Sheikh Yousef Kardawi, considered to be one of the most important religious figures in the Muslim world, held a large press conference in Cairo. Sheikh Kardawi called on the masses to hold a “day of rage and a day of struggle for Al-Aksa so as to prevent the Jews from seizing control of the mosques.”

The rumor that Israel was going to expel Arabs from the Al-Aksa mosque spread like wildfire.

Jihad Abu Zaned, a resident of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency refugee camp of Shuafat, serves as a memberof the Palestinian Legislative Council on behalf of Fatah. She said: “It’s all only because of el-Aksa. Here, nobody asks or cares about Abu Mazen or Goldstone. El-Aksa is the focal point, just as it was in the previous Intifada. I think that the riots in Jerusalem are going to begin to spread to the West Bank cities.”

The rioting in the capital continued to worsen yesterday against the backdrop of the Palestinian Authority’s statement calling “to prevent Israel from Judaizing Jerusalem.”

The Palestinian Authority cabinet in Ramallah – often described as “moderate” – joined in the calls “to clash with Israel and with its plans, the purpose of which is to thwart every Palestinian effort to establish an independent state.” The Palestinian Authority charged that the background to the rioting was “Jews’ attempts to seize control of the Temple Mount.”

A high-ranking official in Palestinian Authority leader Abbas’s office said that the reason the strongly-worded statement was issued was the Palestinian Authority’s struggle against Hamas, which has been perceived for the time being as being behind the current wave of riots. “The Arab media have been covering the events on the Temple Mount extensively, and this issue has elicited a lot of interest in the Arab world,” said a high-ranking Israeli security official.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Aharon Franko accused Palestinian Arabs of being “ingrates.” “The police allowed numerous Muslim worshippers who arrived at the Temple Mount to hold Ramadan prayers, and everything was done with impeccable order. Now, during the Jewish holidays of [the Hebrew month of] Tishrei, they’re rioting.”

On Tuesday, at around 3:30 in the afternoon, a military police soldier was stabbed in the neck at the Shuafat roadblock. The soldier boarded a bus to conduct a routine security inspection among the passengers who were coming in from the nearby refugee camp. One of the passengers, a 16-year-old boy from the village Anata, stood up in his seat and stabbed the soldier in the neck. The assailant was arrested and was taken in for questioning. Magen David Adom medics treated the soldier and evacuated him in light to moderate condition to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. A witness at the scene, Danny Rotenberg of Magen David Adom Jerusalem said: “The paramedics stabilized the knife so that it shouldn’t move and damage additional blood vessels. The soldier, who was terribly frightened, was evacuated carefully.”

Undercover Agents Reveal: Riots Were Not Spontaneous

Riots in Jerusalem in recent days brought Israeli undercover troops back into action, and they were able to infiltrate the ranks of those planning the riots and to expose their plans. Undercover Border Police in Jerusalem successfully arrested dozens of the most senior rioters in the Ras el-Amud neighborhood near the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Unit combatants, along with another Border Police unit, established as a part of the lessons learned from the October 2000 riots, were able to penetrate the leadership of the rioters and bring about their arrest.

The undercover police in Jerusalem are comprised of experienced and well trained combat troops who are proficient in Arabic. Their job is to assimilate, disguised among the rioters – to tackle the prime inciters and arrest them, sometimes risking their lives.

These units operated in the alleys of Jerusalem’s Old City. They were sent to gather intelligence and were able to document the mounds of rocks prepared by the rioters in advance inside the Al-Aksa Mosque, in several sites on the Temple Mount compound as well as in a few other locations in the Old City with the intent to attack police forces and worshippers at the Western Wall.

“The photos that we took and (what they) revealed left no room for doubt – this is an organized activity being planned by Muslim extremists, led by people of the northern faction of the Islamic Movement,” said a police source, adding that “Luckily, most of the Arab streets in Jerusalem were not swept by the provocations of these inciters.”

PA Seizing Control Of Jerusalem

The General Security Service, Israel’s national security agency, has been warning for a number of months about an expedited process in which the Palestinian Authority has taken control over Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

At issue is their covert use of security forces in Jerusalem. One high-ranking Israeli security official said that the Palestinian Authority’s influence over the Palestinian street in Jerusalem was now more extensive than it was back in the Orient House’s heyday. Israel closed the Palestinian headquarters at the Orient House in August 2001.

A GSS position paper that was submitted to the top Israeli political leadership cited a deepening penetration of the Palestinian Authority into East Jerusalem, resulting in disquiet on the Palestinian street that could ultimately manifest itself in extensive rioting – as has occurred at present.

The most salient sign of the Palestinian Authority’s intervention in Jerusalem is the appointment of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs after he published his plan to establish an independent Palestinian state within two years.

The components of that plan included firm Palestinian control over Jerusalem, all of Jerusalem.

Ever since assuming ministerial responsibility for Jerusalem, Fayyad has channeled millions of dollars out of the Palestinian budget – donation funds-to bolster the Palestinian Authority’s economic infrastructure in Jerusalem. The money has been invested mainly in real estate-buying up property from Palestinian families that wanted to sell and construction in open areas.

Israeli security officials note that in addition to the influx of funds, the Palestinian Authority has also sent in a variety of security forces to operate in Jerusalem. It is now the case that security is enforced in large swathes of Jerusalem by Palestinian Authority forces.

Sheikh Arrested, Released And Expelled

Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was arrested and ordered to stay away from Jerusalem for thirty days. Salah was arrested for alleged incitement and sedition on the basis of the sharp statements about the Temple Mount in recent days.

Sheik Salah was arrested after meetings between the police chief, the state attorney and the commander of the Jerusalem District Police.

Franco said that “In recent weeks and months, we kept track of the suspect’s statements, some of which constituted incitement and insulted Israeli institutions of authority. As far as we’re concerned, he’s suspected of incitement, sedition and insulting state officials, which is against the law. These are based on statements that he made during sermons that he delivered during Friday prayers in mosques in Umm el-Fahm, Wadi Ara and in mosques in Jerusalem. There were also public statements by Sheikh Salah, such as the ones that were documented in the media, that contained enough to commit all three of the crimes for which he was arrested.”

The same officer added, “From the moment we realized that crimes had been committed, we decided to arrest him, even if this was done before the Friday on which, according to the warnings, there were supposed to be severe confrontations between extremists in the Arab sector and police officers in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.”

September Stats: An Increase In Violence

Is Palestinian terrorism gaining momentum? According to GSS statistics, approximately 95 terror attacks were carried out in the territories, as compared with 53 in August.

The GSS uses the term “terror attack” to describe any incident in which there is harm to people or to property, from stone-throwing to fire-bombing to rocket fire.

According to the report, the increase in terror attacks in the Gaza Strip was particularly prominent, with 45 terror attacks in September as compared with 19 in August. A sharp increase in rocket fire was also noted: during September, particularly in the second half of the month, 17 rockets were fired at Israel, as compared with two rockets in August.

In Judea and Samaria, 38 terror attacks were perpetrated: 12 in the Jerusalem sector, as compared with 32 in the West Bank, and two in Jerusalem during the month of August. Most of the terror attacks – 45 out of 50-consisted in the throwing of firebombs. There were also two shooting attacks, one of them in Jerusalem, and three incidents of stone-throwing or the throwing of other hard objects.

A decrease was actually noted in the number of wounded people. In September, two Israelis were wounded by terrorist activity, as compared with four in August

Riyad, the capital of Saudi Arabia, has been discussing the procurement of up to 72 advanced F-15 fighters. The Saudi order could include the purchase of Boeing’s latest stealth design for the F-15, known as the Silent Eagle.

The U.S. defense Web site “Buzz,” citing industry and defense sources, reported that the U.S. Defense Department would approve any Saudi request for the F-15. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which processes requests for major weapons procurement, has not confirmed the Saudi interest.

Boeing has reported interest by Israel and Saudi Arabia of the F-15 Silent Eagle, which remains in the design stage. The Silent Eagle was meant to comprise an F-15E platform modified to reduce its radar signature. The platform would also contain internal conformal fuel tanks.

Saudi Arabia has been operating about 150 F-15s, procured in deals with the United States in the 1970s and 1990s.

In 2008, Riyad received approval for Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kits for the F-15 fleet.

Riyad has sought to modernize its F-15 fleet as well as bolster defense relations with the United States. The Saudis have also been preparing for the first deliveries of the Eurofighter Typhoon, a multi-role combat fighter, as part of an $8.9 billion deal with BAE Systems, a global defense, security and aerospace company.

Yes, the time has come to confess my sit, with my mitt and scorecard in hand, at the tender age of 14.

You see, I grew up in Philadelphia, a place where the Phillies never won. Prayers never helped.

1964 came, the year after my Bar Mitzvah, when our Rabbis taught us that it was now up to me to keep the commandments of God.

During that momentous year after my bar mitzvah, when our traditions have it that we pray as adults and that God listens intently to our prayers, the Phillies looked like they were going to win.

I put in a special prayer for the Phillies on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, 1964, reciting an incantation of the Phillies lineup and pitching rotation, adding special prayers for the Phillies bullpen when the Holy Ark was open for divine intercession.

It was on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, however, that I made a radical decision: to depart on a personal pilgrimage to Connie Mack Stadium.

The escape to the holy baseball grounds was well planned. Soon after I heard the Shofar Ram’s Horn being sounded to call for repentance, I quietly moved to the back of the schule, feigning a tummy ache to my little brother and sister.

I had five crisp one dollar bills that wouldn’t jingle in my pocket, saved from my summer paper route, violating the Jewish tradition of not carrying money on the holiday.

I had thought of everything: My Phillies Hat was even in my Tallis Prayer shawl bag.

Like Moses who had just killed the Egyptian, I looked this way and that, and saw no one in my way from the men’s room exit, and left a place of worship to quietly ascend a PTC bus to 69th street and ascend even higher to the heights of the Market Street subway and then on to the Broad Street Subway.

Wearing my bar mitzvah suit, the destined arrival was Connie Mack Stadium, at 21st and Lehigh, in time great unreserved seats behind home plate.

I clutched my Machzor Rosh Hashanah prayer book together with my score card.

The Phillies were playing the hapless Mets.

In the Fifth inning, time of afternoon mincha prayers back at the synagogue, Frank Thomas, the Phillies much-needed right handed power whom they had recently acquired, was on first. Thomas suddenly sprinted to second base on an infield ground ball, sliding head first into second base, breaking his thumb. Sliding into second base? Hmm…That never happens…

The play by play by former Phillie Whiz Kid Center Fielder Richie Ashburn was very loud on a transistor radio near by. Richie announced that Thomas would be out for the season. Richie Ashburn was the Phillies star turned Phillies announcer who died in 1997. He had been a Whiz Kid in the last Phillies victory during the year of my birth in 1950 and seemed to represent the glorious past and promising present of the Phillies.

In the end, the Phillies lost that day. This was only a sign of things to come. On Yom Kippur, 12 games left in the left in the season. six and a half games ahead, the Phillies began a ten game losing streak and lost the pennant,

I made it back to synagogue for the concluding Maariv service at Overbrook Park Congregation… Or that is at least what I told my mother.

Everything that could go wrong in those ten days of judgement went wrong for the Phillies

Perhaps I had jinxed the Phillies, by leaving the synagogue the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

By Yom Kippur, there was no joy in Philly mudville.

I remember the great despondency when the Sukkot Feast of Tabernacles occurred in early October, when the Yankees of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford did not face our holy Phillies.

So I phoned a call in show on WCAU, then the CBS affiliate in Philly, to ask Richie Ashburn what had gone wrong.

Ashburn gave me an answer that I felt like a reproach for going to the ball game on second day Rosh Hashanah.

Richie said that a great lesson is never to be overconfident and not to do things that you shouldn’t do.

He was referring to Phillie manager Gene Mauch overplaying his star pitchers, Jim Bunning and Chris Short, whom he played with only two days rest at the end of the season…

Yet, at age 14, coming into an age where I was supposed to observe God’s commandments, I thought that he was referring to my mistaken pilgrimage to Connie Mack stadium on a day that was supposed to be devoted to prayer.

Forgive me, dear Philly fans of yesteryear, if my shortsighted trek of 1964 may have angered God in some way.

Last year as dawn struck early in the morning of the new Hebrew month of Heshvan the holy city of Jerusalem, word came forth of a Phillies World Series Victory.

Phillie fanatics in the Holy Land promptly cited the traditional Hallel prayer of thanksgiving, that is reserved for the new month, and, of course, dedicated to thanking the Lord for bequeathing a victory to the Phillies, 44 years after the disaster that befell our fallen Phillies in 1964.

Was this a sign of Messiah? Will he be riding on a white donkey from the dugout in Cooperstown?

Bassam Abu Sharif, a former senior advisor to late President Yasser Arafat, added his voice to a chorus of those raising the possibility of a third Intifada, or uprising against Israel. “The Palestinians are preparing themselves to carry out another Intifada of 
independence and freedom in response to Israeli violations, massacres and 
policies against the Palestinians and their land, against Jerusalem, the confiscation of land and the geographic separation of the Palestinian 
territories,” said the former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) 
spokesperson in a press conference in Ramallah, Israel as reported by Maan, the Palestinian news agency.

Mr. Abu Sharif said Palestinians will not remain silent in the face of “Israeli 
violations” and the “failure” of peace talks.

“The Palestinians are working to establish a fully sovereign state on the 
land, sea and airspace in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 242, which has not been implemented since it was issued 42 years ago,” he 
said, even though the UN security council resolution 242 says nothing about land, sea and air space.

Mr. Abu Sharif urged Hamas and Fatah movements to sideline their partisan 
interests for the sake of the Palestinian cause. In that spirit, PLO head Machmud Abbas reiterated his call to the Hamas terrorist organization to join the Palestinian Authority governing body.

The Bulletin asked the US consulate in Jerusalem for comment on the fact that Mr. Abbas was courting Hamas at a time when the United States has been training the Palestinian Authority to fight the Hamas. No comment from the United States consulate was forthcoming.