Armstrong the Holiness of Jersalem Asset or Burden

8/8/2019 Armstrong the Holiness of Jersalem Asset or Burden

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The Holiness of Jerusalem: Asset or Burden?

Author(s): Karen ArmstrongSource: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Spring, 1998), pp. 5-19Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2537831

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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM:ASSET OR BURDEN?KAREN ARMSTRONG

Since the 1967 war,Jerusalem nd theJewishholyplaces have ac-quireda newcentralityven in the raditionallyecular Labor Zionistvision.After oting parallel shift oward religiositymong theeacrlyChristians ollowing he excavation of theHoly Sepulchre, heauthordiscussestheconnectionbetween acred relics nd identitys wellasthe mpulse odemolish ival artifacts nd claims.Drawingnumerousexamplesfrom history nd scripture o illustrate erpoints,the au-thor races thecity's hanginig mportance o the three aithsover thecenturies, orrelatinghe ntensity ffeelingwith erceptions fthreator loss.Finally, he examines thedifferingonceptsof holiness, on-trastinghetraditionallyluralistMuslim vision ofholinesswith uda-ism'sand Christianity's ore exclusivist ultofthecity's anctity. hearticle nds with discussionofDavid's conquestofjerusalemn,hichleaves scopefor greater nclusiveness han is generally ssumed.

IT IS AN ABIDING TRAGEDY THAT JERUSALEM, reveredby Jews, Christians,ndMuslims s the"City fPeace," should so oftenn its ong and complexhis-tory ave been a city f war-and nevermoreso than oday,whenitresem-bles a violent order ownratherhan place ofpilgrimage.Majorfeast aysin all threefaiths remarkedby reinforcementsf riotpolice whilemilitaryhelicoptershover noisilyoverhead.Jewishsettlers, porting he knittedkippa as a signof their adicalcommitment,atrol he narrow treets ftheOld City, penly displaying uns and pistols.Sincethesigning f the Oslo accords, heholy cityhas witnessed ntensi-fied and horrificuicide bombingattacks, urtherand expropriations,ndthe bulldozingofPalestinian omes. The LikudgovernmentfPrimeMinis-terBenjaminNetanyahuhas also authorized he nteriorMinistryo tightenregulations elating o residencypermits orthe Palestinian nhabitants fJerusalem,withsuch draconian effect hat sraeli and Palestinianhumanrights roupshave described he new measures s amountingoa "deporta-tion"policyto limit he numberof Palestinian esidentsn the city.As thepolitical uturefJerusalemsbitterlyontestedwith sraelis hanting,ike amantra,hatJerusalems the eternal nd indivisible apitalof theirJewish

KAREN ARMSTRONG, a leadingBritishommentatorn religious ffairs,eaches t the LeoBaeckCollege or he tudy fJudaismnd theTrainingfRabbis ndTeachers. he s theauthor fmany ooks, ncludingJerusalem.nneCity, hree aiths, nd thebest-sellingHistory f God.Joaurnal f Palestine Studies XXVII, no. 3 (Spring 1998), pp. 5-19.


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6 JOURNALF PALESTINE STUDIESstate, nd thePalestinians qually nsistenthat l-Quds be the capitalof theirfuture tate), t s surelyronic hat he one fact n whichall the contestantscan agree,be theyJewish,Christian,rMuslim, s that he city s "holy" othem.How can a city hat nspires uch crueltynd injustice e holy?Giventhat ll threemonotheistic eligions re committed o the deals of benevo-lence and compassion, how can a cityteemingwith unholy activities esacred?THE RISE OF A RADICAL RELIGIOSITY

Since theinfusion freligion ntopolitics s so oftendisastrous,t s un-derstandable hatmany all for ts xclusionfrom hedebate about thefutureofthe city.Once religion ears tsuglyhead, people seem to lose theirwits,assertinghat hecity s so "sacred" hat tsfutures nonnegotiable.twouldindeed be desirableto lay aside the vexed question ofJerusalem's olinessand conduct a rational iscussionbefittinghemodern ge, but this s not arealistic ption.The late twentiethentury as seen a revival freligion n a global scale.The typeofreligiosityhat s often-misleadingly-called fundamentalism"has eruptednallthe majorworldfaiths nd is largely edicated- obreakingdown thesecularist istinction etweenpolitics nd religion.ssues offaithnow frequently ominate he headlines n a way thatwould have been in-conceivable in the1960s, when, twas thought,ecularizationwas an irre-versible rend nd,after enturies fpersecution ndholywar, religionwassafelyrelegated o theprivate phere. Nowherehas thisreligiousrenewalbeen more dramatic han nthe Middle East.The Arab-Israeli onflict egan,on bothsides,as a secular dispute. ince the SixDay Warof1967,however,itincreasingly as been transformedy an aggressive nd utterlyntransi-gent religiouselement.Today, on both sides, thepeople who have beenmost ctiveforpeace havebeen secularists nd those mostbelligerentlyp-posed to theOslo accords have been religious.Asa result fthis adicalreligiosity,heholinessofJerusalem as acquireda new centralityhat ecularists annot afford o ignore.Most of the earlyZionistswere either ndifferentrhostile othe religious ignificancefJeru-salem.Zionismaimedto create a new kind ofJew,unfetteredya religionwhich, twas thought, ad encouragedan unwholesomepassivity,ncour-

aging Jews to await the Messiah instead of takingTheodor Herzl vowed that theirdestinynto their wn hands.The spectacle ofthefirst thingtheZionists Jewsclinging othe WesternWall andweeping sym-would do when theygot bolized everythinghatZionismhoped to transcend.controlofJerusalem would WhenTheodorHerzl,the founder fpoliticalZion-be to tear most of it down. ism,visitedJerusalemn 1898,he was repelled by"themustydepositsof two thousandyearsof inhu-manity,ntolerance nd foulness" nthe"reeking lleys"of the Old City.Hevowed that hefirsthing he Zionistswould do when theygot controlof


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 7Jerusalemwould be to tearmost of t down, building n "airy, omfortable,properly ewered,new city roundtheholyplaces."A few days ater, e hadchanged his mind:he would build a new secular city utside the walls andleave theholy hrines n an enclave of their wn. It was a perfect xpressionof the secularist deal: religionmustbe relegated o a separate phere,whereit would rapidly ecome a museum piece.1 In this pirit,ven iffor acticalreasons,theZionists ccepted theUnitedNationsPartition lan of 1947, nwhichJerusalemwas tobe a corpus separatumunder nternationalontrol.PossessionoftheHoly Citywas not, t this tage,regarded s essential othenew Jewish tate.

Even though ionismremained secularmovement, erusalem ontinuedto be an importantymbolofholinessforreligiousJews.Therewas also asmall numberof religiousZionistswhose principal pokesmanwas RabbiAbraham saac Kook, chief abbiofAshkenaziJews nJerusalem s of 1921.He believed thatthe messianic Redemptionwas imminent nd thatJewswould soon see theirTemple rebuilt n the site occupied by the Dome oftheRock.Duringthe BritishMandate and thefirst earsoftheJewish tate,RabbiKook and hisdisciples were regardedbythe overwhelmingmajorityofJews as harmless ranks. sraelison theright,uch as MenachemBeginand YitzhakShamir,might n occasion use the WesternWall,the last re-maining elicof theTemple builtby KingHerodinthe first enturyCE, as anationalist allying oint,butBegin's Herutpartywas inthe politicalwilder-ness after he establishmentf Israel in 1948.The new state made a cleardistinction etweenreligion nd politics.LaborZionism, ecularist nd so-cialist ndwith ittle imefor raditionaleligion,was the dominant trainnIsraelipolitical ife. tsheroeswere not Talmud scholars tudyingntheholycity, ut the kibbutzniksn the collectivefarms fGalilee and theNegev.Although he LaborZionists ultivated devotionto theLandofIsrael thatoften illed hemwithexaltation,mostpreferredo livein the new worldlymetropolis fTel Aviv;many hared Herzl's distaste orJerusalem, eeingitas too redolent fa religion hathad failed heJewish eople. As the Zionisttheorist ahumSokolovremarked,Thepointofgravityas shifted rom heJerusalemf thereligious chools to thefarms nd agriculturalchools,thefields nd the meadows."2Thisattitudehanged overnightfter he sraeliconquestoftheOld Cityduring he 1967 war. On 5 June, sraelis were reunitedwith the WesternWall;since thepartitionf thecityn1948,Jewshadbeen unableto visit astJerusalemnd theOld City,whichwas underJordanianontrol,ust s Pales-tinians ad been forbidden ntrance o sraeli-controlled estJerusalem. nthedayoftheconquest, sraelis xperienced heir eturnotheWesternWallwith n astonishing egreeof emotion.Atheistic enerals mbracedone an-otherbeside thewall; tough young paratroopers lungto thegreat tonesandwept.Withinhours,politicians uch as PrimeMinister eviEshkol andDefenseMinisterMoshe Dayan were talking bout the "holiness" fJerusa-lem andvowingnever o eave theholyplaces again.Bythe end ofJune, he


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8 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIESIsraeligovernment ad annexedthe city, efyingnternationalpinion thatofficiallytillheld JeuLisalemo be a corpus separatum according to theUnitedNationspartitionesolution f 1947.Henceforth erusalemnd itsJewishholyplaces acquireda new centralityin the Zionistvision.The 1970s saw the rise of a newform f religious ion-ism,which has become increasingly owerful. ased on the once despisedideas of Rabbi Kook and his son Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, thismovement spassionately nd aggressively evotedto sacred space. It is most frillyx-pressed in the Gush Emunim Bloc of the Faithful), group committed obuilding llegal ettlementsn theterritoriesccupied by srael n1967 n thebelief hat heywillhasten headventofthe Messiah and theredemption fthewhole world.Gush membersnsist hat aborZionism,with ts ecularistethos, s bankruptnd that t s their wn settlerswho expresstheold pio-neering deals ofthekibbutzniks. ushEmunim ttractsmany sraelis,whomay not share tsreligious eliefsbut who are ready o endorse tshard ine.Nor does the anovement eglectJerusalem:n 1984, twas discovered hatgroupofextremist ushmembershad plotted oblow up theDome oftheRock to clear the way fortherebuilding f the Temple when the Messiahcomes.

Such ideas were dismissedbymost sraelis s madness n 1984,buttheyhave gradually ained support.GershomSalomon,founder f theTempleMountFaithful, as campaigned ince 1967for heHaramal-Sharifo comeunder Jewishcontrol nd for theTemple to be rebuilt n the site of theDome oftheRock.A 1996opinion poll showed thatmorethan30 percent fthe Israelipublic supportedhis cause and that3.4 percentwould vote forSalomon's movement n an election,whichwould win it four eats in theKnesset.3 uch views aresharedby Netanyahu,who in1996sentbymistakeas a Christmas ift o thePalestinianhead of the Greek CatholicChurchsilver eliefmapwith Jewish emple nplace ofthe Dome oftheRock.Thepresenthad been intended or omebodymoresympathetico sucha visionofJerusalem's uture,nd theprimeminister as forced o apologize: "Wedidn'tnoticethat l-Aqsawas missing rom hemap."4In fact, henotionofrebuildingheTempleused to be taboo. The fanati-cal devotionofa minorityf Zealots toJerusalemnd itsTemplehadpushedtheJewsofPalestine nto a fatalwar withRome in66 CE, which culminatedinthetotaldestruction fcity nd Temple in 70.A half-centuryater,t waschiefly evotion oJerusalemhatnspired heBar Kochba revolt,which theRomans put down in 135 only afterdevastating 85 villages and killing580,000Jewish oldiers and innumerable ewish ivilians.Giventhisunac-ceptable oss ofJewish ife, he rabbiswho rebuilt udaism fter hese catas-trophesfelt hattheirpeople could not afford o dreamof rebuilding heTemple. Henceforth,elligerent alk of a new Templewas forbidden. hetask of building t was reservedto the Messiah alone, and the attempt ohasten the messianicRedemption y planning newJewish anctuar-yasregarded s sacrilege.


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 9But taboos can be broken. Since the 1980s, the idea of rebuilding heTemple on the Haram al-Sharif,slam's third oliest ite,has been voiced so

often hat he Israeli public has become accustomed to it, and the idea isgiven tacit upportby theestablishment. he Temple Instituten theJewishQuarterof the Old Cityhas on permanent isplay the vestments,musicalinstrnments,nd ritual essels thatwill be used in the new Temple; it re-ceives grants rom he IsraeliMinistryf Tourism, he Ministryf ReligiousAffairs,he MinistryfEducation, ndJerusalem ityHall.SACRED RELICS AND IDENTITY

It is, therefore, o longer possible to ignorethe holinessofJerusalem; thas now become a key ssue in theconflict,nd thismeans thatwe have tounderstand hedynamics fthe sacred.The fact hat, gainst ll reason andprudence,this devotion should have surfaced o violently n a movementsuch as Zionism,which was originallyo firmlyommitted o the secularistideal, shows that t s never safeto imagine hatwe have outgrown hereli-gious passion for acred space.Nor is thisthefirst ime nJerusalem'shistory hat uch a reversalhasoccurred.The earlyChristians,or xample,had also thought hat heyhadgone beyond the need for a primitive ependence upon holy places andshrines: nly pagans andJews,theyconsidered, laimedto findGod in aphysical ocation. Had not Jesus said thatChristians o longer would en-counter hedivineon suchholymountains s Zion,but could worshipGodwherever heyhappened to be in spirit nd truth?5hisview changedab-ruptly, owever, n 325, when EmperorConstantine, ecently onverted oChristianityrompaganism and, not sharingthislofty isdain forsacredspace, gave BishopMakarios fJerusalem ermission o dig up the tombofJesus,which, t was believed, aybeneatlhhefoundations ftheTemple ofAphrodite.When,twoyears ater, hepagan templehad been demolishedand a little ocktombunearthed,hefind tunned heentire hristian orld.Within ixyears,we read ofpilgrimswalking oJeuLisalemrom s far wayas Francesimply o prayat Christ's epulcher.Jerusalem ery quicklybe-came the center ftheChristian orld, s can be seen inmedievalmaps.There are similaritiesn these two instances hatreveal something eryimportantbout the devotion to holycities and sacredspace. But cerebralconsiderationsnboth theearlyChristian nd theZionist ases were dashedbyan unexpectedreunionwith sacred relicfrom heir ast.Both had re-cently mergedfrom enturies fpersecution:he Christianstthehands ofthe Romanempire nd theJews nChristianurope.Both had suddenly c-quired whollynewpolitical mportancendpower:the Christiansince theconversion fConstantinend theZionistswith he creation f theStateofIsrael.Bothnow had an entirely ew place in the world and had to buildanewidentity.oth-and this s an importantoint-made a profounddenti-fication ith heirholyrelic.


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10 JOURNALOF PALESTINE STUDIESThus the Christians ould see themselves n the little ock tomb,which

rose phoenixlike rom heruins fthe pagantemple.The excavation eemedto repeat he miracle fJesus'sresurrection,ising gain, s itwere,fromHisown untimely rave.As Eusebius,bishop ofCaesarea and Constantine's eli-gious adviser, xplained, he emergenceof thetombfromAphrodite's em-ple symbolized he Christians' wn recent esurgence nd imminent ictoryoverpaganism.6t was an imageofthe new Christiandentity.n rather hesame way in 1967,the sraelis aw themselvesnthe WesternWall. Like theJewish eople who had almostbeen exterminatednEurope,theWall was atiin; but,again like theJewishpeople, it was also a survivor, aving man-aged towithstandwothousandyearsofturbulent istorynJerusalem.7Sadly, heconstructionfa new selfoften ntails hedestructionf rivalswho appear to threatent.Eusebius certainlyaw the demolition f thepa-gan temple nd the building fa new Christian hrine n the site ofJesus'stombas part fa holywaragainstpaganism.8 he newChurch fthe Resur-rection lso symbolizedthe defeatof Judaism t the hands of Christianity,and the ChristianshroughoutheperiodofByzantinehegemonykepttheTemple in ruins. o crucialwas thisto their elf-image hatwhen theEm-perorJulian,who had abjured Christianitynd embraced the old paganism,attempted o rebuildtheJewishTemple in 360 (anAfter ulian's death, the event not mentioned n the Talmud: the greatrabbisChristiansbegan an maintaineda disapproving silence), the Christiansaggressive building weredistraught.he presenceofJewish onstructionprogram, creatingfacts on workers n theTempleMount eemed to underminetheground to ensure that the foundations ftheir aith. fter ulian's eath, hethe city would not again plan to rebuild heTemplewas abandoned,and thefall into rival hands. Christians f Jerusalembegan an aggressivenew

building program,creatingChristianfacts on theground o ensurethat herewould neverbe anyquestion nthe futurefthecity allingnto the handsoftheir ivals.IntheJewish ase, too, dentification ith acredantiquityed tothedem-olition frival laims.On thenight fSaturday,0June 1967,after he armi-sticehad been signed, he619 inhabitantsf theMaghribi uarter eside theWesternWall weregiven hreehours oevacuatetheir omes.Thenthebull-dozers came and reduced thishistoric istrict,ne of the earliest f theJeru-salemawqaf, to rubble.This was onlythe firstct in a long and continuingprocessof"urban enewal" nJerusalem, renewalbased on thedismantlingof historicArabJerusalemnd inwhichdemolition, rchaeology, nd a se-lectivepreservationfantiquitiesll playtheir art n imposing newJew-ish identity n the city. n the holy climateof JeuLisalem,rchaeology,building, emolition,nd antiquities ave never been neutral; heybecomesacred because theyare symbolsof a self that s felt o be fragile. his isespeciallytrueduringperiodsof transition, hen people are strugglingocreatea new identity.


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 11Whenpeople visit heirholy places, theynotonlyare encounteringheirGod but oftenhave whatseems tobe a moving ncounterwith hemselves.

Nor should tbe surprisinghat he devotion o sacred space is bound up soprofoundly ith heexperience of the self. n all the greatworld faiths, hedivineor the sacred s not something xperiencedonly as transcendentnd"outthere"; t also is sensed in the ground of the being of each individual.The devotionto holyplaces seems to answer some essentialpsychologicalneed. Historians freligion ell us that t is the earliest nd most universalform f religiousexpression,found n all cultures nd takingremarkablysimilar orms. t seems to be one ofthe means by which men and womenfind heir lace in theworld, pirituallys well as physically. urning owarda holy place-which is regardedas the center of one's world-in prayerhelps us to orient urselves, ind urown center, eorder urpriorities,ndremind urselvesof our truedirection.We have not even managed to desacralize the secular world entirely.Whatever ur theological beliefs,manyof us have special places that reimportanto us. These may be associatedwith loved one or an eventwithfar-reachingignificancen our lives-places wherewe feel most ntenselyalive and in touchwiththedeeper currents f life nd thus n some sense"sacred" o ouridentity. early ll thegreatworldfaiths ave places, rivers,or cities hat n somewaydefine hesense of the sacredand oftheself.ForJews,Christians,nd Muslims, erusalem as been such a defining lace.A SHIFTING CENTRALITY OVER TIME

The discussion aboutJerusalem's uture ftenuses historys a weapon,arguing iercelyboutwho was therefirst.ach side has deridedthehistori-cal claim of the other.Thus,Palestinianspointout thatoutsidethe Biblethere s no evidence thatDavid's Kingdom nd Solomon'sTemple ever ex-isted. sraelispour scorn on thestory fthe Prophet's scensionto heavenfromheHaram al-Sharifnd insist hat slam'sreal holyplaces areinArabia.Butthis,t eemstome, s tomissthepoint.Places areholynotonlybecausea formativeventhappened there.It s true hat erusalemsholyto Christiansecause it swhereJesuswasbelievedto have died and risen gain,thusgiving irth o the new faith. utJerusalems not connectedwith nyof theevents ftheExodus from gypt,thefoundingmyth f srael.The citysnot mentioned xplicitlyntheTorah,thefirstivemost acredbooks ofthe Bible. The firstime hecity s specifi-callymentioned n theBible,itappears as enemy territory.9erusalem idnot figure n IsraelitereligionuntilKing David conquered it from theJebusites ome threethousandyears ago. In the same way,the formativeevents f slamhappened inMecca andMedina ntheArabianHijaz.But forallthis, ews ndMuslims,s well as Christians,ound heirGod inJerusalemand itbecame holyto them, xpressive f their eligious nd physical den-titynd place in theworld.


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12 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIESIt is noticeable nJerusalem's istory hat hecitybecame especially m-portant o a people after heyhad lostit. Thus,Jerusalem id not become

really entral o thereligion f Israeluntil he city nd itsTemple were de-stroyed y Nebuchadnezzar n 586BCE and itspeople weredeported oBab-ylon.Until hat ime, t had not been theonly sraelite apital, nd some hadfelt twas tainted y pagan practice.But when theJews were permitted yKing Cyrus f Persiato returno their uined ity n 539 BCE and to rebuildtheir emple,Jerusalem radually ecame thespiritualocusofJewsall overthe world, even thoughmost Jews elected to continue to live in theDiaspora.Similarly,lthoughJerusalem ad been thefirstibla of Muslimprayerand had always been of greatspiritualmportance o Muslims, speciallyunder the Umayyads, herewas a new upsurgeofdevotionto al-QudsafterSaladin won the cityback for slamin 1187.The extraordinaryeautyandarchitecturalrilliance f the greatmadrasas built aroundthe Haram al-Sharif y theMamluksmade this holyplace an intensive enterof study,prayer,nd philanthropyn quitea newway.But while themadrasas yearnarchitecturallyoward he greatholinessoftheHaram,10hey lso reflecthenew fear hat haracterizedheMuslim ove ofJerusalemfterheCrusades.Crouchingprotectively oundthe Haram,the madrasas can be seen as abulwarkbetween itsvulnerable anctity nd a hostileworld.This, perhaps,explainstheintensityfthestruggle orJerusalemoday,when two peoples who recently ave faced mmense hreat lingtoJerusa-lemmore tenaciously hanever.Havingnarrowly scaped exterminationnthedeath camps ofEurope,Jewssee JewishJerusalems a symbolof theirrevivedbut stillfragile elf.ManyJews, till raumatized y theHolocaust,cannotbelievethat hey rewitnessingheheight fJewishpoliticalpower.Some behave as though twere still1939, the period of greatestJewishweakness. Liketheir orebearsn 539 BCE, they re in thefirst lush f theirreturn o Zion and are as antagonistic s their ncestors o any perceivedthreat.In a verydifferent ay,the Palestinians lso have experienced n annihi-lation,havingbeen wiped off hemap. For the restof the Arab and Muslimworld, hedisaster fPalestine ymbolizes heir ngoing,humiliatingefeatatthehandsof theWesternworld.Having osteverythinglse,the oss ofcal-Quds becomes an unthinkableatastrophe or hePalestinians. urther,ur-roundedby theJewishsettlements elligerentlylantedon expropriatedArab and,Jerusalemnd the Haram al-Sharif ave become a syinbolof thebeleagueredPalestiniandentity.here s thus profounddentificationiththe threatened ity.Feeling Jerusalem lippingdailyfrom heirgrasp,theholy cityhas become more "sacred" to Palestinians-be theyMuslimorChristian-thanver.Thiswas veryclearduring he "tunnel ffair"n September1996,when,againsttherecommendationfhis securitydvisers,Netanyahugave per-missionfor new entrance o an archaeologicaltunnelrunning longside


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 13the Haramal-Sharif o be cut, eadingdirectlyn the heart of theMuslimQuarter fthe Old City. here was immediate utrage, iolence,and riots nwhicheighty-fiveeople died and 1,500were injured. here was talkofthetunnel iolating hevery soul of Palestine."sraeli pokesmen tried omakelight fthe affair,ointing ut that hetunnel id not encroachon theHaramitself. ut, as we have seen, archaeologyhas notbeen a neutral ctivitynJerusalem: ince thetimeof Constantine,thas been a wayofstaking claimin the city nd undermininghe presenceofa rival.The Palestinian istress hould have reminded sraelisofthe behavioroftheir wn ancestors,who had reacted n exactly hesame way when theirforeign ulershad violated theirholy places in the past. When the SyriankingAntiochus piphanes had entered heTemple's inner anctum nd ran-sacked the Temple treasury, his ed to full-scale evolt.When the Romanprefect ontiusPilatebroughtmilitarytandardsporting he bustofthe em-peror,who was revered s a god, intotheHoly Cityn26 CE,Jews marchedin a body to hisresidence n Caesarea and proved that heywere ready todie rather hanpermit his nsult o their emple. t was in vain that he Ro-mans pointedout that he offendingtandards nly had been parked ntheAntoniaFortress-beside but not actually n the sacredprecincts. o deepwas the identificationf theJewishpeople with their anctuary hattheyexperienced ny penetrationf their acredspace-however proximate-asa rape ofthe nation.The fact hat heconnectionbetweenJewish nd Palestinian xperienceswas notmade is significant.n theTorah, he holinessof theTempleand theLand of srael s seen as essentially oundup with hesanctityfthe ndivid-ual, even the"stranger" ho does notbelongethnicallyrreligiously.husin theHolinessCode ofLeviticus,midst ll theregulationsbout the Tem-ple cult and thefarming f the sacred land, we find uch stern dmonitionsas this:"Ifa strangerives withyou in your and,do notmolesthim.Youmust reat imas one ofyourown people and love himas yourself,oryouwere strangersnEgypt.""1 ewsare commandedtouse their wn pastsuf-ferings as strangersn Egypt)to help them to identify ithothers,not tojustifyommittingurthernjustice.SOCIALJUSTICE ND SANCTITY

Instead of continuing he fruitless ebate about the historicityf KingDavid orwho was inJerusalem irst,tmight e helpful o considerexactlywhatthevarioustraditions ave meantwhentheyhave claimedthat erusa-lem is "holy"to them.Religion s not simply bout experiencing warmglowwhenvisitingacredshrines, or s itsolelyaboutbuilding n identity.Religionmusthave an ethicaldimension.Allthegreatworld faithsnsist hattheonlyvalidtest ftruereligiositys that t ssue inpractical ompassion,virtuewhich,farfrombuildingup a sense of self,forcesus to modify hedemands oftheclamorous,grasping,nd frightenedgo. The Buddha said


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14 JOURNALOF PALESTINE STUDIESthat the adept, afterachieving enlightenment,must not linger on themountaintop, elishinghesensation, ut must eturn o themarketplace ndtherepractice ompassion for ll living eings.The monotheistic aiths avealso stressed he paramountmportance f ove of neighbor nd respectforthesacred rights f others.This virtue lso has been central o the cult ofJerusalem.Fromthe veiy earliest imes, ossiblyeven beforethe conquest by KingDavid, Jerusalem'sholinesswas inextricably ound up with the quest forsocial justice.This was the case throughouthe ancient Near East. Atthedawn of civilization, verycitywas in some sense "holy." ts god was be-lieved to dwell nthe temple; herehe orshe established hedivineorderofpeace and security ithin hecitywalls. One ofthe king's acreddutieswastofortifyhecity gainst tsexternal oes,but thiswas pointless f niquitousgovernments reated nternal nemies.Thus,theking'schief ob was to es-tablishon earththe justice and orderthatcharacterized he divinerealm,where thegods dwelt.He would thusbringheaven to earth.n hiscode oflaw,Hammurabi laimsthathe was appointed by the gods "to cause justiceto prevail n the land, to destroy he wicked and the evil,thatthe strongmight ot oppress the weak."2

Thisethos also can be found ntheHebrew psalms,manyof whichwereconnected o theJerusalemult.TheKingofJudah,who was crowned ntheTemple,had to swear on his coronation o "defendthe poorest, save thechildren fthose nneed,and crush heir ppressors."13 is taskwas to im-pose the rile ofGod and to ensurethatGod's own justiceprevailed n theland. Iftherewas justice n thekingdom, herewould be peace, harmony,and fertility.14od would thenprovidethepeople ofJerusalemwith ll thesecurity hey needed; the citywould be "God-protected or ever."15Butthere ould be no security, o peace (shalom) iftherewere no "righteous-ness" (tzedek) in Israel.The sages, prophets, nd Psalmists onstantlyemindeclhepeople thatJerusalem ould not be a holy cityof peace if twere not also a cityoftzedek.Thus,from he veryearliestdays, thecult ofThesages, prophets,and Jerusalem'sanctity as bound up with hequestforPsalmists constantly social ustice.Nobodycould havebeen more devotedreminded thepeople that toJerusalemhantheProphet saiah,who was activeJerusalem could not be a in the holy city n the eighth century CE. Yet hisholy city ofpeace ifit were prophecy, s it has come down to us, begins withnot also a city of whatseems like a denunciation f the wholeJeitisa-righteousness. lemcult. saiah imaginesGod complaining hathe isweaiy of the endless sacrifices, ickened by thestench fthe sacrificialictims,rritatedytheendlessthrong fworshiperstramping hroughheTemplecourts.Why?Because thepeople ofJerusalemwere not takingcare of thewidows, the poor, the orphans,and the op-pressed.16No decorousliturgyr elaboratebuildings ould compensateforthe ack of ustice n Zion.


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 15The worst trocitiesn thehistoiy fJeutisalem ave occurredwhenpeo-ple have putthe desire to possess the holycity nd gain access to its great

sanctity head of the paramountdutyof social justiceand respect fortherights fothers.This is particularlyvident n the variousconquests ofthecity. he name Rushalimumfirst ppears in an Egyptian ext n about 1800BCE; it probably means "Shalem [theSyriangod of the setting un] hasfounded."Beforethe citywas dedicated to the God ofhistoricalmonothe-ism, t was a center f paganworshipfor he ndigenouspeople ofCanaan.Thus, eveiy timeJews,Christians,nd Muslimsutter heword "Jerusalem,"they houldremember hat he citywas holyto otherpeople beforethem,and, because theyare all committed fficiallyo the ideals of compassionand justice, he ntegrityf their enurentheholy citywilldepend upon theway they reat heir redecessors.The nadirofJeiusalem'shistoiy ame in 1099, when theCrusaders romWesternEurope conquered the city n a ghastlybloodbath.Some 30,000Jews ndMuslimswere killed ntwodays.One admiringyewitness ecordsthatblood came up to the horses'knees inthe Haramal-Sharif.erhapsthemostexemplary onquestoccurred n638 CE, when Caliph Umartookpos-session of theholy city or slam.Mindful f theQur'anic njunctions o re-spectthePeople oftheBook,he ensured hat he Christiansemainnsecurepossession of theirholy places and enjoyfullreligious iberty.Umar alsoinvited heJews,who had alwaysbeen forbiddeno residepermanentlynJerusalemwhileitwas underChristianule, o return o theirholy city. ev-enty amilies rom iberias ame tosettlenJertsalem,stablishing quarterfor hemselves eside the Muslim ommunityt the foot f their ld TempleMount.Umaralso purifiedhesiteof theancientJewishTemple, which, swe haveseen, had remained n ruins orneariy ixcenturies;nrecentyears,the Christians ad used it as the citygarbage dump. Umarbuilta simplewooden mosque atthe southern nd ofthe clearedplatform, hereal-AqsaMosque now stands.Forthispiety, he Muslimswere hailed by some Jewsduring heseventh enturys theprecursors fthe Messiah.AN INCLUSIVE NOTION OF HOLINESS

'Umar'sconquestshows that rom heveiy beginning herewas a criticaldifferenceetweenthe Muslim onceptofholiness and that f theJewsandChristians, hose cultofJerusalem's anctitywas essentially xclusive.Aswe have seen, Christianswould not allow theirrivals,be they pagans orJews, ither o live n thecity rmaintain oly places and shrines here.n avery ifferentay,thecultofJei-tsalem's olinessbecame exclusive nJuda-ism.The Hebrewwordqaddosh,which s usually ranslated s holy,meansseparate,other.Jewswere to be a holypeople because theydweltapartfrom on-Jews; hey elebrated hesanctityfsomething y markingt offfrom verythinglse; thus, n dietarymatters,milkmustbe separatedfrommeat, he Sabbath from he rest of theweek. By this ritual solation,Jews


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16 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIESwould symbolically lace themselves ear to the holy God who was utterly"other" qaddosh) and separatefrom ll otherrealities. hus, the sanctityfthe Temple was celebratedby a series of separations nd exclusions;eachone of its courtswas holierthan thelastand therefore orbidden o an in-creasingnumberofpeople. Gentiles non-Jews) ould enter he outermostcourt but a balustradeforbade them to go further n pain of death.Jewscould go furtherowardthe center f holiness,but women and men sepa-rated;women had a precinct f their wn on the outskirts f sanctity,loseto the Court f the Gentiles.Male Jewscould enter he Court f the sraelites,but nottheCourt f thePriests ortheHekhal, he CultHall.Finally, nlythehigh priest ould enter he nner anctum, he Holy of Holies,and that nlyonce a year,on Yom Kippur.Muslimshave a more nclusivenotionofholiness.The mosque is not sep-arated from rdinaryife s the Templewas: it s also a centerforpolitical,military,nd social life. rees,forbidden n theTemple Mount, regrown nMuslim sanctuaries, irds can fly nto the mosque, which welcomes theworld nto tsprecinct. his s partoftawhid, he sacralization f the wholeof existence: llthingsmustbe broughtnto heambit f theholy. nthe caseofJerusalem,hisholinessmeant hat therpeoples mustbe welcomed.Thestory f theProphetMuhammad'sNight ourneyoJerusalem ndhis Ascen-sion to theDivine Throne from he Haram al-Sharifs a story fpluralism.First ecounted n theSirah of Muhammad bnIshaq (d. 767), it tellsus thattheProphetwas conveyed-probably nspirit-fromheKa'bah inMecca tothe site of the oldJewishTemple inJerusalem. here he was welcomedbyall thegreatprophets f thepast,and Muhammadpreachedto them.Thenhe began his ascentto the Divine Presence through he seven heavens. Ineach heaven,he metpropheticpredecessors:Moses and Aaron,JesusandJohn heBaptist, noch, and,at thethreshold f the divine phere,Abraham.Muhammad alked with these prophets, ook advice from hem, speciallyfromMoses. It is a story freligiousunity, ialogue,and respectforothertraditions.t also shows,as does theadoptionofJerutsalems thefirstibla,Muhammadyearning o bringhispeople into the heart f the monotheisticfamily romwhat was at that imethepagan isolationof Arabia.Thispluralvision was preserved n the devotionon the Haram al-Sharif here,bytheninth enturyE, therewere shrines edicatedtoDavid, Solomon, ndJesus,as well as shrines ommemorating uhammad'sNight ourney.

The story lso shows Muhammad inking,n his own person, hesanctityofMecca with hat fJerutsalem.henpeople objectthat ertsalems notasholyto Islamas Mecca orMedina, hey ail o understand heMuslimnotionofsacredspace. In theQur'anic vision, here s onlyone God and one reli-gion made manifestn manyforms. o, too, there s one sacred place-Mecca-from which all subsequent holy places derive their anctity. heProphet's ourneyfrom heKa'bah toJerusalem,l-Aqsa Mosque, symbol-ized thisdivinely stablished onnectionbetween thetwoholycities.Thislinkwas celebrated n the ada'il al-Quds,thetraditionsraising he excel-


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 17lence ofJerusalem, hichbegan to be collectedduring he Umayyad eriod.Maxims ttributedothe ProphetMuhammad ay that n the LastDay, para-disewould be establishednJerusalemikea bride, nd theKa'bah and theBlack Stone would come fromMecca to Jerusalem, hich was theultimatedestination f thewhole of humanity.17n Abbasidtimes, he inkbetweenthe citieswas celebratedn ocal lore.During hemonth fthehajjtoMecca,on the night f thevigilon the plain ofArafat,twas said that hewaterfromtheholywellofZamzam,near theKa'bah, cameundergroundo thePool ofSiloam, nJerusalem, nd therewas a special festivalhere hatnight.n theearly leventh entury,Muslimswho could notmake thehajjwould gatherinJerusalem uring he days of pilgrimage.

It is sometimes aid thatMuslimsdid not valueJerusalem; heynevermade ittheir dministrativeapital.But Muslimshave usuallykept adminis-trationnd holinessseparate.Medinaremained he firstapitaloftheMus-lims,not Mecca. In any case, Jerusalemwould have been an unsuitablecapital because untilthe Crusades it remaineda predominantlyhristiancity, lbeit with an importantMuslimshrine.This was due not to MuslimindifferenceuttoMuslim olerance.An arrestingnstanceofMuslimrespectfor heholy places ofthe othermonotheistic raditionsoncerns theWesternWall, which had not been aholy place forthe Jews untilthe sixteenth entury. ewsmayhave had asmall ynagogue nthevicinityf theWallduring heUmayyad nd Abbasidperiods,but until he end ofthe Mamluk ra,the main focus ofJewishpietyinJerusalemwas the Mountof Olives.Jewswould hold big rallies here ntheprincipal eastdays. The ProphetEzekiel had seen the DivinePresenceleave Jerusalem ver the MountofOlives after he destruction f thecity yNebuchadnezzar, nd theJewswould pray herefor hisPresencetoreturn.We hear of no devotions ttheWesternWall.When the talianJewObadiahda Bertinero isited heHoly Cityn 1487,he was impressedbythe massivestones n the Wall butfeltno special religious motion.18The gradualcollapse ofthe Mamluk mpire,however, nitiated change.In Palestine,the authorities o longer could controlthe bedouin, and itprobablybecame unsafeforJewsto congregatentheopen countryn theMount of Olives. Duringthistime,Jewsmayhave begun to gather t theWesternWall instead, suitable ite sinceitwas a last inkwith heTemple.We do know thatduring he1530s,while theOttoman ultanSuleimantheMagnificent as building hemagnificent alls aroundJerusalem, e issuedan edictpermittingewsto have a place ofprayer tthe WesternWall. tissaid that he court rchitectinan,who was working n the Damascus Gate,designedthesmallprayer nclave,excavatingdownward to give theWallheight nd building wall parallelto itto separatetheJewish ratory romtheMaghribiQuarter.19Suleimnan as praisedinJewish egendfor hisgood deed. His motiveswerenotentirely isinterested,owever.There was bellicose talk nEuropeabout a newCrulsadenJerusalem t this ime, nd thesultanwantedto for-


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18 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIEStify hecity hence, theconstructionf newfortifications)nd attractriendlyinhabitants,uch as theJews, o help defend t.Nevertheless, is gift o theJewish ommunitys an exampleofcooperationbetweenJudaism nd Islamthatwould be unthinkableoday.

A rather imilar piritmay, perhaps, be discerned n the story f KingDavid's conquest ofJerusalem. he Israelite eligion racticed yDavid hadnotyetdeveloped theexclusiveness hatwould characterize ome aspectsofthe laterreligionofJudaism. n 1996, the Israelisdecided to celebratethe3000th nniversaryfKing David's conquestofJerusalem. hiswas widelyseen as a blatantpublicitytunt o advertise heJewish laimtoJerlLsalem.The celebrationsfellflat.But in fact, he biblical account of David's con-quest20 s not so antitheticalo thePalestinian ause as manypeople assume.David, who was famousforhis wholesale slaughter f such peoples as theEdomitesand the Philistines,eems to have been a just and merciful on-querorofJerusalem.We readof no massacresof theJebusitenhabitants fthecity, o destructionftheir roperty, o attempto interfere iththeirreligious ractices. he Bible carefully ecords hatDavid simply onqueredthe citadel of Zion, in whatamountedto a palace coup, leavingthe townbeside the citadel ntact. he firstimewe readaboutJerusalemntheBible,we are told that hepeople ofJudah till-some time fter avid-lived sideby side with the Jebusites.21 avid's wife Bathshebamay have been aJebusitewoman,and, ifso, their on, thegreatKing Solomon,would havehad Jebusite lood: itwas only ater hatJewswere forbidden o intermarrywithgentiles.22When David decided to build an altar o his God on the es-tateof Arauneh,whomayhave been the astjebusiteking,he didnot simplyexpropriate heland,butgave Arauneh fair rice, nd Araunehprovidedthefirstacrifice here.23 hus the holy place, which today s so bitterlyis-puted by Jewsand Muslims, eganwith n actofcooperationbetweentheKingdomof Israel and the ndigenouspopulationoftheholy and.

Today Jewishfundamentalistsho claimthat he land is so "holy" hattheyneed notrespectPalestinian nd Muslim ightsreflyingn the faceoftheir wn mostsacredtraditions. heyhave forgottenheelementary eli-gious principle hat he holinessof a citydoes notdepend solelyupon thesanctityf ts hrines ut also on thebehaviorof ts nhabitants. city annotbe holy f t s not ruledwithustice. xpropriatingand,torturing,estroyingproperty,hreateningtherpeople's holy places,ejectingpeople from heirancestralhomes,and depriving hemof essentialhumanrights annotbejustifiednJewish raditionytheoverriding anctityfJerusalem,ecauseholiness s also and inescapably moral mperativeo justice.A city an bemade holyorunholybyits citizens veiyday. Today,theviolation fbasicprinciples f sraelite ndJewishreligion s a desecration ndeed.


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THE HOLINESS OF JERUSALEM 19NOTES

1. TheodorHerzl,The Complete ia-riesof Theodor erzl 2 vol., d. R.Patai,(London ndNew York:HerzlPresswithThomasYoseloff, 960),p. 745.2. Quoted nMartin ilbert,erusa-lem,Rebirthf City London:VikingPress, 984),p. 214.3. "TheLoyalists f theTempleMount," allup sraelLtd., ebruary996.4. Quoted nCon Coughlin, GoldenBasin FullofScorpions. heQuest orModern erusalemLondon, 997),p.240.5. John :19-24.6. Eusebius, heLife f Constantine,3.28.7. MeirBenDov, The WesternWall(New York: AdamaBooks, 1986),pp. 73,146-8.8. Eusebius, heLife fConstantine,3.27.9. Josh. 5:63; f.Judg. :21.10. MichaelHamilton urgoynendD. S. Richards, amluk erusalem. n Ar-chitecturalurvey London:World f s-lamFestival rustwith corpionPublishing,987).11. Lev.19:33-34.12.J.B. Pritchard,d.,AncientNearEasternTexts elating o theOld Testa-ment Princeton:rincetonniversityPress, 969),p. 164.

13. Ps. 72:4.14. Ps. 9:10-16.15. Ps. 48:8.16. Isa. 1.17. Quoted in Guy Le Strange, Pales-tine Under the Moslems. A Description qfSyria and theHoly Land fromAD 650 toAD 1500 (London: AMS Press, 1890), pp.164-65.18. E.N. Adler, Jewish Travellers. ATreasury of Traveloguesfrom Nine Centu-ries (New York: Dover Publications,

1966), p. 240.19. Ben Dov, The WesternWall,pp33-36, 60; F. E. Peters,Jerusalem andMecca. The Typology f the Holy City ntheNear East (New York and London:New York University ress, 1986), pp.126-31.20. See 2 Sam. 5:6-10;1 Chron. 11:24.21. Josh. 15:63; Judg.1:21.22. G. E. Mendenhall, "Jeiusalemfrom1000 o 63 B.C.E." in A.J.Asali,Jerusalemin History New York: Olive BranchPress, 1990); Gosta W. Ablstrom,TheHis-toryofAncient Palestine (Minneapolis:FortressPress, 1993), pp. 504-5;HaroldW. Rowley, Worship n Ancient Israel. ItsForms and Meaning (London, 1967), p.73; C. E. Clement,God and Temple (Ox-ford,1965),p. 58.23. 1 Chron. 21.

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