pre-war frontier in return for Arab recognition of Israel and peace with it, although many Arab states had begun to establish unilateral relations with Israel, both politically and economically.
From 1967 to the present, Israeli occupation authorities have continued to carry out excavations in various areas under the Temple Mount. For the record, the Temple Mount is known to Muslims as Haram Al Sharif or Masjid Aqsa or Baitul Maqdis.
Despite searching and digging, Israel has not found any traces that indicate that the site was once a building. Then on August 21, 1969, the Israeli occupation authorities cut off the flow of water to the Al Haram Al Sharif area or Al Aqsa Mosque or Baitul Maqdis and prevented Arab citizens from approaching it. This was part of an effort to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque and erect the Temple of Solomon in its place.