Iraq Launches Project To Renovate Ezekiel’s Shrine

The Iraqi government has launched a project to renovate the interior of the prophet Ezekiel’s shrine in the small town of Kifl, south of Baghdad, and the country’s Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities says it hopes to eventually repair and renovate other Jewish sites across the country.

“The ministry is concerned with all Iraqi heritage, whether it is Christian or Jewish or from any other religion,” ministry spokesman Abdelzahra al-Talaqani told AFP. “The present plans do not include the synagogues in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Fallujah and other places because of lack of funding, but I think they will be included in future plans.”

Iraqi Jewry was once one of the largest and most prominent Jewish communities in the Middle East.

But after Israel’s establishment, more than 120,000 Iraqi Jews moved to Israel in the 1950s in a clandestine operation dubbed Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.

Outside the shrine of the prophet – who followed Jews into the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC – is a 14th-century brick minaret, while the inside is shaped like a synagogue, with old wooden arks that used to contain Torah scrolls and the remains of a Mehitza – a separation for men and women.

On the walls inside appears Hebrew script under a dome with medieval Islamic floral designs.

Until the mid-20th century, up to 5,000 Jews used to visit the tomb during Passover. Muslims believe the tomb to be that of Dhul-Kifl, considered by some to be a prophet of Islam and by others to just be a righteous man mentioned in the Koran.

It had been protected by Saddam Hussein as a holy site.

The tombs of the prophets Daniel, Ezra, Nahum and Jonah are also purported to be located in Iraq.

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New World Order – Tony Blair Set To Become First President of EU

Recent convert to Catholicism, Tony Blair has emerged as the leading candidate to become the first permanent president of the European Union after Gordon Brown gave his grudging blessing to the plan. The former prime minister has stepped up his campaign for the job, which he wants to use to build a bridge between Europe and the new Obama administration.

His return to the global stage would be a shock to his critics over the Iraq war and dismay many in Europe.

But The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Mr Brown has accepted that his old rival should be in pole position for the appointment, on the basis that Britain needs to have a key figure in the architecture of the “new world order”.

A senior British official said: “He [Brown] will have to swallow hard to sit down in meetings once again with Blair. But he accepts that there needs to be someone from the UK in the new global architecture. There is no opposition to the plan. Things have moved on, people have moved on.”
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