I have two new friends Shira and Fukhira. Shira is an Israeli Jewess who has served in the Israeli military for two years (Jewish Quarter), has been a tour guide for 4 years, is currently a student at Hebrew University, and is maybe 24 years old. Fukhira is an Israeli Palestinian Christian who has been a social worker for several years, has advocated for Palestinian Intifada "criminals", is actively pursuing a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution, and is maybe 30 years old. These two young women are serving as the primary guides for my journey into the Conflict here and are working out the complexity of the Conflict in front of our eyes. Their work is to help us understand everything from two different perspectives.
Some examples of things/places/occurances with different explanations:
The Temple Mount (Jewish) is also called Mount Moriah (Arab).
Mount Moriah is the place where Abraham demonstrated his faithfulness by binding Isaac and is also the place where Mohammed both received the 5 prayers and ascended to Allah.
Mount Moriah is the past location of Solomon's (1st Temple) and Herod's Temple (2nd Temple) and is the current location of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
The Western Wall (Jewish: last remaining portion of Herod's Temple Mount) is also called The Al Buraq Wall (Arab: Where Mohammed tied up his horse "Buraq").
The site itself is one of the most important worship sites in Islam, but is fully controlled by Israeli soldiers.
A different kind of example:
This morning, we stood on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. To the naive eye, the space immediately to the left of the Old City looks like an urban neighborhood with limestone homes roofed with orange terracotta shingles and augmented by a large Israeli Flag. From a Jewish perspective, this sight inspires awe and cultivates hope: we are expanding...we are reclaiming what is rightfully ours! From a Palestinian perspective, this sight stirs despair and reinforces hopelessness: our homes have been taken from us...we are occupied.
If in most places, a picture is worth 1,000 words...here, every picture is worth 2,000.
2 comments:
...and which words are "right"?
Concerning the Temple Mount/Mount Moriah: historically speaking, both are "right". However, the question of "rightness" seems to inspire more of a dividing/destructive conversation than a uniting/healing one.
Concerning the neighborhood development: is it ever "right" to take someone's home?
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