January 14, 1997

Dear Congresswoman Kaptur:

The Jerusalem Embassy Act requiring the United States to move its
embassy to Jerusalem by May 31, 1999 was passed by over two-
thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives who voted in
favor of acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital.

In that same historical spirit that nobly reflects the Judeo-
Christian heritage that founded our great nation, I humbly
propose that you introduce legislation to encourage Israel to
RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF EVERY RELIGION upon Jerusalem's most holy
site: THE TEMPLE MOUNT.

Israel has no law against Christians or Jews praying or reading
scriptures on the Temple Mount. However, it does have an
unwritten agreement with the Moslems prohibiting forbidden to
pray where our prophets and patriarchs prayed, and where Jesus
and his disciples taught? Why maintain Moslem domination of the
Temple Mount by suppressing Christian and Jewish religious rights
there? Doesn't the prophet Isaiah show us the way and offer the
ideal "House of Prayer for all Nations"?

The equitable solution is to encourage Israel to stop religious
discrimination. Israel must enforce its 1967 Law for the
Protection of the Holy Places, paragraph 2(b), that sets a five-
year prison term for "whoever does anything likely to violate the
FREEDOM OF ACCESS of the members of their different religions to
the places sacred to them or their feelings to these places."

May you pass the TEMPLE MOUNT ACT recognizing the Temple Mount as
Judaism's most holy site, as well as a sacred place for
Christians, and call for freedom of access and worship to include
Jews and Christians upon the Temple Mount, and encourage Israel
to follow their own law that enshrines religious liberty.

Most Sincerely,
David Ben-Ariel
1408 Kelsey Ave.
Toledo, OH. 43605