Jerusalem Day 2010
“Jerusalem is not a mere city. It holds the central spiritual and physical place in the history of the Jews as a people.”
—Sir Martin Gilbert
Today is supposed to be a joyous day on the Hebrew calendar. Today we commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. Jerusalem is the city that my people have looked upon for over 3,000 years as our spiritual, political and historical capitol, even when we have not ruled it ourselves.
I was a little girl when Jerusalem was reunited and will never forget the look of ecstasy in my parents’ eyes. The Jerusalem that they turned towards and faced in prayer three times a day was once again in our hands.
Actually, there had almost always been a constant and steady Jewish presence in Jerusalem for the centuries of our Diaspora, until 1948, when the nation of Israel was born and then immediately attacked on all sides. The invading Jordanian armies conquered the city, splitting it apart for the very first time in its 3,000 year old history. The 1949 armistice agreement had maintained that Jordan would provide unfettered access to all the holy places; however they immediately violated the terms of the agreement and exiled the Jews. Jewish Holy sites, such as the Mount of Olives were rampaged and destroyed; over 50 synagogues were burnt to the ground. And although there had always been a constant, continuous presence of pious Jews near the Western Wall of the Temple, the Jews of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City were forced to flee. Jews were denied the access to the Western Wall, just as Christians were denied access to their religious sites in the Old City and in nearby Bethlehem.
It should be noted that Jerusalem is mentioned over 349 times in the Old Testament. It is not mentioned, even a single time, in the Koran. When Jews pray, they face Jerusalem. When Muslims pray, they face Mecca. While in Jerusalem, Muslims pray with their backs toward the city.
In June of 1967, as soon as the Israeli army liberated the sacred walls of Jerusalem, complete and unrestricted access was given to the Holy sites of all religious faiths. The keys to the Temple Mount, or al-Haram al-Sharif as it is known in Arabic, were given over to the Waqf.
This is the way it should be. In a democracy, religious freedom should remain unrestricted for all faiths. (If only this were also true in Tehran, Iran or in Mecca, Saudi Arabia).
So why is it that my heart is so heavy as I write these words on a seemingly joyous day?
My heart is heavy because I had just attended a session on Capitol Hill hosted by Americans for Peace Now, Project Engage, an initiative of the Kairos Project, and the Foundation for Middle East Peace where half-truths, lies and distortions about the Israeli claim to the city of Jerusalem were promulgated in front of a room full of young, impressionable staffers as well as members of organizations on the extreme left.
The assurances that I heard from one of the speakers, Danny Seidemann, an Israeli who represents a radically left wing organization called Terrestrial Jerusalem, and who is an advisor of the Kairos Foundation did very little to assure me of the future peace of Jerusalem.
He said that “we are in the midst of a battle for Jerusalem” and that “we are running out of time.” He said that there can be “no final solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” unless there is a “division of Jerusalem.” He said that “we are in a state of confrontation,” and that, “although it might be quiet now, it is just a confrontation deferred, not a confrontation resolved.”
Mr. Seidemann said that “the day of the mantra of an undivided Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel is over. ”
The words were not peaceful ones. The metaphors were bellicose. Aside from filling the collective group’s head with facts that were completely specious and factually and morally inaccurate, Mr. Seidemann assured the group that President Obama was on their side and had “Jerusalem in his heart”.
He said that President Obama “should have red lines” and “stand firm against American Jewish pressures”, and that “we, together with a consortium of other groups such as J Street, Americans for Peace Now, and The Foundation for Middle East Peace, to name a few, we can organize and provide the President with the political clout to stand firm.”
He said that “We all know what the final resolution looks like. It is something along the parameters that were offered to Chairman Arafat by President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak.”
The real reason for my profound despair is that there is a great truth in that which he said. Jerusalem should never have been put on the negotiating table, from 1993 on. Oslo did not work for many reasons, but one of the many was that the sensitive and intractable issue of Jerusalem should never have been put on the negotiating table.
Because the division of Jerusalem was offered at Camp David II on July 25, 2000, no Palestinian interlocutor will ever accept a peace offer without it and be able to save face with his people.
And now that the Israelis have seen more of what the Palestinian people are capable of, including what happened to the synagogues that were left behind during the Gaza withdrawal. The intention was that they would be turned into mosques. Instead they were immediately destroyed in a hate-filled frenzy. No responsible Israeli interlocutor will ever put the holiest site for all Jews on the negotiating table after that.
Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was a great peacemaker. However, he would never countenance putting Jerusalem on the negotiating table.
Prime Minister Rabin said, “We differ in our opinions, left and right. We disagree on the means and the objectives. In Israel, we all agree on one issue: the wholeness of Jerusalem, the continuation of its existence as capital of the State of Israel. There are not two Jerusalems. There is only one Jerusalem. For us, Jerusalem is not subject to compromise and there is no peace without Jerusalem.”
And as it says in the book of Psalms, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”