... I am a committed Catholic, and I will forever cherish the honour of prayers and friendships with both Jews and Muslims. And I do recognise that there are always both sides to any story. This essay is about history...
I had a conversation with a young Palestinian Christian a few nights ago. He told me he feared that the secular Jewish state, Israel, was the sole guarantee of the survival of Christians in the Holy Land.
"If it weren't for the Jewish people, I don't know what would have happenned to us Christians here. Every time I go to work on Friday at noon someone always asks me, come to pray, come to the mosque to pray, why don't you go pray. I always tell them I am a Christian, but some would say, you are an Arab. The Jewish are between us and the Muslims, if the Jewish go out, the Muslims would probably kill us..."
Does his Church stand by him? Or is it even more afraid than he is?
I am reading an issue of the Holy Land, titled The Holy City, a Franciscan quarterly from Summer 2005. For an issue devoted to the Holy City of Jerusalem, it has only one article on the subject - What Jerusalem is to the Islam. The article concludes, next to a photo of a smiling Muslim:
"Today's Moslems are convinced of Jerusalem's importance for Islam, not only for reasons based on the Koran and the sunna, but also for those which have arisen from the dramatic pressures of history... In this context", the author goes on in the final paragraph, "let us us recall the final declaration of the Islamic Summit Meeing in Lahore: 'Jerusalem is the unique symbol of Islam's converging encounter with the revealed religions. For more than 1 300 years the Moslems have protected and venerated Jerusalem as a boon for all who venerate her. The Moslems, and only they, can be the faithful and impartial custodians of Jerusalem, for the simple reason that it is only they who, at one and the same time, believe in the three religions, which have their origin in Jerusalem... No accord or protocol which would look to the occupation of the Holy City by Israel,... or that would be the object of compromise or concession, would be acceptable to Moslem countries' " (italics mine).
It is noteworthy that the opposite page is titled "Wall breeds rage and causes joblessness", and the article begins with the words: "The security wall Israel is building around East Jerusalem is turning lives upside down, threatening jobs, pushing people to emigrate..." The Moslems, and only they..., I almost hear an echo.
It is true that Christians are emigrating from the Holy Land - three times more so from the Palestinian Authority's controlled territories. Checkpoints, the wall, living conditions - and most likely a lot of other reasons. Once they have left, however, their homes are immediately bought with Saudi Arabian money. A humble Maltese sister told me with a sad smile that soon there will be no Christians left where she lives, only Muslims who are loyal to Saudi Arabia...
In another article in the same publication, a talk given by Fr. Mitchell Pacwa, host for EWTN, is quoted. He says: "When Islam allows the Christians to live together with them, they flourish economically, cultually, scientifically and pholosophically...". Please allow us to live together with you, so that we can serve you, so that you can flourish. You have never thanked us for helping the Hamas, the PLO, the PLF, for transporting bombs and explosives, for blowing ourselves up, for identifying ourselves with you, for letting our homes be pillaged, our churches burned - by you - all in the name of some strange idea of unconditional service to our brothers. For 1 300 years our existence has only been tolerated for the service we owed to the umma, a service for which we expect no thanks but which we do gratefully, since it spares our life...
So, do the Christians want to use someone else's strength to eliminate the national sovereignity of Israel, which the Church (or parts of it) condemned, or does this strategy reflect the insecurity of a minority trying to direct hostility onto a third party?
The question may remain unanswered forever (you will, however, have difficulty finding the word Israel referring to the political entity in Catholic publications), but let me just point out a few similarities here. The Constitution of Hamas, arts. 6 and 31, states the following: "Only under the shadow of Islam could the members of all religions coexist in safety and security for their lives, property and rights. In the absence of Islam, conflict arises, oppression reigns, corruption is rampant and struggles and wars prevail... Safety and security can only prevail under the shadow of Islam, and recent and ancient history is the best witness to that effect." The Moslems, and only they...
Anyone who has been to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem can testify to the delapidated state that both of these sacred sites are in. The reason is not the lack of money - it is far more prosaic, but very representative of the fragmented state of the Church, which likes to call itself Palestinian here. The reason is that whoever makes repairs assumes ownership. Have you seen a video of two priests of different denominations fighting with each other in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Look it up on YouTube. One of them apparently walked into another's territory. Imagine if he had wanted to fix another's window! He may have well been killed... The keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are with a Muslim family, that have been guardians of the holy place for centuries. That echo again...
When Israel declared two holy cites part of the National heritage, this had almost caused another war a few weeks ago - with riots, burnt cars, four people killed, a hundred injured. Why, how is it possible for former dhimmis to care for their prayer places?! On their own?! Only the religion that acknowledges all three can provide law and order - if not, well, you see what can happen! There will be riots and stone-throwing! It is in the natural order of things! And Christians agree on that one!
But is it true? Is it true that Christians cannot take care of themselves? That only Islam can guarantee their protection, and not their inherent human rights, not the fact that they are born free? The question is - what exactly has been going on for 1 300 years?
The answer is long and complex. Just a few fragments, though. Church bells were forbidden. "The bell is the devil'd pipe", according to a hadith. The Jerusalem Jews had to pay throughout the 19th century to the Turkish authorities to pray at the Western Wall, to the villiagers of Silwan to prevent the destruction of tombs on the Mount of Olives, and to the Ta'amra Arabs of Bethlehem so that Rachel's tomb would not be destroyed, and an additional sum to visit the tomb. The other of the mentioned disputed places, the cave of Machpela in Hebron, was built by Herod the Great to house the tombs of the Hebrew patriarchs and matriarchs. It was turned into a church at the time of the Crusades - and converted into a mosque in 1266. Jews and Christians were henceforth banned from the Tomb of the Patriarchs. 600 years later, in 1862, the Prince of Wales was allowed to enter it by a special authorisation from the Ottoman sultan - a sacrilege that led to the military occupation of Hebron. Christians were only able to enter under the British mandate, from 1922, and Jews from 1967, when Hebron came under Israeli administration. Let me make one thing clear - both Christians and Muslims can come and pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb. I have. You do have to board a bullet-proof bus, though. But, ah well. You know the echo by now...
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