Official Egyptian Government Website Denies Existence of Second Temple on
Temple Mount

[IMRA: The State Information Service (SIS) is the public information organ
of the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is not clear where the
Egyptians think the Second Temple was built.]

Intruduction
Jerusalem in history
http://www.sis.gov.eg/jerusalem/html/jintro.htm

All along human history, Jerusalem has always been an Arab Palestinian
city. There is no clearer evidence than the events and incidents of history
that prove this Arab right with documents and scientific facts. Thus, all
relevant UN resolutions, especially Resolutions no. 181/1947 and no.
194/1949, which called for preserving Jerusalem and its international status
under the UN Mandate Council have recently came to memory. The UN Mandate
Council succeeded in setting up then Statute of the international government
of the Jerusalem.

Yet, Israel has always turned blind eye to the international community.
It usurped West Jerusalem in 1948. Then it occupied East Jerusalem in 1967.
Moreover, it declared in 1980 Jerusalem as its eternal unified capital.

In its famous Resolution 242/1967, the UN Security Council (UNSC)
announced the illegitimacy of Israeli usurping of lands by means of war. The
UNSC also confirmed in its Resolution 252 issued on May 12, 1968 that
seizing lands by means of military invasion is an unacceptable matter. It
called upon Israel to cancel all measures it took to change the status of
the City.

Moreover, the UNSC reaffirmed in its Resolutions 267/1969, 298/1971,
478/1980, 592/1986, 672, 673, 681/1990 and 904/1994 that the measures taken
by Israel to change the legal status of Jerusalem are illegitimate. It
called upon Israel to refrain from taking any such measures.

However, Israel is still challenging the will of the international
community by proceeding in Judaizing Jerusalem and creating a new status quo
in the Holy City.

Historical facts prove that Jerusalem has witnessed Arab urban and human
stability since the year 3000 BC. In 2500 BC, Arab Jebusites, descendants of
the Jebusite Ben Canaan, made the City their capital and called it Orsalem,
from which the Europeans derived Jerusalem, which means the City of Light.

In 1479 BC, the City came under the Pharaohs, in the era of Thutmose
III. Pharaos used to govern Palestine through one of its citizens. In 1006
BC, the City came under the rule of kings David and Solomon consecutively.
During the rule of King Solomon, a wall around the City, in addition to the
Temple, were built. After the death of King Solomon, the City was divided
into two kingdoms, Judea in Jerusalem and Israel in Samarrah. The Chaldean
King Nebuchadnezzar expelled the Jews from the two kingdoms. In 580 BC, he
destroyed the City, burned the Temple and expatriated the Jews to Babylon in
Iraq.

Since then, namely 600 years BC, the political history of the Jews had
ended in Palestine. In 539 BC, the Persians invaded Palestine and annexed it
to their kingdom. Subsequently, Judea tribe came back from Babylon to
Jerusalem.

In 232 BC., Alexander the Great invaded Palestine and annexed it to the
Greek Empire. Afterwards, Mark Antonio reinvaded it in 189 BC. Then came the
Nabataean Arabs to invade it in 90 BC as was annexed to their capital till
the Roman invasion in the 1st. Century AD.

Under the Roman reign, the Jews informed the Roman ruler about Jesus
Christ in 27 AD and accused him of atheism. Consequently, the Roman ruler
crushed them all and destroyed the City and established a new one where the
Jews were inhibited to enter.

Then came the Arabs who opened Palestine In 636 AD. during the rule of
Caliph Omar Ibn El Khattab. They entered Jerusalem and preserved all its
holy places intact.

Since then and for 1361 years, Jerusalem remained a pure Arab city in
population and language. It was under a continuous Islamic rule whether
Arab, Mamelukes or Ottoman, except from 1096 to 1291 when it was occupied by
the Crusaders.

In 1930, a sub-committee of the League of Nations issued a historic
resolution stipulating the international recognition of the Arab right in
Jerusalem. That resolution stressed that:

1- The Muslims are the sole owners of the West Wall of Al Aqsa Mosque.
2- The Muslims are the owners of the pavement beside the Wall.
3- Worship-related instruments used by the Jews near the Wall do not give
the Jews any right in the Wall or the pavement.

That was an important international document proving that Jerusalem
belongs solely to the Arabs. It refutes the Israeli allegations that unified
Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel.

In violation of all international conventions and agreements, Israel has
carried out many excavations under Al Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to find
historical scripts to prove its alleged right in Jerusalem. On the contrary,
those excavations have proven the following:

1- Excavations under the western wall (the base of the so-called Wailing
Wall) proved nothing related to the Israelis. All What they found were only
two sentences on some rocks about Isaiah engraved in type of writing that
makes attributing them to Kings David or Solomon impossible.

2- Excavations proved that the Jewish temple had been totally ruined
thousands of years ago. This was clearly cited in the relevant Jewish
references. Dr. Cathleen Cabinpus, Director of Excavations in the
Jerusalem-based School for Monuments, affirmed that there was no trace of
the Temple of Solomon.

3- Al Aqsa Mosque was built on a site far from that of the Temple of
Solomon. Al Aqsa is directed towards Al Ka'aba, in Mecca, while the Temple
was a rectangular building directed from west to east.

4- There is no historical evidence that Al Bouraq Wall, the so-called
Wailing Wall, was part of the Temple of Solomon. Besides, the real name of
this wall is Al Bouraq Wall as mentioned by Prophet Mohammed, PBUH in his
Hadith (speech) about his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his Ascension
to seventh heavens.

According to this solid ground, the League of Nations admitted the
Muslim ownership of the Wall. On its part, Israel has, since its occupation
of Jerusalem, taken monolateral measures to Judaize the City, a matter that
is considered a flagrant violation of all relevant international norms.
These measures included the following:

1- Dissolving the City’s municipality,
2- Closing down civil and Arab courts and imposing Israeli laws on the City,
3- Imposing Israeli education curricula in schools and institutes,
4- Closing down Arab banks in addition to levying Israeli taxes on the
Palestinians and making of the Shekel the official currency,
5- The Palestinians are not allowed entry to Jerusalem without a prior
permit. Thus the City became isolated from the West Bank,
6- Forcing the Palestinians to leave the City by applying oppressive laws
that allow demolition of Arab houses, confiscation of Arab lands,
7- Usurping the properties of the Palestinian refugees,
8- Imposing the Israeli nationality on Palestinians,
9- Prohibiting goods, vegetables and fruits imports from the West Bank to
Jerusalem a matter that has negative impact on the Palestinian economy,
10- Depending on Jewish extremists in establishing the settlements,
11- Completing Judaizing of the City by issuing the Knesset Law in 1980,
stipulating the unification of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.

That Law was rejected by all international bodies concerned, especially
the UNSC, which issued its Resolution no. 178/1980 rejecting that Israeli
Law.

In another aggression, the Israeli government decided in 17, June 1998
to expand Jerusalem to include lands from the occupied Arab lands to the
east and south of Jerusalem. In response, the UNSC described that Decision
as dangerous and harmful. The UNSC issued a statement in July 13, 1998, in
which it called upon the Israeli government to cancel that decision. The
UNSC stressed the importance of avoiding such acts taken before the final
status negotiations come to results.

However, Israel has always trodden down all resolutions of the
international legitimacy. It is usurping Arab lands, demolishing Arab
houses, and nullifying Arab identity in the City and expanding Jewish
settlements with a view to judaizing Jerusalem.