From the Israel Archives |
Coverage of the Events since October 2000
Hände weg von Israel und Islam!
Rabbis Approve Transfer Of Gaza's Graves [To Disputed Territory?]
2005-06-09
[IMRA: The Mount of Olives is beyond the Green Line. It is interesting to note that while the Sharon Government has taken great care not to offend Washington by organizing the transfer of living Jewish residents from the Gaza Strip to locations beyond the Green Line that they apparently plan to do this with dead Jews. It remains unclear if Sharon's team checked with Washington if they consider the burial of Jews in the Mount of Olives to be an Israeli act to try to predetermine the outcome of negotiations on Jerusalem.]
The Jerusalem Post
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull& cid=1118283816120& p=1078027574097
It is halachicly permissible to transfer the 48 graves from Gaza's Jewish cemetery for reburial outside the Strip to prevent their desecration by Palestinians after the summer's pullout, Chief Rabbis Yonah Metzger and Shlomo Amar said in a letter sent to the Prime Minister's Office Wednesday night.
The decision did not come as a surprise. The rabbis sidestepped the thornier issue of advocating or opposing disengagement. The Gaza graves are to be reinterred in plots on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, overlooking the Temple Mount.
The rabbis stressed that no graves would be moved without the cooperation of the families of the deceased.
In the letter, the chief rabbis did not rule on cases in which the families refuse to cooperate with Disengagement Authority. There are currently about 25 of these families.
However, sources close to the rabbinate said that the chief rabbis agreed in principle to the removal of graves without the consent of the families.
In the letter the rabbis write that, "we refrain from exploring the halachic perspective on disengagement... we do not see ourselves as an authority who should express an opinion on the matter. And even those who obligate the move do so not out of joy, but because they believe in the present situation there is no choice.
"Therefore we pray constantly before God, blessed be He, and call on the public to entreat our Father in heaven that He will save us, and save our patriarchs' inheritance in loving kindness."
Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
