Seek the Peace of Jerusalem: The Role of Religious Leaders in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

By Omer Salem

Over the last seven decades, since the formation of the State of Israel, there has been no shortage of Jews and Arabs desiring peace in Israel-Palestine (the Holy Land). Most peacemaking attempts failed because the parties did not see peace as a win-win deal. The prevailing mantra in this conflict is win-lose or no deal. Today, the Palestinians are not willing to make a deal with the Israeli Jews because they perceive that a deal with the Israeli Jews means the Palestinians will lose. Also, the Israelis are not willing to make a deal with the Palestinian Arabs because they perceive that a deal with the Palestinian Arabs means the Israelis will lose. There are also other geopolitical factors affecting this conflict. This conflict is gradually shifting toward a battle fueled by people relying on religious texts to prolong the struggle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512789737

Omer Salem

Omer Salem is a senior fellow of the Foundation of Religious Diplomacy, New York City, and is founder of the Ibn Rushd Institute for Dialogue based in Egypt and the United States, an interreligious research association. Dr. Salem promotes the importance of using Islamic moral values as the basis for conflict resolution. He has been invited to various churches, synagogues, mosques, and international conferences, where he has spoken before audiences that included members of the US Senate in Washington, DC, and members of the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem. Dr. Salem is an honorary member of the Worldwide Association of al-Azhar Graduates. He is a candidate for a PhD in Islamic studies from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Ohio. He holds a masters degree from the Yale University Divinity School and a bachelor of science degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Omer, an American-Sunni Muslim, was born in Egypt; established a career in engineering, real estate, and investment in Californias Silicon Valley; and is a frequent preacher among the New Haven, Connecticut, Muslim community. In California, he assembled a group of representatives of various faith communities across the United States and the Middle East to consider options for peace in the Holy Land based on Islamic moral values. The group produced a related white paper that is the basis of the Mellata Ibrahim (MI) Initiative, which has gained support from various religious and civil society organizations, as well as representatives from Stanford University. Omer currently lives with his wife and children in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. To contact the author with your comments, please, email him at [e-mail] Omer currently lives with his wife and children in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

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Copyright © 2017 Omer Salem.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-8971-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8972-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8973-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017909338

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/23/2017

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Jerusalem at the Center of East and West

The Role of Religion in the Middle East

The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Arab Spring

A Note on Semantics

Section 1

Basic Frameworkfor Conciliation

Facing Religious Differences and Similarities

Religious Expression Is Diverse

Sacred Place, Validating the Other

The Seven Noachide Laws

Commonalities between Muslims and Jews

Uniqueness of Each Revelation

Religion and Government

Dignitism and Peace

Summary for possible religious solution

The Jews and the Land

The Three Oaths

Sheikhs and Rabbis in Zefat, Israel

The Oppressed of the Land

Radical Islam and the Conflict

The Palestinian Refugees

The Holiness of the Land from a Jewish Perspective

Replace PLO with HLCO

The Scattered in the Land: Jewish Refugees

Jewish Safe Haven: Muslim Lands

Jewish Security Versus Arab Dignity

Jews in Arab Lands

Section 2

Holy Land

Jerusalem and Mecca

Al-Haram al-Sharif (The Temple Mount)

The Hajj Route: Darb el-Hajj

The Negev under Islamic Empires

The Negev during the Ottoman Era

The Negev under British and Israeli Rule

The Hajj Route in Jewish Sources

The Hajj Route Revisited

Answer #1 by a Jewish member of IOP

Answer #2 by a Jewish member of IOP

Answer #3 by a Christian member of IOP

Answer #4 by a Christian member of IOP

Answer #5 by a Muslim member

Answer #6 by a Christian member of IOP

Section 3

The Objections and Conditions to Peace

1. Jewish and Arab Enmity

Dignitism as a Path to Peace

2. Jews as Neighbors

3. Can Jews and Christians Accept Muslims?

4. The Return of All Refugees

5. Who Might Finance Repatriation

6. The Claim That Zionism Does Not Support Peace

7. Aggression Rewarded

8. Some Jews May Refuse Repatriation

9. Concessions with Nothing in Return

10. Might Arabs Be Getting Cheated?

Conditions for Peace with Muslims

End the Occupation

Zionist Christians in America:

Bring Criminals to Justice:

Pay the Islamic Poll Tax

Christians and Muslims

Theological Reasons for Conflict in the Middle East

Comments on Evangelicals

Selected Views of Friends on Social Media

Views of James Audlin, a leader in Interfaith Relations

Views of Emad Al-Turk, a Palestinian American Leader

Views of Hisham Abdallah, an Egyptian American MB Leader

Views of Joseph Stang, a Christian American researcher in Israel

Views of Amit Elazar, a Zionist Israeli Jew in Media

Views of Yehuda Hakohen, an Israeli Jewish Rabbi

Views of Eli Cohen, an Israeli Jewish Leader

Views of Imam Taher Kukaj, an Albanian Muslim Leader

Views of Hassanain Ibish American Muslim Scholar

Analysis of the Christian Role by a Jewish Scholar

Conclusion: The Importance of Jerusalem to Future Conflict

How to Mitigate the Theological War

Militant Islam Versus Western Culture

Selected Photographs

From the Author’s Peacemaking Activities

Section 4

Striving for Virtue,Dignitism, and Scripture

Tolerance and Respect

The Purpose of Scripture

The Virtue of Learning and Mercy

Collaboration: The Keys to the Holy Sepulcher

Abrahamic Traditions Are Helpful Rivals⁵⁴

Conclusion

Action Plan to move forward

Epilogue

Resources

Definition of Terms

Exhibits

1. The Bible

2. The Quran

Bibliography

About the Author

In the hopes of building a better world for our children,

I

dedicate this book to my children:

Sarah, Dahlia, Yousuf, Alia, Hamid,

Sorya, Yasmeen and Yaseen.

whose support and encouragement enriched

the quest that led me here.

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and

a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know

each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the person who is the most virtuous of you.

—Qur’an 49:13

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the people whose names appear below for their part in inspiring me to write and edit this book. While it is unlikely that any participant would claim to be in total agreement with the final book that ultimately emerged, all will find some reflection of their respective contributions. Those who offered insights, suggestions, and commentary include the following:

Bishop Boyd Smith

Bishop Gordon Scruton

Dr. Charles Randall Paul

Dr. Ghada Karmi

Dr. Mohamed H. Khalil

Imam Dr. Abdul Aziz Sachedina

Imam Dr. Ekrema Sabri

Imam Dr. Mohamed Al-Fiqui

Imam Dr. Omar Shahin

Imam Dr. Tahir Kukiqi

Imam Wathiq Al-Ubaidi

Monsignor Steven Otellini

Professor Harold Attridge

Rabbi Ari Cartun

Rabbi Dr. Burton Visotzky

Rabbi Dr. Reuven Firestone

Rabbi Ephraim Gabi

Rabbi Herbert Brockman

Rabbi Sheldon Lewis

Reverend Dr. Joseph Cumming

Reverend Edward Rawel

Reverend James David Audlin

Reverend Peter Drekmeier

To you, the reader, we are grateful for your willingness to explore the ideas shared in this book with an open mind. In our world today, the level of violence based on misquoting and misunderstanding religious text suggests that peacemakers need to double their efforts toward reconciliation. The simmering fires of religious demagoguery make it almost impossible to have peace between adherents of the Abrahamic traditions. This work attempts to pour water on such hot issues.

Preface

Egypt in the sixties and seventies for the Salem family was a balance between keeping Islamic tradition at home and attending the secular system of public schools, which would provide us with the best of opportunities and form us into what my parents considered model Muslims. Both traditional Islamic practice and a breadth of scholarship were to be revered, in line with the great Islamic thinkers who always inspired us, like Imam Mohamed Abdu and M. Rashid Reda.¹

I was first exposed to other cultures and peoples when I traveled on foot and by auto on a forty-day journey to Europe in the summer of 1974. I was only fourteen at the time, but that journey taught me many valuable lessons, including the importance of being independent and self-sufficient, relating to others, and understanding different cultures and people. That journey to Europe was followed by three more journeys to Europe and the Middle East for the following three summers, before our family immigrated and settled in California in the late seventies. Having lived in three different countries on three different continents, I have had no choice but to consider many different points of view, not only in my own acclimation from Egyptian to American culture and then to Indian culture and back to American, but in my desire to understand the Middle East conflict at its root. Many of my relatives and friends still reside in Egypt. Therefore, my interest in solving the conflict is both on an ideological and personal level. My personal and global journey included study at Berkeley and Stanford University, after which I established myself in a real estate investment business. I then embarked on a trek to the Indian subcontinent, where I spent some time with the pacifist Muslim Tablighi Jamaat movement and experienced again a taste of wandering. I joined an outreach to other Muslims and practiced simplicity in living. My passion for solving the conflicts in the Middle East led me to pursue a master’s degree at Yale Divinity School and then a PhD, supervised at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Once a person sees so many points of view, from so many strata of society and different cultures, one is no longer able to come up with glib answers; indeed, the reader will see a variety of views reflected here, as I have tried to truly understand each party to the conflict. I thus cannot guarantee that you will be comfortable with all I say. I just ask that you see this through until the end, noting where I validate what you are familiar with and accommodating the ideas that may be new. I am convinced that solutions are at hand via the shared traditions that Islam and Judaism hold to, requiring a little patience to navigate them through our varied perspectives.

__________

1. Both are Egyptian Muslim jurists, religious scholars, and reformers.

Introduction

Jerusalem at the Center of East and West

Over the last seven decades, since the formation of the State of Israel, there has been no shortage of Jews and Arabs desiring peace in Israel-Palestine (the Holy Land). Most peacemaking attempts failed because the parties did not see peace as a win-win deal. The prevailing mantra in this conflict is win-lose or no deal. Today, the Palestinians are not willing to make a deal with the Israeli Jews because they perceive that a deal with the Israeli Jews means the Palestinians will lose. Also, the Israelis are not willing to make a deal with the Palestinian Arabs because they perceive that a deal with the Palestinian Arabs means the Israelis will lose.

Of course conflicts between large groups of people derive from many causes. In the case of Israel and Palestine peace-builders have focused on resolving issues of political, economic and military power differences. In the unending peace process the most practical factor of all has been neglected, namely, the continual desire in the hearts and minds of the antagonists to live without the bothersome presence of the other in their lives. To change this desire to live together requires a change of heart and mind from suspicious contempt to trustful respect. And this change cannot happen unless people actually interact with each other proving they are indeed respectful and trustworthy. So how do leaders influence their followers to take the risk of experiencing their adversaries? Can we find a new way that allows respect and trust, the glue of any healthy society, to develop?

In the Middle East no factor influences people to risk their hearts and minds and bodies more than their religious convictions which are closely aligned with their family affections. This book elevates the religious factor in peace-building that has been terribly neglected. It is the most practical and difficult element to address, but without it there will be no sustainable peace. If the hearts and minds of the inhabitants are to change, it will begin by their respected religious leaders teaching them that the holy texts they follow as divine authority require a change of attitude particularly toward their Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors. This book aims to call religious leaders to use their classic texts to influence believers to see how they must change to follow the will of God. That is the most practical and scientific way to bring peace. It will not provide a quick fix, but it is the most realistic way to sustain a peaceful multi-religious society.

It is now possible to view the intractable conflict over the Holy Land as a proxy war between Evangelical Christianity¹ (backing the Israeli side in the conflict) and militant Islam (supporting the Palestinian side in the conflict).² The challenge one faces when attempting to affect peace in Israel-Palestine is that the backers of each side in the conflict do not agree on the peace plan available and promoted by UN resolutions.³ They also do not see eye to eye on important issues such as security, settlements, Jerusalem, refugees, and borders. Seek the Peace of Jerusalem suggests a new approach for possible resolution.

There can be no lasting peace between old antagonists without building new trust, and that requires them to first understand each other by speaking candidly about their respective aspirations and sacred beliefs—especially those that underlie their mutual suspicion and antipathy. This will require deep, practical conversations between adversaries about strongly held religious beliefs.

For Evangelical Christians to have peace, the Temple Mount (Al-Haram Al-Sharif) has to be clear of any Muslim shrines, including Al-Aqsa Mosque. The third temple has to be built, and animal sacrifice, as delineated in the book of Leviticus, has to be resumed.⁴

For militant Muslims, to have peace in Jerusalem, Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Temple Mount) has to be clear of any Jewish presence. The Al-Haram Al-Sharif has to be accessible only to Muslims from all over the world and cannot be under the sovereignty of the Jewish state.⁵

Therefore, to many in the Evangelical community, there is no Israel without Jerusalem, there is no Jerusalem without the Temple Mount, and there is no Temple Mount without the third temple. And to many belonging to militant Islam, there is no Palestine without Jerusalem, there is no Jerusalem without the Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and there is no Al-Haram Al-Sharif without sovereignty for Muslims.

This book will attempt to reframe the conflict in a way that allows for reconciliation not only between the local stakeholders—Jews and Palestinians—but for the global stakeholders as well, Christians and Muslims. The chapter on Christianity and Islam, at the end of the book, highlights the tension and then suggests ways to replace fear and suspicion with trust-building measures. The chapter on Evangelical Christianity and militant Islam discusses the antagonistic relationship between those two viewpoints, although there are adherents on either side who have stepped forward with significant variations. For example, to play down the tension created in Muslims’ psyches by radical Jewish rhetoric, a Jewish politician joined Jewish religious leaders and acknowledged the historical importance of the Al-Haram Al-Sharif to Muslims.⁶ And to play down the tension created by radical Muslim rhetoric, a Jordanian Salafi cleric recognized the historical significance of the Temple Mount to Jewish people.⁷

It is noteworthy to remember that the prophet and patriarch Abraham/Ibrahim can serve as a uniting force in our attempt to concoct a solution for Jerusalem. It is important to recall that the patriarch Abraham left a parcel of real estate for all of his children, including Isaac and Ismail. Moreover, we should not forget that it is Abraham who first made the Temple Mount (Mt. Moriah) holy by his unqualified willingness to sacrifice his beloved son.⁸ Because of his unblemished demonstration of faith, at that epochal moment of history, we should feel comfortable in allowing all three of the religions that devolve (or derive) from his faith to look with reverence upon that rock as an exceptionally noble and sacred place. We should also remember that Abraham was not a Jewish rabbi, a Christian bishop or a Muslim sheikh. He was a simple man of God. In Jewish parlance, Abraham was a Noahide. In Islamic idiom, he was a muslim when this term is used as submitter. One may say that Abraham was on a spiritual quest, which led him to discover the one true God, and then he passed this tradition to his sons Ismail and Isaac. His son Isaac, in turn, carried the tradition to Abraham’s grandson Yaakov (Israel). That is why all three traditions—Jews, Christians, and Muslims—refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Yaakov. The Quran confirms such reference.⁹

It is vital to recognize that many Christians especially among Evangelicals hold a strong conviction that the long awaited Second Coming of Christ will be ushered in only when large numbers of Jewish people have returned to live in the land of Israel. This tenet of Christian faith aligns with the belief of many religious Jews that G-d has called the Jews to return to their Biblical homeland to thrive in Zion.

Zion, an ancient term describing a mountain in the Holy Land, also refers to the land where the righteous Jews in the last days of human history will gather. So for many Christians and Jews, Zionism is a hopeful term reminding them that a just and delightful world society is yet to come—centered in Jerusalem.

Most Muslims hold a very different view of Zionism, associating it with the European and American support for exporting millions of Jews into the Palestine region by coercive means. In this book, when the term Zionism is employed it will usually refer to the oppression that many Arabs and Muslims feel as a result of the unjust immigration beginning in 1948 applauded by religious Christians and Jews. There is ample evidence that a very powerful base of support for the Zionist enterprise comes from deep within broad sectors of the Christian community.¹⁰ Likewise, there is nothing that would bring more pleasure to elements of militant and radical Islam than a broadly based counter-Zionist conflict with the West.¹¹

It is important to tackle the differences between the three religions—Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—as a source of understanding and goodwill instead of as a source of spite and enmity. That is why I think going back to Abraham is particularly germane. If one takes Abraham as a starting point, the three religions appear more like variations on a theme (i.e., different expressions of the same philosophy). They look like three separate branches on a family tree, rather than three totally incompatible ideologies. The Temple Mount should, accordingly, not be viewed as a place where the different branches seek to stake out their particular claims of ownership but rather where they want to approach the amazing relationship between God and man that Abraham initiated.

If Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike could adopt this perspective, we would be well on our way to a more cooperative outlook that would serve to calm the passions and allow people to see beyond the otherwise inexorable conflict between the powerful factions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam we describe. As I see it, the sacred history of Father Abraham may well provide the best way to bring peace back to the Holy Land. He was a holy man revered in the scriptures of all three traditions for his fairness and faith. He was designated by God to be the founder of the tradition and the tribe from which all three faiths flow.

This book also discusses a concept called dignitism. The idea asserts that there is more than one way to worship God and be a good human being. Thus, a Muslim’s faith and patience is tried by a neighboring Jew who does not honor Jesus or Muhammad or by a Christian who worships Jesus and Mary as divine beings. Will the Muslim choose to treat both of them with Ihsan, that is, beautiful perfection or dignitism?

Likewise, a modern Christian’s faith and patience is not proven until he or she interacts with critical neighbors, like a Jew who rejects Jesus’s divinity or a Muslim who calls Jesus and Mary mere human beings. Will the Christian treat both of them with the beautiful perfection of charity?

And a modern Jew’s faith and patience are not well proved until he or she has Christian neighbors who preach that