Can we hug Jerusalem together?
I was invited to participate in a meeting to organize the next BIG HUG around Jerusalem, slated for June, where we, Arabs and Israelis, hug the walls of Jerusalem together. I’ve been too busy to attend but received a wonderful email from someone I don’t know, who was also invited to the meeting. His thoughts are my thoughts….
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Dear friends,
I will not be able to attend the first meeting about the preparation of The Second Big Hug, June 22 2008, but in spite of that I will try to participate by writing this to you.We must not forget why we started the Big Hug. We organized the Big Hug to make the people aware –especially the Israeli and Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem, that there will be a very shaped perspective for the city of Jerusalem as a city of peace: a new, undivided Jerusalem, as the capital of Palestine, Israel and at large.The sting of all problems between Israelis and Palestinians lies in the Old City of Jerusalem. Her status has to be solved in such a way, that all parties fighting for control over her can agree upon. To give the walled Old City free to God, as a “Status Apart”, as an independent city, will be the most feasible way to come out of the current impasse. The Old City of Jerusalem must become an open city; a House of Prayer for all Peoples. This perspective is written down in the Holy Books, this is the perspective we, as ‘lovers of Jerusalem’ embrace. But how many people outside our group already notice this hopeful point of view?What I saw in Jerusalem and also everywhere else where I meet Moslem and Jewish people is, that not so many people really think about a future for Jerusalem.
Most of the time, they stick with the old ideas that the Old City of Jerusalem will always remain a part of Israel, or the opposite, that it will be absolutely be a part of a new Palestinian state, as stolen land that has to be given back. With these visions, a future Jerusalem will be a divided city with an East Palestinian and West Israeli part, with barbed wire and checkpoints in between, like the situation of the city from 1948-1967. Or, coming closer to an agreement, people have suggested -as proposed in the “Geneva Accord” in 2003- to make a complicated division of the Old City. That will mean that the small alleys will be split by walls and barriers too. The idea that a future Jerusalem will become a divided city, is something that we have to prevent.There are about 350.000 Palestinian and 350.000 Israeli living rather close together in one city. Do they want to make a separation of Jerusalem in parts or will they choose, deep in their hearts, unity?
So my best friends, it is our task to inform the whole city that there is an alternative for the Jerusalem of today. We have to approach all inhabitants of Jerusalem to join the coming Big Hug, with the idea of a New Jerusalem that will be realized with their support. All lovers of a united Jerusalem must become together in the coming Big Hug. There are surely more lovers than the 500 participants we had the last time! We have to find and encourage them, so that we really can encircle and embrace the Old City of Jerusalem with our love and devotion.Have a successful meeting.
Rob Schrama
Join the Conversation
Traditionally, Jerusalem has been thought of as the City of Peace. And therefore, it would be appropriate, as part of a final settlment between Israelis and Palestinians, to have the status of Jerusalem be in keeping with the notion of peace.
If Jerusalem were divided up, with fences and the like, then its status would undermine the notion of peace. But if a united Jerusalem could somehow become the capital of both Israel and Palestine, then its status as the capital of both entitles would be consistent with the notion of peace. The city would then serve to unite. It hasn’t been done before, but I guess there is nothing wrong with having two countries calling the same city their respective capital.
The details would of course have to be negotiated. Perhaps each country would have specific jurisdiction is certain areas. And both countries would have to commit to providing unfettered access to people of all faiths, and to protecting religious holy sites. But there would be something unique in sharing Jerusalem, and having its status reenforce the peace that will hopefully displace the current reality of war.
WE CAN SUM UP FOREIGN POLICY IN ONE WORD:
CAN YOU SAY: I S R A E L ??
Mike Huckabee is the ONLY candidate that is a friend to Israel and doesn’t support the Roadmap to Peace, aka Roadmap to PIECE which tears yet more land from Israel in the false claim that will keep peace. And it has nothing to do with any apocalyptic rhetoric, Huckabee, like many of us evangelicals love Israel, simply because Israel is the apple of G-d’s eye, period.
http://amerisrael.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/12/mike-huckabee-i.html
http://www.jrtelegraph.com/2007/10/gov-mike-huckab.html
When asked about a Palestinian state, Gov. Huckabee stated that he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel. He named Egypt and Saudi Arabia as possible alternatives, noting that the Arabs have far more land than the Israelis and that it would only be fair for other Arab nations to give the Palestinians land for a state, rather than carving it out of the tiny Israeli state.
Gov. Huckabee, who has visited Israel nine times, also expressed support for moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and stressed the importance of making America energy independent in ten years for both environmental and national security reasons. “We just can’t continue to be dependent on Saudi oil,” explained Huckabee, “I want to be able to tell the Saudis that we need their oil about as much as we need their sand.”
THIS IS HANDS DOWN WHAT SEPARATES HUCKABEE FROM ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES, AND I REPEAT ALL THE CANDIDATES.
ISRAEL ISRAEL ISRAEL ISRAEL ISRAEL ISRAEL
Yahweh’s LAND !
My bro is there right now and he said there’s rockets/bombs going off all day long, no one on the news reports it, no one talks about it, yet it is KEY to all foreign policy.
I S R A E L
THIS is all you need to know in foreign policy in the middle east, everything hinges on Israel, EVERYTHING.
Its great man, if carrys out!
But the most important thing that should have in mind to Palestin-Israel peace, I think is not physical peace! Its religional!! And it seems to be hard to achieve!
I hope they could’ve finished this war as soon as possible!
This move is great! By some action like this, first people of societies should feel each other, cuz they’re all human beings!
FUEL THE FIRE FOR WAR, ITS MAN AGAINST MANKIND !!
BRUISES THAT THEY BEAR, BEEN BEATEN DOWN WITH TIME!! “Chuck Billy”
Government seems that can’t solve the problem, so its on people to solve it!
Carry on, men
I hug Jeruslam from Here along with you, CHildren of Jerusalm
The idea that you could find some land somewhere, perhaps in other Arab countries, and use it to create a Palestinian state, might sound good, but is probably a non-starter. It’s not really only about land. It’s more about dignity.
In 1933 and 1947 a division of the land was proposed and accepted by Israel. But it was rejected by the Arab world. So it couldn’t have been just about land then, and it certainly is not just about land now.
It is helpful to think of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as a microcosm of the conflict between the Western world and the Muslim world. A lot of people place a lot of ideological significance on the struggle in that tiny part of the world. What happens in Israel and Palestine is a reflection of the bigger worldwide conflict that is taking place as we speak. Israel and Palestine are therefore symbols for the playing out of a much larger global conflict.
Therefore, if peace can somehow be achieved in Israel and Palestine, it could very well spread in symbolic influence toward a resolution of the much larger conflict between the Western world and the Muslim world. For this to happen, the resolution of the smaller issue must somehow embody aspects of the resolution of the larger issue.
We could probably put together a peace based on local needs which would carry with it ramifications for a worldwide accomodation. Say you make Jerusalem a city that can somehow be shared. Say that you find an ideological framework that allows Israelis and Palestinians to talk to one another with common sense and with a sense of personal dignity, based on shrared values and aspirations. Say that you begin investing in one another so as to create good paying jobs, so that everyone there has a place at the table, a stake in his or her future. Say that you sell people on a Vision of hope and sustain that hope with public diplmacy. And say that you confront extremism jointly, but within a Vision of Hope, so that people know what the hell they’re fighting for.
These kind of measures will not only bring peace to the parties concerned, but will set the stage for the much wider accomodation that has to take place around the world for peace to become possible.
Jerusalem as a shared capitol is a wonderful idea and I hope that sometime in the very near future it will be even considered an option. It would be difficult and would take mediators galore, but it would be well worth the trouble. Any other way would leave one party angry and ready to shatter any hope of peace with retaliation for an unfair deal.
I wish I could be there for this! I’ll hug from NYC.