Jerusalem
Presented by the PEACE Mid-East Dialog Group

Introduction

Ami Isseroff
Rehovot

Jerusalem means 'City of Peace.' In Arabic it is called 'Al Quds' - the Holy. Many unholy wars have been fought in the City of Peace, and if we do not change our perspective, many more will be fought. The prophets described Jerusalem as a woman. If so, it is an unfortunate lady. Fought over, sometimes petted and often neglected, Jerusalem has survived over 3,000 years of history, and remains a center of controversy.

In ancient times Jerusalem belonged to the Yebusites. After its conquest by King David (about 1000 B.C.E), Jerusalem served for long periods as the capital of Israel and later of Judea. Jerusalem held the temple, destroyed and rebuilt and then restored, for about a millenium. After the fall of the second temple, Jews still prayed for restoration of the city and the temple. Each passover Jews in the diaspora repeat 'Next Year in Jerusalem.' 

Jerusalem became an important holy city for both Christians and Muslims. It is the city where Jesus was crucified and Mohammed ascended to heaven, home to many mosques, including the magnificent Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock, and many churches and synagogues. But the holiness of the place inspired unholy deeds, as Christians and Moslem fought for control of  the holy city, fighting many battles in the city of peace.

In modern times, the holy city of peace has known little peace either. In 1948, Arabs and Jews fought bitterly, and not always cleanly as at Deir Yassin. The Jordanian Legion conquered the old city of Jerusalem and expelled the inhabitants of the Jewish quarter. The Jewish defenders of West Jerusalem survived an attempted blockade, and expelled the Arab inhabitants. Jerusalem became divided. In 1967 6-day war, Jerusalem was, in theory, reunited under Israeli rule. In practice, the two populations remained apart, divided in spirit and in fact. In the city of peace, there is no peace. In the holy city, there is much unholiness, hatred and bigotry and attempts to manipulate both demographic makeup and emotions.

Below are some views of the future of Jerusalem.

A Geologist Looks at the Stones of Jerusalem

Arie S. Issar
Jerusalem & BeerSheva Israel

(a version of this article originally appeared in American Scientist)

"A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing"(Eccl. 3:5)

During the late sixties I was exploring for ground-water in the semi-arid Nordeste of Brazil. Once while traveling to the drilling site, the driver of my jeep, asked me where I come from. As I had learned already that the name "Israel" may mean nothing to many of the people in that remote part of that big country, I told him that I was born and I live in Jerusalem. He stopped the car, looked at me and said: "No, Senior, you must forgive me, but you are either joking or God forbid lying, we were told in our church that Jerusalem is in Heaven." Fortunately I had my passport with me, in which it is stated that I was born in Jerusalem on the 13th of July 1928.My driver studied the written document, shook his head a few times, and went on driving, still shaking his head and murmuring to himself from time to time. I gathered that this poor fellow was going through a process of changing his whole attitude towards my city of birth.

Recently I found that there is no need to travel to the remote Nordeste corner of Brazil in order to shock people by telling them that Jerusalem can be regarded in an altogether new and different way. I published in the Israeli daily newspaper "Haaretz," suggesting that the old city of Jerusalem, instead of being a place of clash between religions and their faithful, should become a center for study of international law and thus of international peace. Of course, the sites considered holy for the different religions would remain as they have been. However, there are enough places inside the walls, which can be purchased and turned into a university and into law institutes, where students from all over the world can come and study international law, and in due course deal with lawsuits between nations. People whom I knew as far from intemperate reacted to my suggestion disapprovingly, saying that Jerusalem is regarded too holy for each of the people of the three religions to cause anyone to agree to such an idea. I did not get any reaction from religious and nationalist extremists. I suppose they regarded my suggestion to be too ridiculous to be worth consideration and reaction.

I asked myself how come I, born and raised in Jerusalem in an orthodox-tolerant Jewish family, was ready to consider a new scenario, in which the Old City turns into an international city. rather than fight for fulfilling the ancient dream of my ancestors to rebuild this part of Jerusalem as the national and religious center of the Jews of all over the world. During my youth I had prayed, as have all orthodox Jews for two millennia, that Jerusalem and its Temple should be rebuilt, that all the Jews will return to their land and that the ancient rites of sacrifice should be restored. Moreover, spending my youth in this city I have some special memories of its past interconnected with its present. I remember that my friend and I, when preparing for our high-school final exams, chose a shady place on the flat roof of the three story building where I lived with my parents, overlooking the hills of Jerusalem. For Bible and history exams we were often able to look around and see the very places which were mentioned in the various books from the time of the Judges to the kings of Judea to that of the Romans. As a young man, during the time of British Mandate over Palestine, I served in the Hagana, the underground army of the Jewish community in Palestine. My squad was in charge of security in the area around the Wailing Wall. On the night before the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD, we were put on special duty, as thousands of people flocked to the very narrow alley that was available at that time for worship by the Jews at the foot of the Wailing Wall. Many of the people sat down on the floor, lighting candles, crying and chanting from the Book of Lamentations.

I think my attitude toward the Old City changed partly because the Jewish people did gain their independence, and Jerusalem became a flourishing capital of the State of Israel. Secondly, I think that my attitude towards rocks and stones in general and those of Jerusalem in particular changed completely because I became a geologist. I know this with certitude because I remember the way I looked at the massive stones of the colossal Wailing Wall, towering above the narrow alley, just a few days after the Six Day War. We had then come back to the Old City after being away from it for twenty years, while it was under Jordanian rule. When I stood in the front of the wall I found myself asking from which of the geological strata these stones had been quarried out. I also looked at the rock above which was erected the dome of the Mosque of Omar. I could see that it is of Turonian i.e. Upper Cretaceous age. This very rock played a special role in Jewish tradition. One can write a whole book on the legends, traditions and myths attributed to this rock.

Thus to look at a stone and remain totally in the past, or to ask what the past of this stone can tell us with regard to the future, makes the stupendous difference between my way of looking at the stones of Jerusalem and that of a religious person. Yet, I will not pretend to be aloof from the feelings which man has to his homeland and to its stones. Thus with all the members of my reserve army unit, I was elated to tears on the day of the Six Day War, when we stood near our guns, on the mountain north of Jerusalem, and heard on the radio the announcement of the commander of the paratroopers: "The Mount of the Temple is in our hands."

So I must confess that though I am a geologist, I feel a special sentiment to the stones of Jerusalem, and after many years of travel and visiting many other cities, I still admire the view of the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, in the early and late hours of the day, when the oblique rays of the sun emphasize the golden reddish color of the stones of this city. However, at the same time, as a scientist, I know how dangerous maintaining ancient attitudes can be, especially when it comes to the adoration of ancient stones. In fact the holiness attributed to the stones of Jerusalem caused this city to witness so much bloodshed, cruelty and atrocities since it became a city. At the same time it inspired most futuristic prophecies of human and international justice. Today Jerusalem is again in the center of a political and religious controversy. Once again one hears many words about the holiness of the stones of this city. One can guess that in the future, as in ancient times of cult, these words about holy stones, will cause more bloodshed which will make these stones even more holy to many people. During years of living in Jerusalem, one learns to distinguish between the various ways in which the masons in the different periods of its long history used to dress the stones to put in their buildings. Thus, one can see that many stones were reused each time the city was conquered, destroyed and rebuilt.

Naturally, one would like the city of his birth to survive and escape the fate of war and destruction, and this brings me back to the stones of Jerusalem and to its new future, namely to use these stones in order to build a Center for International Law, Justice and Peace in the Old City. I cannot claim to be the first to raise this idea. The prophets Isaiah, Hosea and Micha prophesied that Jerusalem would one day become a center for judgment among the nations, and justice among the people, making them beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.

As a scientist, I regard prophecies as foresight and intuition. The intuition of these clairvoyant people, acclaimed as prophets, concluded that the existence of a nation depends on peaceful coexistence with other nations, and that this is better ensured when the rule of justice dominates the world rather than the rule of the sword. It takes more than stones to build a Palace of Peace or a Center of International Law and Justice. Yet stones become what they are according to the beliefs and ideas of the men who use and acclaim them. If enough people come to believe that the stones of the Old City of Jerusalem can be turned into buildings that accommodate the Center of International Law, Justice and Peace, this belief may overwhelm those who maintain that the stones of Jerusalem are holy only to them. The sad question now is, how much more blood will be spilled over the stones of Jerusalem before more people decide that this city of peace should be a cornerstone of peace on earth, and not in heaven?

Prof. em. A. S. Issar J. Blaustein Institute for Desert Research Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker Campus 84990 ISRAEL

Jerusalem
Mervyn Cassidy
Melbourne Australia

The very name invokes the most intense emotion in the breast of every Jew. A yearning embodied in the final words of Hatikva - "Eretz - Tzion v'yerushalim".  I can understand that the same emotions are felt by Palestinians for Al Quds. The dilemma of one land shared by two peoples, each with claims to its capital.

I am aware of the opinions of  people who believe it is indivisible and those who believe it should be shared.  Both are logical, well presented and moderate. They are saying different things. Who is right? This is the unanswerable question because both are right.
When we hear the oft quoted description of the city as the united, eternal, indivisible capital of the State of Israel how many stop to question what this means?

It certainly is not united. It is populated by different ethnic groups, with different religious beliefs and places of worship, living in areas which can be exclusively, or at least predominantly peculiar to one group, culturally different and with their own particular ambience.

Nothing is eternal.

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. To the Palestinians, it is also the capital of Palestine.

In the early days of the Israeli state, there were those who believed that for Israel to be a Jewish state, it was necessary to remove the Arab inhabitants. For Jerusalem to be Jewish, it would appear that similar minded people are pursuing a similar policy. This causes me great concern.

Naomi Chazan in an article entitled " Stop the Oppression ", detailed the gross violations of human rights being perpetrated by the government and the Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, to rid Jerusalem of its Palestinian population by destruction of their homes to be replaced by Jewish homes, or by repressive laws to take away their freedom of movement such that if they left the environs of the city they were prevented from returning and their residents' permits were destoyed.

This " cleansing " of Jerusalem is also being pursued by such people as Irving Moscowicz, the American bingo king, who is buying up Palestinian properties and installing ultra-orthodox people in what can only be regarded as Arab neighborhoods.

These actions have led to violence and have exacerbated the divisions within the population of Jerusalem. They cannot succeed in uniting the city as a Jewish entity. They can only emphasize that the unity of the city is an unfulfillable dream.

If, for the Palestinians there can be no retreat from the requirement of a capital in Jerusalem, in whatever form, and if those who adhere to the unshakable idea of "Jerusalem's status as the united, eternal, capital of the State of Israel and no other country." refuse to countenance any compromise, there will not be peace in the foreseeable future.

The continuance of hostilities, violent or otherwise, for perhaps generations, will have a devastating effect on Israeli society, which is already suffering detrimentally from an occupier mentality, and breed rebellion in the hearts of the Palestinians.

If, while there is no peace, the occupation of the West Bank and parts of Gaza by Jewish settlements continues, with its attendant widely publicized seizure of land, destruction of Palestinian homes, orchards and harassment of the population, this situation can only be exacerbated.

Already Israel has been condemned by world opinion for its inflexible attitude and can expect increasing pressure to be brought to bear on its government for action for which it would far preferable for it to be taking the initiative.

Many senior officials and high ranking military people have stated that if the exclusivity of Jerusalem is a paramount stumbling block to a final peace negotiations, there must be a willingness to contemplate alternatives. What these could be can only be determined if the possibility of the sharing of the city is accepted.

Peace must be recognized as being inevitable. It must also be recognized as being urgent and all impediments to its final negotiation, including the status of Jerusalem, must be overcome.

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