Can Jews, Christians and Muslims live together peacefully?

I am sharing a write up by Paul Salem, President and CEO of the Middle East Institute. He focuses on issues of political change, transition, and conflict as well as the regional and international relations of the Middle East. Although, many readers may not agree with his narrative, but efforts must be made for establishing a sustainable peace in the Middle East.

Passover, Ramadan, and Easter coincide this year, a phenomenon that only occurs a few times in a century. Can alignment of these Jewish, Muslim, and Christian holy days offer a hope for peace in conflict-stricken Middle East?

Five thousand years after the birth of Judaism in the region, 2,000 after the emergence of Christianity, and 1,400 after the spread of Islam, the current moment presents signs of hope for coexistence and cooperation among the three religions. The politicization of religion remains a potent force, even in today’s world, and religion is still ably used by too many leaders to divide rather than unite.

It may be recalled that a dialogue between the three faiths were initiated last month in Abu Dhabi where a church, mosque, and synagogue are located side by side. In 2019 it hosted Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad el-Tayeb, who signed a Document of Human Fraternity.

The Abraham Accords brought normalization between Israel and four Arab states in 2020, and other key countries might join in the near future. Saudi Arabia and Iran also agreed to normalize relations just a few weeks ago.

In a region where religious and sectarian differences have driven violence and animosity for decades, do these developments presage a fundamental shift towards peace and coexistence, or a temporary papering over of persistent conflict?

The role of religion in politics has ebbed and flowed in the Middle East, as have the relations among the region’s various religious and sectarian groups. Over the past two centuries, the potent rise of secular and scientific world views brought on by the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, colonialism, and nationalism have posed challenges to all three Abrahamic religions.

Secular nationalist movements coursed through the Middle East throughout the 20th century. And many secularists believed that the role and power of religion would gradually disappear in the modern world.

The ultra-secularist Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the Caliphate in 1924, and secular nationalist leaders emerged in Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. They extended the reach of the largely secular state over society and education, weakening the hold of religious elites and institutions.

Muslims, Christians — and Jews up until 1948 — of the Arab world were joined together in the building of new secular political movements: nationalist, socialist, and communist.

Even the establishment of Israel in 1948 unleashed a conflict which, from the 1950s to 1970s, was fought largely in nationalist terms: Arab and Palestinian nationalists vs. Israeli Zionist nationalists. This semi-secular era did marginalize the political power of religion — for a while — but did not bring peace; it replaced one form of conflict with another.

The secular tide in the region turned decisively in the 1970s. The secular nationalist movements across the Arab world were shattered by their abject defeat by Israel in 1967, as well as their failure to deliver economic and political prosperity at home or unity and victory abroad.

The energy crisis triggered by the Saudi reaction to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war led to a historic rise in oil prices, and a shift in wealth and power from Egypt and the Levant toward a much more religiously observant and conservative Saudi Arabia and its Arab Gulf neighbors.

Iran, also flush with cash from the oil price boom, saw the fall of the Shah and the rise of an Islamic Republic in 1979.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that same year convinced the US, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan to arm and train Sunni extremists to fight the Soviet menace. The Al Saud, facing an Islamic challenge from Iran, and an attack by Sunni extremists on the Great Mosque of Mecca in 1979, doubled down on supporting and funding Sunni Islamic institutions and movements as a way to shore up their legitimacy.

Indeed, by the 1990s and 2000s, little was left of the Middle East of the 1950s and 1960s, in which religion appeared to be a spent force and secular nationalist and leftist movements defined the political — and militia — landscape.

By the 2000s, the religious wave caught up with the original progenitor of Middle East secularism, Turkey, as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the religious conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) rose to dominate Turkish politics.

In Israel, a nation originally built and dominated by staunchly secular Jewish nationalists became increasingly challenged by religious zealots and extremists — groups that now all but dominate the current government.

In the Arab uprisings of the 2010s secular groups — liberal, leftist, nationalist — faced off against Islamic ones, with the latter generally gained the upper hand, either in elections or in the mayhem of civil war.

The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 itself triggered a wave of sectarian polarization as Sunni and Shia groups battled for supremacy.

For the Christians of the Middle East, the last few decades have been an unmitigated disaster. The decline of nationalist and leftist secular movements, in which they had played such a central role, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism undermined their very place in society. But they had survived under the equal opportunity oppression of Arab dictatorships.

The US-led invasion of Iraq wiped out the state and the oppressive security that it provided, and unleashed a sectarian civil war in which the Christians were the most powerless; from 1.4 million before the war, Christians in Iraq now number less than 250,000.

In Syria the uprising of 2011, initially a point of national unity among Muslim and Christian protesters, soon turned deadly for Christians. The regime preferred to turn the uprising into a shooting war, sought to exploit sectarian differences to weaken the opposition, and released large numbers of Islamic extremists from its prisons.

As the opposition was forced to resort to arms, Islamist groups, some garnering support from pro-Islamist states and institutions in the region, others making common cause with the hard-fighting al-Qaeda, came to dominate the opposition.

In Egypt, the brief rule of the Muslim Brotherhood between 2012 and 2013 terrified an already marginalized Coptic community and cemented their support for the return of the military to power.

The meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Coptic Pope Tawadrus II in 2018 was an important step in restoring warm relations between Muslims and Christians in the Middle East.

Pope Tawadrus II represents the biggest Christian community in the region; Pope Francis of Rome does not.

Christian numbers have also plummeted in Jordan, as well as in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Lebanon has had its own turbulent history of alternating between fighting and powersharing among its various religious communities. Currently, they share equally in the misery brought about by the corruption and criminal unresponsiveness of their own sectarian oligarchs.

Interestingly, the religious-secular pendulum has started to swing yet again. In today’s Middle East, it is in Iran where a rising generation is making the bravest stand against religious authority and repression. Meanwhile, the leadership in Saudi Arabia has decided to get ahead of this wave by reversing four decades of policy since 1979, eliminating the religious police, and storming ahead with a radical opening of society at the cultural and social level — although decidedly not the political — bringing in a long-delayed wave of secularization and women’s socio-economic empowerment.

Protest movements in Lebanon and Iraq have railed against sectarian politics and corruption and demanded a more civic order.

Nevertheless, the politicization of religious and sectarian identity remains a divisive and conflict-generating force in the Middle East.

Recent steps toward interfaith dialogue and building common positions and institutions underscore the ability of religious entities to work for conflict de-escalation and peace. And the resurgence of secular forces in some areas of the region might also help in calming religious, especially sectarian, conflict.

Indeed, the confluence of the three religious holidays is a bittersweet occasion. It hints at the opportunity for a more peaceful and harmonious future in the birthplace of the three religions, but also underscores the arduous work that still needs to be done to reverse the deep religious divides that exist today.

Now that diplomatic ties are restored, Saudi Arabia and Iran must work together to end violence and conflict in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, and support peace- and nation-building efforts.

The Abraham Accords between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors have allowed bilateral relations to flourish, bringing great dividends in trade, investment, development, tourism, technology, and other sectors. But these trends have coincided with a worsening of conditions at home.

Less than three years after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu achieved the Abraham Accords, Israel has the most right-wing and extremist government in its history, making life under occupation for Palestinians even more intolerable. Jews and Arabs across the region will not find lasting normalization until progress and a just settlement is found for Jerusalem and the Palestinian people.

 

Americans Seeking Establishing Greater Israel

According to a report there are growing signs that support Israel has morphed into a religious extremist position. The far-right American voters within the Texas Republican Party have approved a platform that will make it illegal to create a Palestinian State in territories controlled by the apartheid state.

The platform, approved by 5,100 delegates in Houston, supports the "prohibition of a Palestinian State within the historical borders of Israel, as it would jeopardize Israel's security and it would force Israel to give up land that God gave to the Jewish people as referenced in Genesis."

Going beyond all previous anti-Palestinian positions ever adopted by an American party, the GOP platform approved the creation of what is often referred to as "Greater Israel," which will see Israel expand ethno-nationalist Jewish domination to every inch of Historic Palestine.

After decades of ethnic cleansing, artificial re-drawing of borders and population control based on who is and is not Jewish, Israel has managed to wrestle total control of the territory from the West of River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Currently, as many as 12 million people reside in Historic Palestine, but full rights are granted by the occupation state to Jews only.

The remaining six million non-Jews are subjected to various forms of racial discrimination, depending on their place of residence. While non-Jews are denied full equality with Jews wherever they live, the 1.8 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, for example, have more rights than Palestinians in every other zone of Israeli control.

Though they face various forms of racial discrimination, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are granted relatively better status than Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, where the native population has been caged into an "open air prison".

Also, a racist policy enshrined in Israeli law denies some six million Palestinian refugees the right to return to the territory from which they were expelled only a few decades ago. The same law, however, permits every Jew across the world to "return" and settle in any part of Palestine, despite not having any direct connection to the land, other than Biblical claims mentioned in the Genesis.

Such practices, including the racial fragmentation of Palestine into zones of control where half the population enjoys full rights of citizenship denied to the non-Jewish half, every major human rights group has labelled Israel an apartheid state.

As of 2019, 138 of the 193 UN member states have recognized the State of Palestine. Moreover, every UN member, including the US and European countries, are ostensibly committed to the creation of a fully sovereign Palestinian State.

Nevertheless, every major Israeli party explicitly rejects the international consensus and now have found strong support for their radical position from the Texas Republican party in foreclosing any chance of a Palestinian State from ever being established.

Though party platforms do not necessarily translate into government policy, critics cite the former US President Donald Trump and the support enjoyed by Israel amongst powerful Evangelical Christians as well as fringe elements in US society, to argue that the most extreme and rejectionist views about the apartheid state have become normalized in US politics.

Amongst the other policies adopted by the pro-Israel Texas constituency is a proposal to hold a referendum on seceding from the US; a rejection of Joe Biden's presidency; calls for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed Black voters representation.

 

Is Bennett being trapped by non-state actors?

On last Sunday it appeared that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had just erased a 54-year policy banning Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. Had Bennett actually made such a policy change, it likely would have started a religious war between Jews and Muslims, due to vehement opposition to Jewish prayer at the site. 

Domestically it would have collapsed his coalition and set Israel hurtling back into another election cycle.

It’s a move that could have severed Israel’s ties with its neighbor Jordan and complicated relations between Amman and Washington on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s first meeting there with King Abdullah the next day, particularly given that the Hashemite Kingdom has a special custodial relationship to the Temple Mount.

At issue was a line in a tweet sent out by the Prime Minister’s Office in the aftermath of clashes at the Temple Mount, also known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.

Initially it looked like a simple message, letting the public know that Bennett had spoken “with Public Security Minister Bar Lev and Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Shabtai and thanked them for managing the events on the Temple Mount with responsibility and consideration.”

This could have been termed the most innocuous statement in the world, the Prime Minister’s Office added that this was done “while maintaining freedom of worship for Jews on the Mount.”

The Prime Minister’s Office continued the Twitter thread, stating that Bennett had emphasized that “freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully preserved for Muslims as well, who will soon be marking the fast of the Day of Arafah and the Eid al-Adha.”

Not exactly the type of notice one issues when setting a policy change. Except that a policy – known as the status quo – worked out in the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967 between Israel and the Wakf Islamic religious trust allows members of all faiths to visit the site, while banning anyone but Muslims from praying there. Jews in particular are expected to pray at the nearby Western Wall.

Bennett backtracked, with his spokesman Matan Sidi clarifying that there was no change to the status quo. Sidi’s words appeared to extinguish potential sparks, but the timing could not have been worse.

Haredim: The biggest threat facing Israel

Israel’s new leadership calls itself the “Change Government” because the long-serving Benjamin Netanyahu has been finally displaced. But its ideological disparities risk blocking the real changes that are needed, including on the primary threat the country as currently constituted faces.

It’s not from the Palestinians, nor from the wider Arab world or even Iran. The greatest danger is from within: the rapidly expanding haredi.

The haredim cling to a rigid interpretation of Judaism which tolerates little deviation from ancient traditions. They can be found in the United States, Belgium, Britain and elsewhere, always forming tight-knit communities, but only in Israel is there a toxic firewall between them and fellow citizens.

This can be traced to the decision some 70 years ago by David Ben-Gurion to grant draft exemptions to students at yeshivot. Back then this applied to several hundred genuine scholars.

This arrangement turned Torah study into an arguably unprecedented obsession in which all haredi men are pushed to lifelong seminary duty, first to avoid the draft and then essentially as a source of welfare.

Whereas other university students pay tuition, haredim receive stipends for as long as they study, if possible for life. Over 150,000 men now in these schools are indoctrinated in the faith that stricture and rabbis supersede the laws and officials of the state.

To maintain the insularity, most haredi high schoolers are sent to the community’s schools that teach little or no math, science and English; in recent days Israel’s chief rabbi, who is haredi, called such studies of secular subjects “nonsense.” Israel funds these schools even though their unfortunate graduates are essentially unemployable in a modern economy.

As a consequence less than half of haredi men are part of the workforce, the lowest participation level of any identifiable group in Israel – and, tellingly, far less than haredim in other countries. The minority who do work tend to populate a vast religious bureaucracy that includes supervisors of the mikvaot ritual baths, kashrut food certifications, and other apparatchiks.

Women in the community are banished from haredi parties’ candidates lists and encouraged to procreate with such vigor that they on average produce 7.1 children – far more than in any identifiable group in Israel.

They live in a poverty rendered minimally tolerable by state subsidies for each child at the expense of working Israelis. Thus the community doubles itself every 16 years, four times the rate of the rest of Israel.

The haredim have grown to about 12% of the 9.5 million people – almost 20% of the country’s Jews. Unless something changes – and the attrition rate is estimated at less than 5% – they will constitute a majority of Israel’s Jews in a few decades.

Lapid condemns Flag march disgrace

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that he supported having the Jerusalem flag march in its current format, but criticized participants who sang racist, violent songs. "The fact that there are extremists for whom the Israeli flag represents hate and racism is abominable and intolerable," Lapid said. 

"It is incomprehensible how one can hold an Israeli flag in one's hand and shout 'death to Arabs' at the same time."

Lapid added that "this is not Judaism and not Israeli and it certainly is not what our flag symbolizes. These people shame the people of Israel."

During a situation assessment that took place at the end of the flag march, Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev - who initially approved the march only a day beforehand - thanked police for successfully completing their operation, saying they "acted wisely, considerately, within a complex system of constraints and a changing picture of reality." 

"The operational plan presented to me last night proved itself and led to a successful conclusion of the event," he said. "Thank you to all the forces and commanders on the ground.'

Ra’am Party head MK Mansour Abbas said on Tuesday afternoon that his party, a coalition partner, urged all sides to show restraint as the flag march proceeded through the Old City of Jerusalem, a move which he said was an "unrestrained provocation" and which should have been canceled.  

The march stopped outside the Damascus Gate for dancing and proceeded outside the Old City walls to the Jaffa Gate where participants wound through the Arab market between the Jewish and Muslim quarters and into the Western Wall plaza. 

 The march was staged by nationalist right-wing and religious organizations. In normal years, marchers frequently chant anti-Arab slogans during the procession through the Muslim Quarter.

"There is no doubt that the aim of the initiators of the march was to challenge the new government and exhaust it in a series of explosive incidents in the near future, and to take us back to an unnecessary escalation that will endanger human lives, similar to what we experienced last month."

"Ra'am calls for political efforts to be made in order to reach a political settlement between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, one that would fulfill the vision we strive for: achieving peace, mutual security, partnership and tolerance between the two peoples. This is the only vision that can put an end to a bloody conflict," Abbas concluded.

“We are against any action which is a provocation and doesn’t draw people close. Anyone who watches and has watched this march knows what its purpose is,” said Abbas on 103FM, part of the Jerusalem Post Group, but did not call for the event to be canceled.

He noted that events in Jerusalem “have consequences for the whole region,” an allusion to the attack on Israel by Hamas in Gaza last month amid tensions around Jerusalem and the severe inter-communal violence within Israel that took place at the same time. 

MK Ofer Cassif - the sole Jewish member of the Joint List - tweeted during the march that "the Judeo-Nazis have arrived. Screaming "Muhammad is dead," "Death to Arabs" and "May your village burn."

"In a law-abiding state, this herd would be taken to prison one by one for incitement to murder," Cassif added.

Meretz MK Yair Golan, whose party is also a coalition partner, called outright for the march to be canceled. 

“It’s not just the flag march, there will be more nationalistic initiatives whose only goal is to create a war of Gog and Magog,” tweeted Golan. 
Likud MK Nir Barkat defended the march in a tweet, saying that "The flag march is a tradition that has existed for years and symbolizes our sovereignty in Jerusalem. I supported it as mayor of Jerusalem and even today - we will not give in to threats and we will continue to celebrate in Jerusalem the eternal capital of the Jewish people."

Let all congratulate Isaac Herzog, President-elect Israel

It is time to congratulate Isaac Herzog on his election as 11th President of Israel.

As the world is now talking about ‘Two States’ his biggest responsibility will be to give Palestinians their legitimate share by accepting Palestine as a state. 

He will have to stop annexation and construction of settlements on occupied land and relinquish control of Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem.

A veteran politician, Herzog is a former head of the Labor Party, a former opposition leader, a former labor, social affairs and social services minister and Diaspora minister and is the son of Chaim Herzog, who served as Israel’s president from 1983 to 1993. Therefore, is perfectly aware of the issues and also the possible solutions

His openness deserves admiration, he said, “I call my opponent, Israel Prize-winning educator Miriam Peretz, a hero and an inspiration.”

US President Joe Biden words must be kept in mind, “Throughout his career, President-elect Herzog has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to strengthening Israel’s security, advancing dialogue and building bridges across the global Jewish community”.

Now, he has to build bridges to improve relationship with Palestinians, if he believes in ‘mutual coexistence’.

If he is serious in bringing peace and prosperity for Israelis, he will also have to eradicate hostilities against Palestinians.

Above all, he has to convert Gaza, world’s largest open air prison, into a peaceful neighborhood.

What is causing burning of Jerusalem?

For weeks now, Palestinian protesters and Israeli police have been clashing on a daily basis in and around Jerusalem. Interestingly the city has sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims and the emotional epicenter of the Middle East conflict.

Here's a look at why Jerusalem always seems to be on edge and what set off the latest round of violence. Allow me to say that this year the situation has got real volatile. Since United States has accepted Jerusalem as capital of Israel, the extremist Jews want full control of the city and evict all the Muslims.

Capital of two peoples

Israel views Jerusalem as its "unified, eternal" capital. It had captured east Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians want those territories for their future state, with east Jerusalem serving as their eventual capital. But Israel annexed the eastern part of the city in a move not recognized internationally. The fate of east Jerusalem has been one of the thorniest issues in the peace process.

Israelis were set to mark Jerusalem Day, a national holiday celebrating the annexation. In past years, thousands of Israelis mainly religious nationalists have marched through the Old City, including the densely populated Muslim Quarter, in a display considered provocative by many Palestinians. In recent days, hard-line Israelis have staged other events in east Jerusalem, leading to scattered, violent altercations with Palestinians.

The holy hilltop

Monday's clashes took place in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City. The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam and sits on a sprawling plateau that is also home to the iconic golden Dome of the Rock. Muslims refer to the compound as the Noble Sanctuary.

The walled plateau is also the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount, because it was the location of biblical temples.

Neighboring Jordan serves as the custodian of the site, which is operated by an Islamic endowment known as the Waqf. The site is open to tourists during certain times but only Muslims are allowed to pray there. The Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews can pray.

In recent years, groups of religious and nationalist Jews escorted by police have been visiting the compound in greater numbers and holding prayers in defiance of rules established after 1967 by Israel, Jordan and Muslim religious authorities. The Palestinians view the frequent visits and attempted prayers by Jews as a provocation.

Some Israelis say the site should be open to all worshippers. The Palestinians refuse, fearing that Israel will eventually take over the site or partition it. Israeli officials say they have no intention of changing the status quo.

Discriminatory policies

Jews born in east Jerusalem are Israeli citizens, while Palestinians from east Jerusalem are granted a form of permanent residency that can be revoked if they live outside the city for an extended period. They can apply for citizenship, but it's a long and uncertain process and most choose not to because they don't recognize Israeli control.

Israel has built Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem that are home to some 220,000 people. It has severely limited the growth of Palestinian neighborhoods, leading to overcrowding and construction of thousands of homes that are at risk of demolition. The discriminatory policies make Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.

Threatened evictions

The recent clashes began at the start of Ramadan, when Israeli police placed barriers outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, a popular gathering place after the evening prayers during the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. They later removed the barriers, but then protests escalated over the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

The families have been embroiled in a long legal battle with ideological Jewish settlers who seek to acquire property in crowded Palestinian neighborhoods just outside the Old City. Israel portrays it as a private real-estate dispute, but the families' plight has attracted global attention.

Wider unrest

Clashes in Jerusalem, and particularly in Al-Aqsa, often reverberate across the region. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has called for a new intifada. Gaza militants have fired rockets and balloons with incendiary devices attached to them in support of the protesters as an informal cease-fire with Israel has started to fray.

Jordan and other Arab nations that have friendly ties with Israel have condemned its crackdown on the protests, while Israel's arch foe Iran has encouraged Palestinian attacks. The US and the EU have condemned the violence and expressed concern about the evictions.