Articles
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 2000, pages 69-70
Christianity and the Middle East
Christian Leaders Promote Concept of a Shared Jerusalem
By Fred Strickert
“At last Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have broken the taboo and discussed concretely how to share Jerusalem between their two peoples and the three Abrahamic religions,” said Corinne Whitlatch, director of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), in a press release following the Camp David summit.
In contrast to the accusatory and defeatist spin placed by the Clinton administration on the collapse of talks over the issue of Jerusalem, Christian leaders have generally responded positively.
For the first time since the Madrid talks in 1991, the issue of Jerusalem is on the table. “For too long,” said Whitlatch, “the Israeli public and many Americans have been led to believe that peace between Israel and the Arabs is possible while Israel maintains exclusive sovereignty over all of Jerusalem and the West Bank land annexed to Jerusalem by Israel since 1967. This is just not possible.” The summit’s discussion of Jerusalem should be treated not as a failed end, but as a monumental and necessary first step, she maintained.
Call for a Shared Jerusalem
Jerusalem has been at the top of CMEP’s agenda for some time. In 1996 bishops and representatives of CMEP member churches signed the statement “Christians Call for a Shared Jerusalem,” which was published in The New York Times and subsequently in six other major dailies.
At the heart of the call is the declaration:
“Jerusalem at peace cannot belong exclusively to one people, one country or one religion.
“Jerusalem should be open to all, shared by all...two peoples and three religions.”
Presently, CMEP is in the midst of a campaign to disseminate this statement to congregational members across the United States. CMEP produced the attractive poster accompanying this article based on a drawing of Jerusalem by a Palestinian schoolgirl and highlighting portions of the American church leaders’ statement.
In addition to displaying the poster on church bulletin boards, most denominational magazines and newspapers have published it or have plans to publish it in the coming months. “Jerusalem, City of Peace” study packets have been prepared for congregational educational programs, available from the CMEP office [phone: (202) 546-8425; e-mail: < This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. >; Web page: <www.cmep.org>].
Congregational members are encouraged not only to become better educated on the issue of Jerusalem, but also to become active in advocacy efforts during this critical period.
On Sept. 6, the top leaders of CMEP members churches sent a letter to President Clinton urging him to support the Shared Jerusalem concept. In their letter they chided the administration for its inattention to Christian concerns and for holding positions deemed inadequate. The letter commended the president for thus far blocking a move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and urged him to give greater consideration to the significance of Jerusalem to the international community and to show a higher regard for international law addressing Jerusalem. It endorsed the concept of an internationally guaranteed special statute for the governance of the Holy City.
CMEP member churches and organizations include American Friends Service Committee; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Church of the Brethren; Episcopal Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Maryknoll Missioners; Mennonite Central Committee; National Council of Churches; Presbyterian Church (USA); Reformed Church in America; Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s Institutes; United Universalist Association; United Church of Christ; and United Methodist Church.
Jerusalem Patriarchs’ Letter to Camp David Participants
Another reason for the positive evaluation of the Camp David summit was the willingness of political leaders to listen to the views of Jerusalem’s leading patriarchs.
The position of the Jerusalem church leaders—essentially the foundation of CMEP’s “Call for a Shared Jerusalem”—was articulated previously in their 1994 statement, “On the Significance of Jerusalem for Christians.”
The Jerusalem clerics wrote, “We call upon all parties concerned to comprehend and accept the nature and deep significance of Jerusalem, City of God. None can appropriate it in exclusivist ways. We invite each party to go beyond exclusivist visions or actions and, without discrimination, to consider the religious and national aspirations of others, in order to give back to Jerusalem its true universal character and to make of the city a holy place of reconciliation for humankind.”
On the basis of this position, the Jerusalem patriarchs wrote a letter July 13, at the outset of the Camp David talks, to Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Yasser Arafat to wish them success.
Patriarchs Diodoros I (Greek Orthodox), Michael Sabbah (Latin Catholic), and Torkom II (Armenian Orthodox) wrote on behalf of all 13 traditional heads of churches in the Holy Land reminding the Israeli and Palestinian leaders of the importance of a just and secure peace and calling upon them “to show prophetic vision and creative courage to transform Jerusalem into a city of peace and reconciliation.”
The church leaders issued a second, more substantive letter to Camp David participants after learning through the media of a proposal under discussion that would split the Christian community. Under this proposal the Armenian quarter would have been split off from the Old City’s Christian and Muslim quarters and joined with the Jewish quarter, under Israeli sovereignty.
The Old City’s current population of 32,488 is divided into 70 percent Muslim, 20 percent Christian, and less than 10 percent Jewish.
The July 17 letter emphasized the long, continuous Christian presence in Jerusalem and stressed that “the Christian communities consider themselves one inseparable and contiguous entity,” of which any attempt at division is unacceptable. The church leaders requested international guarantees to ensure the fundamental freedoms of worship and access by all Christians to their sanctuaries, and requested the possibility of having church representatives at the negotiating forums to facilitate consultation.
Post-Summit Activity
In another post-Camp David move to advance the discussion of issues about Jerusalem now on the table, some 40 Palestinian Christian and Muslim leaders—including the mufti of Jerusalem and numerous bishops and other clergy—met at Orient House July 29 to affirm their unity. The clerics issued a 10-point statement calling for the end of Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and rejecting any solutions which would divide the Palestinian community.
The Vatican reaffirmed its appeal for international guarantees for Old City Jerusalem when U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Rome Aug. 1.
The following day Associated Press writer Jasmina Kelemen quoted both Israeli and Palestinian political representatives as rejecting any such claims, saying that there was no place for third-party demands in the negotiations.
Catholic Clarifications
At the same time, Catholic leaders were trying to clarify the concept of international guarantees. At a luncheon hosted by The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine (www.palestinecenter.org) in Washington, DC, Father Drew Christiansen, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, noted that many in the media misunderstand this concept as similar to the Vatican’s earlier 1947 position calling for a corpus separatum , or international governance, over the city, as mandated in the United Nations partition resolution of that year.
Christiansen noted that in 1967 the “Holy See altered its position” and “advocated instead a special status for Jerusalem that would guarantee the rights of the religious communities and their people in the city and ensure their future there.” That is not the same thing as a call for the internationalization of the city, he said, as often misinterpreted by the media.
In Jerusalem, Father Raed Awad Abu Salieh, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, published an article on “The Significance of Special Status with International Guarantees for the City of Jerusalem.”
Father Salieh emphasized again the special role of Jerusalem as a center of universal pilgrimage which can be considered a “spiritual capital” for all three monotheistic religions. Because Jerusalem is occupied territory, rules of international law and U.N. resolutions apply to this conflict and are to be implemented, he insisted. “Consequently,” he said, “East Jerusalem must go back to the Palestinians and be under complete Palestinian sovereignty, and become the capital of the future state.”
Since the Christian community sees itself as an integral part of the Palestinian community, Salieh explained, it does not see itself as a “third party” in the negotiations. “Nor do we mean that the Christian side, owing to its small numbers, is afraid about its future or asks for protection because it feels week or persecuted,” he wrote. “No! We are not a third party, and we are not a weak party either, but we constitute an integral component of Palestinian society.”
Regarding the concept of international guarantees, the church does not envision “a physical presence of international forces to protect the Old City or to administer it,” the chancellor said, distinguishing the present position from the older idea of the city’s “internationalization.” “We only ask for international guarantees to all the agreements,” he clarified, “so that all these agreements will be respected and implemented and that they will not remain a worthless piece of paper.”
Bishop Munib Younan of Jerusalem’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was interviewed Aug. 23 on public television’s “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on the opportunities arising from the Camp David negotiations. “This is a turning point in our history, both for Palestinians and Israelis,” the bishop observed. “If we don’t seize the moment and really find a negotiable solution where it gives everybody their equal rights, I think there will be a deep crisis.”
Nevertheless, Younan is optimistic about the growing acceptance of change. He noted how ideas once considered unthinkable—a face-to-face meeting between Arafat and Rabin, for example, or the willingness by Israelis to recognize a Palestinian state—today are considered matter of fact. “You see, on the issue of Jerusalem...it’s the same thing,” Bishop Younan explained. “It’s a matter of [building] awareness.”
SIDEBAR 1
Sharing Jerusalem in Louisville
While negotiators were meeting at Camp David to discuss the fundamental issue of sharing Jerusalem, the dispute was made real on a smaller scale to a Christian women’s conference in Louisville, KY where a Palestinian and Israeli found themselves as roommates.
As Alexa Smith reported in PCUSA NEWS, Israeli Gila Svirsky and Palestinian Nora Kort were invited to share the podium for an interfaith workshop at the Jubilee 2000 gathering of Presbyterian Women. However, when they were assigned to the same room at the Hyatt Regency, some rather interesting discussion resulted. Although both women currently live in West Jerusalem, would Svirsky invite Kort to be a guest in her home? “I would not accept,” Kort responded in a kind, but matter-of-fact way. “And, no, I would not invite you to my home.” Svirsky acknowledged that these are the unwritten rules of life in Jerusalem.
A member of Women in Black, Svirsky frequently participates in street demonstrations against the conflict’s continuing violence. Kort, a community development expert, focuses her outreach on battered women and on efforts to help women find ways to sell handmade goods. Both are committed to peace and justice. But, even though the two women may work closely in the peace movement and talk freely on the street, friendship is not an option.
Describing attitudes in their respective communities, the two spoke of the need to keep reiterating their loyalty to their own heritage and to draw lines when it comes to social interaction. Both articulated their respect for each other and their support for a shared Jerusalem. They won’t be telling folks back home, however, that they shared a room in Louisville.
—F.S.
Dr. Fred Strickert is professor of religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
