The Jerusalem tinderbox

Whoever wins the election, the Jerusalem issue needs to be defused.

By MOSHE MAOZ
Indonesian Muslims in Jakarta call for the protection of al-Aqsa Mosque, November 16 (photo credit: DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS)
Indonesian Muslims in Jakarta call for the protection of al-Aqsa Mosque, November 16
(photo credit: DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS)
IN THE run-up to the March election, leaders of the Zionist Union have been making public commitments not to divide Jerusalem and to keep the holy city in its entirety, including the Temple Mount, under Israel’s sole and eternal sovereignty.
Unfortunately, this is more than mere pre-election posturing. It reflects a major and potentially dangerous ideological transformation Israelis have undergone since the occupation/liberation of Arab East Jerusalem and the holy places in 1967.
There are two schools of thought on the need for eternal Jewish sovereignty over the undivided city. The first, national, with an amalgam of religious, secular and historic elements, was encapsulated in paratroop commander Motta Gur’s emotional proclamation after capturing the old city: “The Temple Mount is in our hands… you, the paratroopers have restored it to the bosom of the nation after 2,000 years.”
The second, messianic and Islamophobic, was forcefully expressed that same day by then IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who marked the occasion by blowing on the shofar and calling for the building of the Third Temple on the ruins of the holy mosques on the Temple Mount site.
The first school of thought, embraced by most of the Jewish population including the Zionist Union, makes peace with the Palestinians, as well as with the Arab and Muslim worlds, impossible; the second, with adherents on the radical right of the Likud-led “National Camp” who harbor hopes of destroying the mosques, could trigger a global Muslim-Jewish war.
The al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques, the Temple Mount/ Haram al-Sharif and East Jerusalem/al-Quds al-Sharif are holy to more than 1.5 billion Muslims, almost on a par with Mecca and Medina.
The Israeli occupation strengthened Muslim solidarity with these sites and reinforced anti-Semitic trends in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Arab political leaders called for a jihad of liberation and radical groups established special forces to this end. Iran formed the al-Quds Battalions in 1980 and Fatah founded the Battalions of the al-Aqsa Martyrs with the outbreak of the second (al-Aqsa) intifada in 2000. Moreover, al-Aqsa icons appear on Hamas flags and the northern Islamic movement in Israel campaigns ceaselessly “to protect” al-Aqsa and al-Quds.
Nevertheless, since the signing of the peace deal between Israel and Egypt in 1979, a growing number of Arab and Muslim governments have adopted a more pragmatic approach. The high point was the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, supported by all 57 Arab and Muslim states. It offered Israel peace, security and normal relations in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.
But this groundbreaking initiative, which was reaffirmed in April 2013 and modified to include land swaps, has never been officially accepted by any Israeli government even as a basis for negotiation.
In its party platforms in 2006 and 2012, the Labor Party referred to united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty but also to special arrangements for the holy places for all religions. Party leader Isaac Herzog agreed in 2012 to political institutions for the Palestinians in East Jerusalem; however, his current partner Tzipi Livni opposes dividing the city, and other senior figures like Amos Yadlin and Omer Bar-Lev also advocate a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. Yadlin even supports the right-wing Elad NGO, which promotes Jewish settlement in Arab East Jerusalem.
Moreover, the Zionist Union’s potential coalition partners, Yesh Atid, Koolanu and the Haredi parties would almost certainly push the balance even further right, as they all advocate Israeli sovereignty over the entire city. Given these positions, a Zionist Union-led coalition will not be able to deliver peace with the Palestinians, the Arabs or the Muslims.
Worse, a national camp coalition could spark a war between Israel and the Arab Muslim world – especially if party leaders like Uri Ariel of Bayit Yehudi and other radical right-wing activists continue to violate the status quo by praying on the Temple Mount, preparing the ground for rebuilding the Temple and destroying the mosques.
In 1984, right-wing activist Yehuda Etzion and his followers were arrested for plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock. Former Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) bosses Yaacov Peri and Carmi Gillon have warned that there could be other Jewish fanatics who intend to harm the mosques and cause a war of Gog and Magog between Islam and Judaism.
There is no question that whoever wins the election, the Jerusalem issue needs to be defused. A positive response to the Arab Peace Initiative provides the best avenue for doing so. 
Moshe Maoz, professor emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is editor of ‘The Meeting of Civilizations: Muslim, Christian and Jewish’ and ‘Muslim Attitudes to Jews and Israel: The Ambivalences of Rejection, Antagonism and Cooperation’