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  1. Jerusalem

All that is left now are two impossible issues: Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees. These issues are impossible because each side is fully committed to its political position. When, however, we begin with their Holy Scriptures, both issues can be resolved in a way that is equitable and just, though not necessarily politically advantageous or desirable. The issues can be resolved if each side will yield to what God tells them in their Scriptures.

The Talmud speaks of a Gentile who was interested in becoming a proselyte to the Jewish faith, but he first wanted to know its central message. He said, “‘Make me a proselyte, on condition that you teach me all the Torah in its entirety while I stand on one foot.’ …When he went before Hillel, he [Hillel] said to him, ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Torah, while the rest is the commentary thereof; go and learn it.’”1 Some call this “the Silver Rule,” which expresses a universal prohibition.

Many people know “the Golden Rule,” which expresses a positive obligation. A Torah scholar asked Jesus, “‘Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?’

”Yeshua said to him, ‘You are to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the prophets are hung upon these two commandments.’”2

Muhammad taught something quite similar. “The Prophet said, ‘None of you will have faith till he likes for his brother what he likes for himself.’”3 You may pretend, even deceiving yourself, but you are not a believer if you do not consider your brother’s well-being as important as your own.

In all these responses, equitable treatment of the other is required as a foundation of faith. That does not necessitate abandoning one’s own legitimate needs and claims. Hillel “used to say: ‘If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?’”4

In general, leaders and people focus more on their own needs, desires, and interests than on the principle of pursuing justice for others. We tend to respond to immediate needs rather than keeping sight of eternal principles. o the statements made by Hillel, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are to remind us that how we treat others is what characterizes our lives more than any religious label does.

Here are some historical analogies to help us determine the principles we should apply in considering the issues of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees. These historical situations are only analogies, being similar in some respects, but not in all. Try to determine your own alternate solutions for the problems they present, or at least to formulate some principles that should be applied. Genuine Justice does not exist without equitable principles. It cannot be one-sided.

  1. There is a city that for more than one thousand years was the central focus of one religion’s faith and observance. It was conquered by a people of another faith, who then a few centuries later renamed the city. In that city, there was a place of worship that had been the symbol of the first religion throughout most of the thousand years. When the city was conquered, the conquerors turned that place of worship into one of their own places of worship. They inverted the symbol.

The city was Constantinople, which from 330 to 1453 C.E. was the focal point for Western Christianity, until it was conquered by the Islamic Ottoman Empire. It was the Hagia Sophia church, which had been the symbol of Western Christianity for more than 900 years, that was changed into a mosque. The name of the city was changed more than four centuries later to Istanbul.

“The political process was coupled with an ideological thrust to legitimize the city as the capital of an Islamic empire while preserving a link to the Roman-Byzantine tradition. The ‘discovery’ of, and erection of a shrine over, the alleged remains of Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of the Prophet who fell during the Arab siege in the seventh century, was a typical example of this quest for legitimacy….

“With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, all previous names were abandoned and Istanbul came to designate the entire city. Today the use of the name Constantinople to describe the Ottoman capital, although historically accurate, is often deemed politically incorrect by Turkish historians and by most Turks.”5 They want to project their own identity back into the past and impose that identity on a time when it did not exist.

  1. There was a multi-ethnic multi-religious country where the people from another country had lived for several generations. They had come there from their home country for a variety of reasons, both economic and political. At a certain point in time, the leaders of their home country decided that the area where they lived should be cut off from the country of which it was a part and joined to their original home country. Other powerful nations agreed.

The country was Czechoslovakia. Ethnic Germans had settled there, mostly in an area called the Sudetenland, alongside the indigenous population. In 1938, Germany demanded that the Sudetenland be cut off from Czechoslovakia and made part of Germany. At the Munich Conference, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy agreed.

The result was not only the excision of the Sudetenland, but the rapid destruction of Czechoslovakia as an independent country. It was also the beginning of the Second World War.

  1. There is a city that, in the interests of peace, was removed from the sovereignty of its nation, divided and placed under the rule of different great powers. In half of that city, the inhabitants were granted reduced rights, but with the expectation that eventually they would be allowed to rule themselves. In the other half of the city, the inhabitants had no rights or freedoms, and no expectation of future self-rule.

The city was Berlin after the Second World War, divided into four Great Power zones of occupation. In East Berlin, ruled by the Soviets, there were no rights, freedoms, or political hope. In West Berlin, ruled by the Western Allies, there were limited rights and freedoms, and the hope of a future restoration to wholeness, wholesomeness, and independence

4.There is a country that for centuries was surrounded by powerful, hostile neighbors of different religions. At one point in time these neighbors succeeded in conquering and totally dividing that country among themselves. After a great war, the country regained its sovereignty, only to lose it again after another war thirty years later. After that second war, the country was put under the rule of one of those powerful, hostile neighbors which did not share its religion. A large area of the country was taken away from it and given to another country, though some territory from a third country was added to it.

The country is (Catholic) Poland, having the (Protestant) Prussian Empire, the (Orthodox) Russian Empire, and the (mostly Catholic) Austro-Hungarian Empire as its hostile neighbors. (By conquest, Prussia became Germany, and by revolution the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union.) These empires conquered portions of the territory of Poland until they finally conquered and divided all of it, eliminating the national identity completely from 1795-1919.

Poland became an independent nation again from 1919-1939, when it was then invaded by two of those powerful, hostile neighbors, Germany and the USSR. After the Second World War, Poland was placed under Soviet rule, and the eastern part of the country was cut off and joined to Ukraine, which was also under Soviet rule. Some of eastern Germany was added to Poland.

  1. There is a city that is the center of faith for the believers of a particular religion, who are scattered around the world. Ruled by different foreign empires in the past, it is now completely ruled by the country in which it is located, though it is holy to many more people outside of the country. Within that religion, there are different sects — the ruling country basically follows one of them — and there is often great hostility between the different sects. Not infrequently, there are full-scale wars between them.

The city is Mekka, located in and ruled by Saudi Arabia. The major divisions of Islam are Sunni and Shia, but there are others. The rulers of Saudi Arabia follow different branches of the Sunni form. The leaders of Iran follow the Shia form. Wars between them take place in other countries where they compete for allies and dominance.

These are only five situations among many throughout the world where similar issues have arisen. Set aside your personal inclinations, work through your solutions to these five historical situations, and determined your principles, then it is possible to move on to consider Jerusalem.

 

Submitting the Problem to a Higher Authority

 

Etymologically and scripturally, Jerusalem is to point to peace. We are told in the Hebrew scriptures that it will be the capital of the coming kingdom of God. “Then it will come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established on the top of the mountains, and will be exalted above the hills; and all nations will flow to it. And many peoples will go and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For Torah will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge among the nations, and will decide for many people. And they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn war any more.”6

The words are well-known, but what they envision remains still unknown. Today, Jerusalem is more a flashpoint for war than a fountain of peace. Words, events, and imaginations make it too hot to handle, even at a distance.7

There is a simple reality with two inseparable dimensions. 1) No peace between Israel and Palestine is possible without agreement on the Holy City. 2) No agreement on the Holy City is possible on a political basis because the basic political positions are mutually exclusive. No imposed solution can bring peace to the Holy City, because no imposed solution is based on the mutual acceptance which brings agreement.

In line with the nature of this inquiry, it is necessary to know how Jerusalem is viewed in the different Holy Scriptures. That is the only place where we can find common ground. That is the only source for an authoritative agreement. To look for that, we need to back up in time four thousand years.

In the Bible, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be a father of many nations. Your name will no longer be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations…. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your seed after you. And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God…. Sarah your wife will bear you a son indeed; and you will call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”8

There are two distinct aspects to this everlasting covenant which God made with Abraham and his physical descendants through Isaac.9 One, He would be their God and would give them the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. It would always belong to them, though as He says in many other places, they would not always inhabit it.10

The second aspect of the everlasting covenant is that God would make Abraham a father of many nations [av hamon goyim]. There would be other nations which would look to Abraham as their father, though they would not inherit the specific promise of the land. In the Holy Scriptures in Greek, Paul tells believers from the nations that though they are not physically descended from Abraham, they have been adopted as his children.11 And “Foreseeing that God would declare the Gentiles righteous from faith, the Scriptures proclaimed the good news beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘There is good for all the Gentiles in you.’”12

He tells them, “Therefore remember that once you+, physically the Gentiles, were at that time far from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in the commonwealth of Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.“13 The particular Gentile believers to whom he wrote this called Ephesus their home, but through their faith in the Messianic King they had become “fellow-citizens with the people set apart”.14 They had received citizenship in “the commonwealth [politeia] of Israel,” though they lived in their own cities and countries, whether in Rome or Ephesus or Galatia.

At that time, Jews in the land, regardless of what they did or did not believe, were subject to the rule of the Roman Empire. They inhabited the land, but they did not govern it, except to the limited extent the Empire allowed. Jerusalem, though the site of God’s Temple, was under foreign domination.

God’s connection with Jerusalem is expressed first in Torah which speaks of “the place which the Lord your God has chosen.”15 It is the place where God’s dwelling will be, and therefore will be the capital and focus of the Children of Israel. He commands them to go there to present their sacrifices, bring their tithes, decide difficult judicial cases, gather to hear the Torah read publicly, and make their pilgrimages three times a year. It is the place from which the kings of a united Israel rule.

When in exile, the Children of Israel said before the Lord, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my greatest joy.”16 Nothing was to be more important. Nothing.

Praying for Jerusalem is an essential, oft-repeated part of the traditional daily liturgy. It is part of the observance of every Biblical holy day. It is considered an essential part of traditional faith.

In contrast, what are Christians commanded to do in Jerusalem? Nothing. What is its role in Christian government? None (except in the future after Jesus returns to sit on the throne of David). Is their faith or obedience to God in any way impaired without Jerusalem? No.

It is not mentioned in any of the major creeds of the Church; nor is Israel or the Jewish people. Jerusalem therefore is not considered a part of essential faith. For a time there was an interesting historical Christian parallel to Islamic custom. “For Ottoman Christians, the visit to Jerusalem was the equivalent of the hajj for Muslims. Balkan Christians who made the pilgrimage often added the honorific hajji (one who has made the pilgrimage) to their names. Arab Christians added maqdasi, ‘one who has been to the Holy Land,’ to their given names.”17

Jerusalem is important to some Christians because of its association with Jesus, “the King of the Jews”. In the Holy Scriptures in Greek, it is important because Jesus taught in the Temple there, was put to death there, and will return there to establish his Messianic Kingdom. Nothing in the Holy Scriptures in Greek disputes or challenges God having given Jerusalem to the Children of Israel as their center of worship and government. Throughout its text, there is much that reaffirms it. For example, “Every year his parents went to Yerushala’im at the feast of Pesakh.”18

When we turn to the Quran and the hadiths, what are Muslims commanded to do in Jerusalem? Nothing. Which of their commanded observances can they perform without Jerusalem? All of them. Which Pillars of the Faith remain without Jerusalem? All of them. What is the role of Jerusalem in Islamic government? None. Muslims are to pray towards Mekka and seek to make a pilgrimage to Mekka.

Even if one is praying in the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, one prays towards Mekka. Being in Jerusalem does not affect the content of the prayers nor their focus. Muhammad did, however, say of the Baitul-Maqdis: “‘It is the land of the Resurrection and the Gathering. Go and pray there, for one prayer there is like one thousand prayers elsewhere.’ I said: ‘What if I cannot travel and go there?’ He said: ‘Then send a gift of oil to light its lamps, for whoever does that is like one who goes there’”19

Jerusalem is important to Muslims for two reasons: 1) It is the holy city of the Jews and the site of the Temple which God commanded the Children of Israel to build; and 2) God miraculously brought Muhammad to that site. Nothing in the Arabic Holy Scriptures disputes or challenges Jewish ownership or rule of the city. “The Prophet said, “Do not give me superiority over Musa …”20

“Zaid Ibn Thabit (ra) reports that the Prophet (saw) said, ‘How blessed is Al-Sham!’ The Companions (ra) asked, ‘Why is that?’ The Messenger (saw) replied, ‘I see the Angels of Allah spreading their wings over Al-Sham.’ Ibn Abbas (ra) added, ‘And the Prophets lived therein. There is not a single inch in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) where a Prophet has not prayed or an Angel not stood.”21

The Angels of Allah spread their wings over Jerusalem because God had made it holy. The prophets of Israel lived and prayed there. That is why it was the city of Al-Sham, the Holy Land.

The Quran records Moses saying to the people of Israel, “Remember God’s Blessing upon you, when He appointed prophets among you, and appointed you kings, and gave you that which He gave unto no other in all the worlds. O My people! enter the Holy Land which God has prescribed for you…’”22 Syrians are connected to Syria; Jordanians to Jordan, Israelis to Israel.

The city is mentioned in a few hadiths. Basra ibn Abi Basra al-Ghiffari said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘Only make a special journey to three mosques: the mosque of the Haram (Makka), this mosque (Madina), and the mosque of Ilya or the Bait al-Maqdis (two names of Jerusalem).‘“23

“Bait al-Maqdis” is the Arabic for the Hebrew “Bayt haMiqdash”. “Ilya” is the shortened transliteration for “Aelia Capitolina,” the name the Romans gave to the city in connection with the Bar Kokhba revolt, 132-135 C.E.24

In the Islamic Holy Scriptures, there is an advisory way to decide between competing claims of ownership. “Two men disputed about a she-camel and each of them brought a proof that it was his animal, and that it was born at his place. Allah’s Messenger then ruled it for the one who had it in his possession.”25

There is also discussion of “a situation where the two parties claim the ownership of the same thing. They are neither prepared to undertake an oath, nor do they have a witness to substantiate their claim, which means that they are on a par in terms of their status. Should such a situation arise, the disputed thing should be awarded to the party in whose possession that thing happens to be.”26

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the greatest importance of Jerusalem is still to come. “And I will bring them, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem. And they will be My people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness.”27 The relation between the Children of Israel and Zion will be as close as though they were married to her.28

In this restoration, “At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘the throne of the Lord’; and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the Name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. And they will not walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.”29

The restoration of the Children of Israel to God and to the land will be good news for the nations as well. “‘Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for, behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst,’ says the Lord. ’And many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and will be My people; and I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of forces has sent me to you.’ And the Lord will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”30

In sum, the association of the Children of Israel with Jerusalem is much longer and deeper than that of any other people, extending back 4000 years to Abraham, 3500 years to Moses, 3000 years to David. And it extends into the unknowable future. Its importance to the Children of Israel is not dependent upon any other people, but on God alone. Their living in the land and the city is presented in all the Holy Scriptures as past, present, and future.

The Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic Holy Scriptures all say that God gave the land to the Children of Israel. They all say that God will disperse the Children of Israel from the land but later regather them. Jerusalem plays a vital, central role in God’s commanded observances for the Children of Israel, but no role in the commanded observances for Christians or Muslims. It is essential in the God-ordained government of the Children of Israel; it is irrelevant to the God-ordained government of Christians and Muslims. Jerusalem is considered holy to three faiths, but only because God made it holy for the Jews.

The historical interest of Christians and Muslims is attached to their different holy sites — because of its historical role for the Children of Israel — not to the city itself. For some Christians and Muslims, Jerusalem is of peripheral interest. For most, it is irrelevant to their faith.

As the Arab Higher Committee said, “It is also an injustice to pretend that a religious connection with a country justifies the usurption of the independence, liberty and security of its inhabitants.”31 A religious connection falls within the realm of worship, not of government. And a religious connection that is irrelevant to commanded observance is merely a personal preference. In the Islamic Scriptures, God did not command Muslims to build Al-Aqsa; In the Scriptures in Greek, He did not command Christians to build churches and shrines in Israel.

For purposes of comparison, consider the Bahai religion. There are currently Bahais in nearly 200 countries, with their holy places concentrated around Haifa, Israel. It is also the focus of their pilgrimage.

In the middle of the 1800s, many of their original leaders and followers were imprisoned and beaten, exiled, or massacred by the Persian government. The founder, “The Bab,” was executed, but his followers rescued the remains of his body and eventually moved them to a secure location near Acre/Acco. Baha’u’llah eventually became successor to The Bab, also suffering imprisonment and exile. “In 1868, Bahá’u’lláh arrived in the Holy Land with about 70 family members and followers, sentenced by the Ottoman authorities to perpetual confinement in the penal colony of Acre…. He lived His final years at a country home called Bahjí, where He passed away in 1892. He was interred there, and His shrine is the holiest place on earth for Bahá’ís.”32

The area is holy to them, and it is the seat of government for their religion. But in no way is that a claim for sovereignty over the land. The State of Israel is recognized as the national government.

The Children of Israel were sovereign in the land for more than 1000 years; Jerusalem was their functional capital city for at least 500 of those years. It has never been the capital of any other nation, state, or people. Any proper spiritual perspective must be built upon what is in the Holy Scriptures. That is the only basis for understanding what the content of Justice is. Part of what the Scriptures emphasize, however, is that Jerusalem is intended to be a blessing for many nations.

 

The Capital of a Covenant Federation

 

There was a minority on UNSCOP in 1947 concerning “The recommendations regarding the creation of a [divided] ‘City of Jerusalem’ which will be found in the plan of the majority … The representatives of India, Iran, and Yugoslavia disagreed with these recommendations.”33 They believed it would foster division between the different sides and encourage war, not peace. The passage of more than 70 years has accentuated rather than diminished that reality.

Dividing Jerusalem into a dual capital would be a rejection of the scriptural and historical reality. It would be an act of war, not a step towards peace. That would be the case if the capital of any other country in the world were removed from its sovereignty by an external power and then divided.

An expanded Jerusalem, however, could serve as the capital of a covenant federation. It would then be a double capital, not a dual capital; a condition which would not be inconsistent with what the Bible describes as its future as the center for peace and God’s Law. Nor would it be inconsistent with either Palestinian or Israeli desires.

Different UN resolutions have suggested increasing the territory of the city by adding “the surrounding villages and towns, the most Eastern of which shall be Abu Dis; the most Southern, Bethlehem; the most Western, Ein Karim (including also the built-up area of Motsa); and the most Northern, Shu’fat, should be accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine”.34

For several reasons, I left off the closing phrase in the resolution: “and should be placed under effective United Nations control”. 1. The UN normally includes terrorist and anti-freedom states on its Security Council, its Counter-Terrorism Committee, et al. As then U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said when the U.S. withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, ”Human rights abusers continue to serve on, and be elected to, the council.… “The world’s most inhumane regimes continue to escape its scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in its ranks…. For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias.”35

  1. UNESCO has issued resolutions claiming that Jews have no historical connection to the Temple Mount or the Western Wall. This rejection of demonstrable historical reality flows from the political essence of the organization. Such false declarations are also a rejection of the Holy Scriptures and religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

As the hadith records, “There is not a single inch in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) where a Prophet has not prayed or an Angel not stood.”36 Daoud/David, was one of those Jewish prophets, “And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty three years he reigned in Jerusalem.”37 Isa/Yeshua was another such Jewish prophet who taught, wept, and died in Jerusalem.

In Quran we are told, “Every soul shall taste death, and you will indeed be paid your reward in full on the Day of Resurrection.”38 That would apply even to those who deny the Scriptures and reality in order to pursue their own political agendas.

“[Israeli] Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon remarked on Israel’s departure from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)… that ‘UNESCO is a body that continually rewrites history, including by erasing the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

“‘Israel will not be a member of an organization whose goal is to deliberately act against us, and that has become a tool manipulated by Israel’s enemies,’ concluded Danon.”39

These UNESCO actions are not an aberration; they are normative. The UN is a political organization that makes political decisions on the basis of the changing distribution of political power. It has never been anything else. That is why there is no mechanism for making any other kind of decision. Regardless of any rhetoric to the contrary, solely political organizations do not act in response to human rights, justice, truth, or any transcendental values; they only act in response to political power. From its beginning, the UN has never had any other core values.

Unrelated to that, part of an expanded Jerusalem can be a corpus separatum. In the prophesied millennial territorial designations, there is such a corpus separatum, set apart to God, as part of a city with different boundaries.40 There is even provision for providing land for the non-Jews who have chosen to live within millennial Israel.

“‘And you are to divide this land for yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. And it will come to pass that you are to divide it by lot for an inheritance to you, and to the foreigners who sojourn among you, who will father children among you; and they will be to you as those born in the country among the people of Israel. They shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it will come to pass, that in whatever tribe the foreigner sojourns, there you shall give him his inheritance,’ says the Lord God.”41

There may be a hint of this in the Quran. After drowning Pharaoh in the sea, Allah affirms the promise of the land to the Children of Israel, speaking of a future ingathering. “And We said thereafter unto the Children of Israel, ‘Dwell in the land. And when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you as a mixed assembly.’”42

In the three Holy Scriptures, there is common agreement on some aspects of the nature of God. He is commonly presented as God the Creator, the God of Abraham, the God of Moses, the God who delivered the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, the God who sent His prophets to call people to kindness, humility, and justice.

A voluntary federation with expanded Jerusalem as its capital could be designed to facilitate cooperation toward mutual advantage. It could be a servant of the different regions rather than their lord. A constitution could make that explicit. The expanded area of Jerusalem could serve as a regional capital as well — a demilitarized zone with the Palestinians responsible for its internal police functions and Israel responsible for its external defense. This suggests that the federated states be responsible for internal order, and the federation responsible for external defense.

Recently, the Israeli government deployed policemen from the Palestinian Authority in a family dispute in Jerusalem where three people were killed. “Although all the victims and others involved in the incident hold Israeli ID cards, Israel decided to allow PA security forces to send a large security detachment to Kufr Aqab to investigate and to apprehend suspects…. Most of Kufr Aqab is located within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries and the majority of its residents hold blue Israeli ID cards making them permanent residents of Israel, and officially, the area falls under Israeli control.”43

Decisions for the assignment of legitimate functions in the expanded area of the capital could be made in a consensual parliamentary system. “The idea of proportional sectarian representation in a ‘confessional’ political system, that is one in which all political offices are allotted according to a quota for each religious sect, would outlast the Ottoman regime to survive in a slightly different form in the Republic of Lebanon.”44 To require consensus would insure that no political majority could abuse any political minority on any issue. It would require a different kind of leadership, a godly kind.

In essence, such a confessional political system is reproduced when the different represented parties are solely political rather than religious. Representation need not be limited to either political or religious parties; it can be available to both. That is currently the case in Israel today, though the absence of a constitutional and Biblical guide contributes to factionalism and strife.

One need not be possessed by a divine fervor in order to seek to make life decisions in accord with God’s revelation. One can simply be seeking to do Justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with one’s God. After all, that is an inalienable obligation.

 

 

FOOTNOTES

  1. Talmud Shabbat 31a
  2. Mattathias 22:36-40 citing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
  3. Bulugh al-Maram 6.13 “Narrated Anas …”
  4. Talmud Avot 1.14
  5. “Istanbul,” Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, pp.287, 286
  6. Isaiah 2:2-4
  7. There is an appropriate caution given through Zechariah the prophet. The Lord said, “And on that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all who burden themselves with it will be grievously injured. And all the peoples of the earth will be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:3
  8. Genesis 17:4-5,7-8,19
  9. The covenant and its promises are passed on to Jacob, e.g. Gen.28:3-4, 35:11.48:4.
  10. E.g. Deuteronomy chapters 29 & 30.
  11. Romans 4
  12. Galatians 3:8 citing Genesis 12:3.
  13. Ephesians 2:11-12. This commonwealth is formed when different nations voluntarily join themselves to a particular nation.
  14. Ephesians 2:19
  15. E.g. Deuteronomy 12:14, 14:25; 15:20; 16:15-16, 17:8, 31:11, Joshua 9:27, Nehemiah 1:9
  16. Psalm 137:5-6
  17. “Jerusalem,” Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, Agoston & Masters, p.299
  18. Luke 2:41
  19. Hadith No: 1407, From: Sunan Ibn Majah. Chapter 7, The Chapters of Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them, Narrated/Authority of Maimunah. https://ahadith.co.uk
  20. Sahih Al-Bukhari [Book of Hadiths of the Prophet] 43. The Book about Quarrels. Chapter 1. What is mentioned about people, and quarrels between the Jews and the Muslims, 1108, p.522.
  21. (Tirmidhi, Ahmad) https://www.ummah.com/forum/forum/islam/general-islamic-topics/157241-40-hadith-concerning-masjid-al-aqsa
  22. Quran, The Table Spread/al-Maidah 5:20-21
  23. Maliks Muwatta Book 005, Hadith Number 017. Narrated by Abu Hurayra http://hadithcollection.com cf. hadith-sahih-bukhari 1:6 and 4:191
  24. Dio Cassius says the change of the name and associated Roman actions caused the revolt; Eusebius says they followed the revolt. Archaeological finds support the account of Dio Cassius.
  25. Bulugh al-Maram, 1217. “Narrated Jabir”
  26. Bulugh al-Maram, “496 The Book of Judgement,” Chapter 1, The Testimonies, 1214, n.3
  27. Zechariah 8:8
  28. Isaiah 62
  29. Jeremiah 3:17-18 In the days of the divided kingdom, the house of Judah lived in the southern kingdom, and the house of Israel in the northern kingdom.
  30. Zechariah 2:14-16Hebrew/10-12English
  31. The Palestine Arab Case, Arab Higher Committee, April 1947, p.63
  32. https://news.bahai.org/media-information/brief-history/
  33. UNSCOP Report 1.72
  34. Equaling the area of Resolution 181, Part III (B), and Resolution 194.
  35. “US leaving UN Human Rights Council — ‘a cesspool of political bias’,” Laura Koran, CNN, June 20, 2018 https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/19/politics/haley-pompeo-human-rights-bias/index.html
  36. (Tirmidhi, Ahmad) https://www.ummah.com/forum/forum/islam/general-islamic-topics/157241-40-hadith-concerning-masjid-al-aqsa
  37. 1Kings 2:11
  38. Quran, The House of Imran/Al-Imran 3:185
  39. “Danon: UNESCO rewrites history by denying Jewish connection to J-m,” Jerusalem Post, January 1, 2019 08:18.
  40. Ezekiel 48
  41. Ezekiel 47:21-23
  42. Quran, The Night Journey/Al- Isra 17:104. Exodus 12:38 records that a “mixed multitude went up with the Children of Israel in the exodus from Egypt, but the Sura refers to “the promise of the Hereafter”.
  43. Khaled Abu Toameh, “Residents welcome PA policemen in Jerusalem village,” Jerusalem Post, Jan. 3, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/residents-welcome-pa-policemen-in-jerusalem-village-654136
  44. “Lebanon,” Encycl. of the Ottoman Empire, Agoston & Masters, p.330

 

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