Jerusalem--Dwelling Place Of Peace

Jerusalem. The unending continues. Muslim kids took refuge in a Muslim holy site right above the Wailing Wall after pitching rocks at Jews praying at the wall. Israeli cops entered the site in search of the stone throwers and the disturbance became general.
And somehow we live in a fantasy world where the “peace process” can be restarted just like an automobile—just turn the key and push the gas pedal. Away we go; peace at last. Lasting peace. Thousands of years of hatred gone, just like that.
More likely that Chile or Haiti will be able to abort their next major earthquake. Just turn the key … . The pent up forces in Jerusalem are about as powerful as the pent up forces when one tectonic plate slides under another, gets stuck and jerks loose.
Reality in Jerusalem (and Israel and its neighbors) is about as cruel as it was on the American frontier—no peace between “cowboys and Indians” until one side was thoroughly defeated and driven off the range.
Same thing was true in western Europe at the end of the Roman period. Peace only came after the invading Germanic tribes whipped the Roman legions and settled down in Imperial territories. Some conflicts simply don’t lend themselves to a negotiated peace.
You can call a truce—some can last almost a century as the truce between Parthia and Rome that prevailed when Parthian Magi could find their way to Bethlehem into Roman space without a fight. But the war went on for six more centuries—didn’t stop until a third party (Islam) conquered both sides. Truces, as the French and British could tell you, looking back over their own history from 1066 to 1914, are only temporary.
The Great Wall of China is a monument to a war between herdsmen and farmers that simply would not end, century after century. Jerusalem—“dwelling place of peace”—is a similar monument. Arabs have been fighting over it for 1,300 years. Before that, Jews fought to get it, hang on to it or get it back, for a previous couple of thousand years.
It’s the City of David; it’s the city Saladin took back from the Crusaders; it’s the city Nebuchadnezzar burned down; it’s the city Pompey walked through, it’s the city where Christ died; it’s the city Allenby took back from the Muslims in 1917; it’s the city where Roman legions burned down Herod’s temple; it’s the city the Arab legion denied Israel in 1948—it’s the city of which Jews have spoken for thousands of years at Passover—“Next year, Jerusalem”.
It’s THE most sacred place to Jews and Christians; it’s the third most sacred to Muslims. The sacred component is what makes the struggle so intractable. Muslims have planted their third most sacred mosque smack on top of King Solomon’s temple site.
On this mountain, the Bible story tells us, Abraham was asked to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. That’s when the division occurred—about 4,000 years ago. Jews claim their descent through Isaac (who survived the near sacrifice); Arabs claim their descent through Abraham’s other son, Ishmael. Both claim God’s blessing came through THEIR ancestor.
The land around Jerusalem had turned into desert by the 1870s when Jews began to return to Israel to escape Russian pogroms. Arabs were happy to sell such worthless real estate to them. The refugees re-dug ancient wells and made the desert bloom.
Arabs wanted the revitalized land back—thus began the modern quarrel. Five Arab armies tried to exterminate Israel and its Jews in 1948. All five were defeated. The defeats went on—until Jews took back the ancient City of David in 1967.
To imagine that they will give it up for any price is to imagine that all earthquakes and tsunamis will cease. To imagine that Arabs will give it up for any price is to imagine that all hurricanes and tornadoes will cease. Either, like the cowboys and Indians, one side has to win with brutal decisiveness—or, like ancient Byzantium and Persia, some third party has to whips both.
It’ll be easier to make Congress work together or to make the Taliban our friends than to “restart the peace process” over Israel and Jerusalem. It might be more sensible to get out of the way and let them settle it—by themselves.