The Arab News managed to ooze so much slime today that I decided to pick up a little item that Charles left alone.
Thirty-three years ago, on August 21, 1969, an Australian fundamentalist Christian tourist named Michael Dennis Rohan set the Al-Aqsa mosque on fire. The structure suffered considerable damage, not least because Muslim worshippers interfered with the attempts of Israeli (i.e. non-Muslim) firefighters to put out the fire.
Here, however, is the account in today's Arab News.
On that day in 1969 Zionist aggressors set fire to Al-Aqsa, the first Qibla and the third holiest mosque in Islam, in an attempt to destroy all Islamic landmarks in occupied Palestine...... The crime of setting fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was part of the ongoing Israeli aggressions against the mosque. Israeli occupation authorities have consistently adopted an aggressive policy toward Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy city of Jerusalem...... Since the Zionist, Dennis Rohan, committed the crime on Aug. 21 1969, Zionist Jewish spite against Al-Aqsa Mosque has been growing. During the Camp David Summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak demanded the establishment of a Jewish synagogue inside the holy Aqsa Mosque compound....Today, Wednesday, is the 33rd anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Zionist thugs.
[huh??]
The identity of the arsonist is not in doubt. In an article earlier this year for that bastion of Zionist apologetics, BBC News, correspondent Martin Asser describes a recent visit to the mosque. Asser, a Muslim whose account is anything but sympathetic to the Israeli point of view, was eventually able to reach the site despite his "Anglo-Saxon face" and the suspicion directed against Westerners.
The Israeli army and police are there to prevent any similar attempt, which conventional wisdom says, if successful, could spark a war dragging in the whole Muslim world.Memories are long here, and one of the major events of recent history was when Australian Christian fundamentalist Michael Rohan tried to burn down al-Aqsa in 1969, causing considerable damage.
As I said, neither Mr. Rohan's nationality nor his religious affiliation were ever in doubt (although there does appear to have been some difference of opinion about his sanity). Neither was the motivation of the Israeli government to prevent such an atrocity. So perhaps the editors at the Arab News were relying on a bad reference? Or two? Or several dozen? A Google search for this story reveals many, including references to an "Australian Jew," a "Zionist terrorist" and a grand conspiracy by the "Israeli occupation authorities."
The U.N. Security Counsel actually passed a resolution condemning Israel (UNSC resolution 271) as a result of the incident for some unspecified failure to comply with the Geneva Conventions and international law (the U.S. and three other members abstained). By more than one account, the fire is the "raison d'etre" of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
Thirty-three years later, this fire has, quite naturally, of course, evolved into a myth of justification, with only tenuous connections to any actual historical event. The Arab News is just helping that natural process along.
