Jerusalem
The key protagonists, who are the descendants and followers of the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share the same essential moral values. Yet, they have been unable to transcend their political differences to find common ground in their shared values.
Thus, what should have been a basis for understanding has turned into grounds for antagonism and enmity. Nowhere is this conflict more evident than with respect to Jerusalem. This is ironic considering Jerusalem could be the basis of the creation of a sense of cooperation between these three faith-based communities.Jerusalem and other areas of Palestine contain many Holy Sites of the highest religious significance to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Consequently, freedom of access to these Holy Sites and freedom of religious exercise by adherents to these three faiths must be guaranteed along with the rights of the faith-based communities living in and around these areas. To avoid religious-based conflict over Jerusalem, the United Nations in 1947 called for the internationalization of the city and again in the 1950, as the Statute for Jerusalem.
Holy Sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other parts of Israel-Palestine, are of immeasurable significance to all three faiths, and competition for control over these sites helps explain why relations between the respective religious communities have often been marked by periods of intense violence. However, religious understanding and compassion have also played an important historical role in enabling positive relations among the faiths.
Jerusalem was home to the central Jewish temple until 70 C.E., when Roman forces destroyed the structure and expelled the Jews. Roman domination of the area and the continual repression of the remaining Jews continued until 638 C.E., when Arab Muslims defeated the Romans. On that occasion, Umar ibn el-Khattab, the second Khalzfa of the Muslim nation after the death of Prophet Muhammad, issued an edict that abrogated the Roman decree of banishment of Jews and guaranteed freedom of access and freedom of religious exercise byJews and Christians in Jerusalem.
The edict also provided that each religious community be able to freely exercise its own rights over its Holy Sites and over its respective faith communities. Interfaith violence continued to produce enormous suffering in the region, however, as evidenced by the Crusades and numerous other acts linking religious fervor and political domination. Still, Umar ibn el-Khattab’s edict was reinstated by the Turkish Empire, under the so-called Status Quo Decree, which recognizes and defines a legacy of tolerant religious co-existence.The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan provided for the internationalization of Jerusalem as a means of allowing members of all faiths to fully enjoy their rights of access to all the Holy Sites in the city. After the 1948 war, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan occupied parts of Jerusalem, including the Old City, where the Western Wall (Kotel), which is believed to be a remnant of the Second Jewish Temple, is situated. During this period, Jews were denied access to the site, in violation of their basic rights, a situation that lasted until 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, and made Jerusalem a de facto part of its territory.
While Muslim Holy Sites have remained under Palestinian control, Israel has continually restricted Palestinian Muslims’ access to Jerusalem and established settlements around these Muslim and Christian Holy Sites to alter the demographic, social, religious, and political character of these areas. These restrictions have increased since the start of the 2000 Intifada (Intifadet al-Aqsa) and more particularly as of 2002 with the wave of suicide bombings.
Some Muslim Holy Sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been taken over by Israeli settlers, who consider the sites theirs. This includes the tombs of Abraham in Hebron where, admittedly, the compound has been divided between Jews and Moslems, those of Joseph in Napleth and Samuel just outside Jerusalem. These Holy Sites were Muslim mosques before Israeli settlers took possession of them.
They have since been converted into synagogues.Under the Oslo Accords, Israel retained control of several religious sites, including Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. These sites brought both a settler and military presence to the heart ofthese predominantly Arab cities and have consistently been a source of friction and conflict. The problems in Hebron became particularly well known in 1994 after an Israeli extremist from the United States entered a Mosque during prayers and killed thirty-nine worshippers.
These practices have been interpreted by Muslims all over the world as a concerted policy designed to deny religious rights of access, and possibly endanger the physical integrity of Muslim Holy Sites. These threats add a serious international religious dimension to the conflict, leading to the involvement of Muslim masses and particularly Muslim fundamentalist organizations as external protagonists to this conflict.
One of the most controversial issues in the settlement of this conflict is whether Israel will allow the prospective Palestinian state to use a portion of Jerusalem as its capital. Similarly, it remains unclear whether what is called “East Jerusalem” or “Arab Jerusalem,” including the Muslim Holy Sites there, will be part of the Palestinian state or part of an internationalized regime.
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