| The Rector's Column |
Peace in Jerusalem: A Prayer to Live By This is the first in a three part series addressing the nature of the many conflicts and concerns that inform modern day Jerusalem. In 2006, a Rabbi speaking to our class at St. George’s College remarked, “If there is no peace in Jerusalem, there can be no peace in the world.” As I have only begun to scratch the surface of the history and modern significance of Jerusalem in the minds and hearts of many peoples, what does become clear is that the socio-political-multi-cultural phenomenon that is the Old City of Jerusalem is a complex system of interwoven investments and layers of relationship. Because there is no easy answer to the resolution of peace there, Jerusalem is a living spiritual laboratory for the church and the world in which to discover how to live profoundly within the tensions of human differences. Only by learning these skills first, can we engage with others in ways that respect and even promote diversity, establishing the necessary foundation for meaningful and lasting peace. As we will discover, the Christian community is in a unique position to help create bridges between peoples, but only if our actions and words are humble and our goals are accordingly modest. Part I: A Brief Modern History of Jerusalem Jerusalem was under control of the Ottoman Turkish Empire from 1517 until 1917, when General Edmund Allenby led the British Army in capturing the city. After the Battle of Jerusalem, in 1922 the League of Nations entrusted the United Kingdom with the administration of a set of articles known as the Palestinian Mandate. The objective of the Mandate was to provide structure and oversight to parts of the former Ottoman Empire “until such a time as they were able to stand alone.” This mandated power included the use of armed force to overthrow the indigenous governments of Syria and Palestine. The Mandate was a limited term agreement set to expire in 1948. As the British withdrew from the area, war erupted between Israel and Palestine, known by the Israelis as the War of Independence and by the Palestinians as The Catastrophe. It was the first in a series of wars between the newly declared State of Israel and the Arab people who desired to establish a unitary Palestinian State that recognized their equality before the law per democratic principles. The heaviest Arab-Israeli fighting took place in Jerusalem and on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road. The Arab Legion pressured Israeli forces to retreat from the Arab quarters of Jerusalem as well as the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, and the Jordanians expelled all Jewish inhabitants of the Old City. However, over the next several months, the Israeli military managed not only to maintain their military control of the Jewish territories, but also to expand their holdings. In December 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which declared (amongst other things) that in the context of a general peace agreement "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so "and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." The resolution also mandated the creation of the United Nations Conciliation Commission. However, parts of the resolution were never implemented, resulting in the Palestinian refugee crisis. The term Green Line is used to refer to the 1949 Armistice lines established between Israel and its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Green Line separates Israel not only from these countries but also from territories Israel would later capture in the 1967 Six-Day War. Its name is derived from the green ink used to draw the line on the map during the talks. Within the boundaries of the Old City of Jerusalem the Jewish quarter remained under Jordanian rule until what Israelis consider to be its liberation by Israeli paratroops during the Six-Day War of 1967. At that time Israel mounted attacks against bordering Arab nations including parts of Egypt to the south and Syria to the north. A ceasefire was signed on June 11 after Israel’s offensives had successfully seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank of the Jordan River (including East Jerusalem), and the Golan Heights. Israel’s territory had increased three fold, while a million Arabs came under Israel’s control in the captured areas. An estimated 300,000 fled to Jordan. Only those Arabs living in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights were permitted full Israeli citizenship in the early 1980’s. . After Israeli conquest of their newly acquired territories a large-scale settlement effort was launched to secure Israel's permanent foothold. There are now hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories, though the Israeli settlements in Gaza were evacuated and destroyed in August 2005 as a part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. During the 1960’s, while the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was under Palestinian control, American engineers and Jordanian authorities created plans for turning the quarter into a park. During the nineteen-year Arab administration, the Jordanians had demolished a third of the Jewish Quarter’s buildings. All but one of the thirty-five Jewish houses of worship that graced the Old City was destroyed. The synagogues were razed and stripped and were used as chicken coops or stables. The Western Wall, the most sacred site in Judaism, was used as a garbage dump. During the Six Day War, Israel captured Eastern Jerusalem, asserting sovereignty over the whole of the city. However, the Temple Mount (site of the al-Aqsa Mosque) continues to be administered by the Muslim Waqf, and Jews are not permitted to conduct services there. In addition, Israel displaced those living in the Moroccan Quarter, which was located adjacent to the Western Wall, and razed the area in order to make way for a plaza for those visiting the wall. Since the war, Israel has expanded the city's boundaries and established a ring of Jewish neighborhoods on vacant land east of the Green Line, contributing to significant incursions into Palestinian territory agreed upon within the armistice agreement. However, the takeover of East Jerusalem was met with international criticism. Following the passing of Israel's Jerusalem Law, which declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", the capital of Israel, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution (478) that declared the law "a violation of international law" and requested all member states to withdraw all remaining embassies from the city. The status of the city, and especially its holy places, remains a core issue in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Jewish settlers have taken over historic sites and built on land confiscated from Palestinians in order to expand the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, while prominent Islamic leaders have insisted that Jews have no historical connection to Jerusalem, which in itself is a questionable assertion. Palestinians envision East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state and the city's borders continue to be the subject of bilateral talks. Peace, Pastor Rachel+ Arabic Hebrew Peace This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.--Peace Pilgrim |
