Here's the story of how "The Holy Land" came to be in Islamic hands to begin with.
Long, long ago, a cat named Mohammed started having headaches and seeing things. One of the hallucinations he had was of an angel he called "Jibreel", whom he associated with Gabriel. Jibreel told him to start a new religion, so he did. You gotta LISTEN to those voices in your head, y'know?
Jibreel must have been pretty busy, as archangels go, because he could only book time for an appointment to meet Mohammed once a year, and that had to be in a particular cave, so that no one else could see or hear him. I reckon he must have been a bit shy, too.
Now Mohammed was a trader. He didn't know much about religions, but during his trading rounds, he picked up on bits and pieces of religion from Jews and, apparently, Coptic Christians. At least some of the stories related to Jesus in the Qur'an came ultimately from Coptic and Gnostic sources, like the Gospel of Barnabus. He picked "Allah" - formerly a djinn (desert demon) and moon god that was worshiped in the Qaaba in Mecca along with 359 other idols by the pagan Arabs - as his main god. In order to try to curry favor with Jews, he claimed that Allah was the same god as their God, but the Jews weren't having it. They knew better.
Allah's origin as a moon god is why the symbol of Islam is still, to this day, a crescent moon.
See, he figured that if you took bits and pieces from other folks' religions - like Jews, Christians, and Pagan Arabs - then you might have a better chance of getting them to go along with your new religion... and passing the collection plate through all of 'em. So he took Ibrahim (Abrahan), Noe (Noah), Musa (Moses) etc, from the Jews, Isa (Jesus) from the Christians, and Allah from the Pagan Arabs. Then he changed them all up a bit to fit into his new religion.
Anyhow, You'll hear Muslims claim that Jerusalem was their "first qibla", the original direction they faced during prayer. Mecca is the qibla now, but originally it was the temple mount in Jerusalem, because he wanted to buddy-up with the Jews... so he stole as much of their religion as he could recall, and re-wrote it to fit his new religion.
Since the Jews weren't having any of it, Mohammed got the red-ass at them. He also got the red-ass at the pagan Arabs in Mecca, because they weren't having any of it, either, and disliked having their main god associated with the Jewish and Christian God. So, the Arabs pitched Mohammed's ass, along with all his followers asses, out of Mecca. This is the period known as "al-hijra", the Hegira. They all moved to Medina, and took up residence there while they licked their wounds and gained more followers.
During this time, Mohammed - being a trader himself - knew how rich caravans are, so the Muslims became raiders on caravans. Nothing like building up a pile of wealth and sharing it out with your followers to build of a bigger base of followers. Booty draws followers, and followers eventually get you some power.
They were, essentially, a really big gang of land-pirates.
When they got enough strength, they set to war with the Jews, and killed off the Banu Quraysh Jews, all in a single battle. Chopped off the heads of 900 or so Jewish men all in one day, and kidnapped all their wives and kids as war booty slaves. So kidnapping Jews, especially Jewish women and kids, goes back a fair bit, too.
So anyhow, when they got even more strength, enough strength to take over, they went back to Mecca and killed off the pagan Arabs there, and took over Mecca. Mohammed removed all the other idols from the Qaaba, so that only Allah lived there, and then the Qaaba became the new qibla to pray at.
As an aside, this is also probably about the time that he made up a new story about the Qaaba ("The Cube") in Mecca. the tale is that Abraham himself traveled all the way to Mecca to help his other son Ishmael - the one he banished with his ma Hagar - and together the built the Qaaba. This was also a tale he spun out to ingratiate himself with the Jews... but they weren't having none of that, either.
But Mohammed still was a bit miffed at the Jews, because they weren't having none of it concerning his new religion, no matter how many stories he made up to try to win them over, and he still wanted their Temple Mount for a quibla, too. But how to do that? Islam had no real actual claim on Jerusalem, and it was owned by Jews and Christians at the time. So how to stake a claim on it?
Well, Mohammed decided the best thing to do was make up a story, which is now known as "al-miraj", the night journey. He spun up a tale of being taken to Jerusalem on a magic, winged horse, and jumping up to heaven from the Temple Mount, the very rock that the Jews claimed Abraham had almost sacrificed Isaac on, before God gave him a goat to sacrifice instead. The very rock, the bit of bedrock that stick ups out of Mount Zion, where the temple mount is.
The one the Jews claimed for themselves millennia before.
Nowadays, Muslims will point to a dimple on that bedrock, now under The Dome of the Rock, and claim that is Mohammed's footprint still there from the night he used the rock to push him off and propel him into Heaven for his confab with Allah.
Then, after having a parlay with Allah, he came back to the Temple Mount, and rode his magic flying horse back home to Arabia.
All in one night, hence "The Night Journey".
Voila! One bona-fide claim to other folks' stuff.
But Mohammed never got to stake his claim himself. Before he could, one of his Jewish captive women poisoned his ass and killed him, ending all his dreams of conquest. I guess she was a little put out that he'd killed her husband and took her off for a serving girl and whatnot, probably a lot of whatnot, because Mohammed had some other problems with keeping it in his pants. Some women are a little funny about getting raped at will - not their will, but his will - and they'll eventually find a way to put an end to that nonsense. Poison is a good way to do it.
After he died, his followers realized that this raiding business - still "all for Allah", was still pretty lucrative, even if the boss had taken his dirt nap, so they kept right on doing it.
All the way to Jerusalem, and beyond.
And that, boys and girls, is how the Arabs first came to lay claim on Israel, lands that were not theirs, and that none but their traders (and later, conquering raiders) had ever set foot on. It is how Jerusalem originally fell into Islamic hands.
The end. Go to sleep now.
.
Long, long ago, a cat named Mohammed started having headaches and seeing things. One of the hallucinations he had was of an angel he called "Jibreel", whom he associated with Gabriel. Jibreel told him to start a new religion, so he did. You gotta LISTEN to those voices in your head, y'know?
Jibreel must have been pretty busy, as archangels go, because he could only book time for an appointment to meet Mohammed once a year, and that had to be in a particular cave, so that no one else could see or hear him. I reckon he must have been a bit shy, too.
Now Mohammed was a trader. He didn't know much about religions, but during his trading rounds, he picked up on bits and pieces of religion from Jews and, apparently, Coptic Christians. At least some of the stories related to Jesus in the Qur'an came ultimately from Coptic and Gnostic sources, like the Gospel of Barnabus. He picked "Allah" - formerly a djinn (desert demon) and moon god that was worshiped in the Qaaba in Mecca along with 359 other idols by the pagan Arabs - as his main god. In order to try to curry favor with Jews, he claimed that Allah was the same god as their God, but the Jews weren't having it. They knew better.
Allah's origin as a moon god is why the symbol of Islam is still, to this day, a crescent moon.
See, he figured that if you took bits and pieces from other folks' religions - like Jews, Christians, and Pagan Arabs - then you might have a better chance of getting them to go along with your new religion... and passing the collection plate through all of 'em. So he took Ibrahim (Abrahan), Noe (Noah), Musa (Moses) etc, from the Jews, Isa (Jesus) from the Christians, and Allah from the Pagan Arabs. Then he changed them all up a bit to fit into his new religion.
Anyhow, You'll hear Muslims claim that Jerusalem was their "first qibla", the original direction they faced during prayer. Mecca is the qibla now, but originally it was the temple mount in Jerusalem, because he wanted to buddy-up with the Jews... so he stole as much of their religion as he could recall, and re-wrote it to fit his new religion.
Since the Jews weren't having any of it, Mohammed got the red-ass at them. He also got the red-ass at the pagan Arabs in Mecca, because they weren't having any of it, either, and disliked having their main god associated with the Jewish and Christian God. So, the Arabs pitched Mohammed's ass, along with all his followers asses, out of Mecca. This is the period known as "al-hijra", the Hegira. They all moved to Medina, and took up residence there while they licked their wounds and gained more followers.
During this time, Mohammed - being a trader himself - knew how rich caravans are, so the Muslims became raiders on caravans. Nothing like building up a pile of wealth and sharing it out with your followers to build of a bigger base of followers. Booty draws followers, and followers eventually get you some power.
They were, essentially, a really big gang of land-pirates.
When they got enough strength, they set to war with the Jews, and killed off the Banu Quraysh Jews, all in a single battle. Chopped off the heads of 900 or so Jewish men all in one day, and kidnapped all their wives and kids as war booty slaves. So kidnapping Jews, especially Jewish women and kids, goes back a fair bit, too.
So anyhow, when they got even more strength, enough strength to take over, they went back to Mecca and killed off the pagan Arabs there, and took over Mecca. Mohammed removed all the other idols from the Qaaba, so that only Allah lived there, and then the Qaaba became the new qibla to pray at.
As an aside, this is also probably about the time that he made up a new story about the Qaaba ("The Cube") in Mecca. the tale is that Abraham himself traveled all the way to Mecca to help his other son Ishmael - the one he banished with his ma Hagar - and together the built the Qaaba. This was also a tale he spun out to ingratiate himself with the Jews... but they weren't having none of that, either.
But Mohammed still was a bit miffed at the Jews, because they weren't having none of it concerning his new religion, no matter how many stories he made up to try to win them over, and he still wanted their Temple Mount for a quibla, too. But how to do that? Islam had no real actual claim on Jerusalem, and it was owned by Jews and Christians at the time. So how to stake a claim on it?
Well, Mohammed decided the best thing to do was make up a story, which is now known as "al-miraj", the night journey. He spun up a tale of being taken to Jerusalem on a magic, winged horse, and jumping up to heaven from the Temple Mount, the very rock that the Jews claimed Abraham had almost sacrificed Isaac on, before God gave him a goat to sacrifice instead. The very rock, the bit of bedrock that stick ups out of Mount Zion, where the temple mount is.
The one the Jews claimed for themselves millennia before.
Nowadays, Muslims will point to a dimple on that bedrock, now under The Dome of the Rock, and claim that is Mohammed's footprint still there from the night he used the rock to push him off and propel him into Heaven for his confab with Allah.
Then, after having a parlay with Allah, he came back to the Temple Mount, and rode his magic flying horse back home to Arabia.
All in one night, hence "The Night Journey".
Voila! One bona-fide claim to other folks' stuff.
But Mohammed never got to stake his claim himself. Before he could, one of his Jewish captive women poisoned his ass and killed him, ending all his dreams of conquest. I guess she was a little put out that he'd killed her husband and took her off for a serving girl and whatnot, probably a lot of whatnot, because Mohammed had some other problems with keeping it in his pants. Some women are a little funny about getting raped at will - not their will, but his will - and they'll eventually find a way to put an end to that nonsense. Poison is a good way to do it.
After he died, his followers realized that this raiding business - still "all for Allah", was still pretty lucrative, even if the boss had taken his dirt nap, so they kept right on doing it.
All the way to Jerusalem, and beyond.
And that, boys and girls, is how the Arabs first came to lay claim on Israel, lands that were not theirs, and that none but their traders (and later, conquering raiders) had ever set foot on. It is how Jerusalem originally fell into Islamic hands.
The end. Go to sleep now.
.