The cave of Machpelah....: The cave of Machpelah

I arrived on business in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 2/26, Friday, from Bahrain and am planning to go back on 3/15, Monday. During these 2 week stay, my life is like between the Sheraton hotel and the office. The office in Tatweer building is just on the corner of the cross street. The walking distance is less than 10 minutes. But every morning I have to take a taxi making a big circle on a detour to get to the office, because there's been a construction for building a under-tunnel bridge to direct the traffic flow better since last year. Just to be safe, I do not want to rent a car and drive myself in Riyadh. The city is big with around 4 million people now. The traffic is bad and people drive recklessly.

Ok, enough about Riyadh this time.... I'll talk more about it next time....

During my more than two-week stay, some of local news on the cover page in Arab News caught my eyes. One was about the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his wife to the Kingdom, after so many years that Ghandi had visited (20 or 30?), to strengthen the relationship, termed a "New era of strategic partnership", between the two countries. The other one, more interesting to me, was about the tension over holy sites between Israel and Palenstine, just before the US Vice President, Joe Biden's, visit to the Middle East to restart the peace process. These two news were reported repeatedly for around a week in Arab News.

Some exertps from Arab News.....

"16 people were wounded in clashes after police entered Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to disperse Palestinians trying to prevent Jewish extremists from praying at the site....", "Israel eyes permanent presence in West Bank..", "Mideast talks get 4-month window...", "Israel us the ante as Biden arrives...", "1600 more homes for Jews in East Jerusalem...", "Halt provocation, GCC tells Tel Aviv..."

What were all these news actually reporting? What was all this tension about? What is the Al-Aqsa compound and where is it? What does it mean to Arabs and, espeically, to Palestinians? I was reading on.... The clashes came after days of Palestinians protests over an Israel plan to renovate two contested holy sites in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Aqsa Mosque/Masjid al-Aqsa.

The mosque along the southern wall of the Temple Mount.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (see the above two pictures), known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif or "Sacred Noble Santuary" (along with Dome of the Rock), is Islam's 3rd holiest site in the Old City of Jerusalem after the Kaaba in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. Muslims believe that the prophet Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. The site is also known as the Temple Mount and is the holiest site in Judaism, the place where the First and Second Temples are generally accepted to have stood.

The latest disturbance came after days of unrest in the West Bank town of Hebron over an Israel plan to renovate the Tomb/Cave of Patriachs there, another ancient site revered by Jews and Muslims. The disputed site in Hebron is a 2000-year-old fortress-like structure built where tradition says the Prophet Abraham is buried. It is also called Cave of the Double and is a series of subterranean caves located in a complex called by Muslims the Sanctuary of Abraham or Ibrahimi Mosque.

Cave of the Patriachs from the south.

Cenotaph of Abraham.

The more visible known entrance to the caves.

The minibar at the Ibrahim Mosque.

The plan, which also includes Rachel's Tomb, located at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, has infuriated Palestinians with fear that Israel was intending to judaize the holy city. It is historically known as th Dome of Rachel, by Arabs who also associated the tomb wth that of the biblical figure, in recent years the site has be renamed to Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque, and is claimed by Muslims to have been built at the time of the Arab conquest. The tomb is venerated by Jews and Christians. It is considered the third holiest site in Judaism and the symbol of the return of the Jewish People to its ancient homeland.

Illustration of the tomb in 1880.