Can East Jerusalem be 'godly and quietly governed'?
Originally published on Facebook 24 December 2016
Whichever government controls East Jerusalem has a primary duty to protect the lives and property of its inhabitants. Since Israel invaded in 1967, it has seized the private property of Christian and Moslem Jerusalemites, and given it to settlers who then lobby for more expropriation, so that they can live next to other settlers rather than the families that have lived in East Jerusalem for hundreds of years. Most of these long term inhabitants, like the inhabitants of Belfast, and most other people the world over, want to get on with their lives, enjoy their property, and be as little troubled by politics & politicians as possible . If Israel had governed East Jerusalem fairly, it would not have created a constituency of wronged civilians likely to give a friendly hearing to those wishing Israel harm.
Criticising Israel for expropriating Christian & Moslem land is not being anti-Israel. Many in Israel share the view that settlements get in the way of peace in the holy land.
As we celebrate Christmas Eve, and remember that manger in Bethlehem, it is worth remembering that Abraham's descendants include those, like Christ, raised in the Jewish tradition, those that see Christ as God, and those that believe he was a prophet succeeded by Mohammed. The Abrahamic faiths coexisted peacefully in the holy land in the nineteenth centenary. It is not written in stone that such peace is past its sell-by date.
We live together in London with few problems: The CofE has a legally privileged position without harming followers of other faiths (as long as they don't want to marry the heir to the throne). Israel could confer a similar primus inter pares status on Judaism, without infringing the rights of other inhabitants to own property, vote, and live full lives. Managed thus, there would be minimal resentment by Christians, and, I suspect, the Moslem population would compare such rule favourably with that in neighbouring countries run autocratically by their co-religionists.
Radical Islam is a threat to the west. It's leaders gain position & wealth by peddling the idea that the Moslem faithful should wage war against an infidel foe they regard as non-human. The Israeli Settler movement sees the world in a similar way: it supports the opposite side, but shares the view that 'the other' is not part of humanity, and should be militarily obliterated. The two sides peddle the same narrative of conflict, the same lie that the only choice is which side one supports.
Peaceful coexistence is possible, but only when we reject wrongdoing by 'people like us' just as much as when it is by 'people like them'. Christ said 'by their fruits shall ye know them', the choice to be made is not primarily about the destination but about the means to be used on the journey. In the Holy Land, this means being for or anti the terrorist murder of civilians. In the 'for' camp are Hamas, the stern gang, and the militant settler that killed Israeli PM Rabin. The 'anti' camp is large, but quieter, I pray that it will prevail. The Book of Common Prayer has us praying that we will be 'godly and quietly governed', let us extend the supplication beyond our borders and, in particular to the Holy Land, where being quietly governed has been rarer than it is here.