National Committee of GMJ Urges Massive Participation in March 30 Rally.Tehran - The national committee of the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) in its first press release in Gaza Strip called for strong participation in the upcoming civil resistance movement for the freedom of Jerusalem.In the statement issued in the official website of the movement (gm2j.com), the committee said, " The national committee of the GMJ in Gaza Strip calls the Palestinian people, Islamic and national factions, our organizations, Islamic and Arabic people, and the liberals of the world to be ready to participate effectively with our rally on the 63rd anniversary of Palestine's land day, 30th March."
"We will do this in order to send a strong message to our Zionist enemy that we as the Palestinians people cleats will protect our holy mosque and holy sites with all valuable and precious means that we have, and we will keep our constants especially Jerusalem and Al Aqsa mosque," it added.
Earlier, a large number of renowned figures from across the world voiced their support for the upcoming Global March to Jerusalem due to take place on March 30th, 2012.
The Global March to Jerusalem will take place on Friday 30th March 2012 where hundreds of committees and campaigns all over the six continents will participate in order to highlight the suffering the people of Jerusalem are going through as a result of the occupation's Zionist and racist practices. The slogan of the March will be "Peoples of the world demand the freedom for Jerusalem… People of the world demand to end the occupation of Palestine".Read the full 'story' here.
What is Islam's connection to Jerusalem?
Jerusalem How Important is it to Muslims?(DanielPipes).With final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinians underway, Jerusalem is finally in play. At base, the argument here consists of an argument between Jews and Moslems over who has the older, better documented, and deeper ties to the Holy City.
A cursory review of the facts shows that there is not much of a contest.
Jerusalem has a unique importance to Jews. It has a unique place in Jewish law and a pervasive presence in the Jewish religion. Jews pray toward Jerusalem, mourn the destruction of their Temple there, and wishfully repeat the phrase "Next year in Jerusalem." It is the only capital of the Jewish state, ancient or modern.
In contrast, Jerusalem has a distinctly secondary place for Moslems. It is not once mentioned in the Koran or in the liturgy. The Prophet Mohammed never went to the city, nor did he have ties to it. Jerusalem never has served as the capital of any polity, and has never been an Islamic cultural center.
Rather, Mecca is the "Jerusalem" of Islam. That is where Moslems believe that Abraham nearly sacrificed Ishmael; where Mohammed lived most of his life; and where the key events of Islam took place. Moslems pray in its direction five times each day and it is where non-Moslems are forbidden to set foot.
Jerusalem being of minor importance to Islam, why do Moslems nowadays insist that the city is more important to them than to Jews? The answer has to do with politics. Moslems take religious interest in Jerusalem when it serves practical interests. When those concerns lapse, so does the standing of Jerusalem. This pattern has recurred at least five times over 14 centuries.
The Prophet. When Mohammed sought to convert the Jews in the 620s C.E., he adopted several Jewish-style practices - a Yom Kippur-like fast, a synagogue-like place of worship, kosher-style food restrictions - and also tachanun-like prayers while facing Jerusalem. But when most Jews rejected Mohammed's overtures, the Koran changed the prayer direction to Mecca and Jerusalem lost importance for Moslems.
The Umayyad Dynasty. Jerusalem regained stature a few decades later when rulers of the Umayyad dynasty sought ways to enhance the importance of their territories. One way was by building two monumental religious structures in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock in 691 and Al-Aqsa Mosque in 715.
Then the Umayyads did something tricky: The Koran states that God took Mohammed "by night from the sacred mosque in Mecca to the furthest (al-aqsa) place of worship." When this passage was revealed (about 621), "furthest place of worship" was a turn of phrase, not a specific place. Decades later, the Umayyads built a mosque in Jerusalem and called it Al-Aqsa. Moslems since then understand the passage about the "furthest place of worship" as referring to Jerusalem.
But when the Umayyads fell in 750, Jerusalem lapsed into near obscurity.Read the full story here, more here on the up coming event on March 14th.
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