Letter to Editor Sets Record Straight on Jerusalem

Letter: "Jerusalem and History,"
A28, Monday, 10/6/08
By Rabbi Avi Shafran

As analyzed on this blog in "Morally Equivalent Manichaeism," Ethan Bronner drew an uninformed parallel in his Jerusalem Journal, published September 28, "Jews and Muslims Share Holy Season in Jerusalem". Bronner simplistically placed on a par the widespread Palestinian rejection of Jerusalem's centrality for Jews and the marginal Israeli rejection of the city's centrality for Muslims:

"The same problem exists on the other side as well — some Jews believe that the holiness here is theirs alone."

Yes, some Jews believe that. Yet it's nowhere near the same problem. That the Temple Mount is not Jewish and Jerusalem was never a Jewish city are views widely disseminated in the Palestinian press.

To get an even better sense of the contrast of both sides, it's important to look at official positions. Immediately following the Six Day War, Israel granted near total control of the Temple Mount -- the holiest site in Judaism, and the third holiest in Islam -- to the Supreme Muslim Council (Waqf), so as not to offend Muslim sensibilities. In contrast, official Palestinian Authority media regularly accuse Israel of inventing the notion of a Jewish temple. In fact, this was Arafat's official position at Camp David, according to negotiator Dennis Ross.

Without going into these details, but providing a meaningful background to the issue, Rabbi Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel of America takes issue with the Times' false equivalence:

"I question whatever notion of journalistic fairness led to your assertion that 'the same problem exists on the other side as well'.”

Shafran then provides essential context by pointing out that although "believing Jews consider the Temple Mount and Jerusalem to have been divinely deeded them...Muslims are free to live and worship in Jerusalem, unlike Jews or Christians in Mecca or Medina."

It was important that the Times printed Shafran's letter, as Israeli and Palestinian treatment of each others' holy sites is a reflection of the conflict generally, and should be documented.