Chipping
At foundations Of Belief
By Omar Ahmad
13 April, 2007
San
Francisco Chronicle
Imagine
if Iran decided to build a museum on the site of a 1,000-year-old Jewish
cemetery, or if the Egyptian government threatened to destroy an ancient
Jewish temple. Both scenarios would likely be met with outrage. Members
of Congress might make indignant speeches decrying anti-Semitism. They
might even threaten to tighten the spigot on aid to Egypt. They would
be right to protest such acts.
Yet both offenses against
another religion are being committed today -- by Israel. And the outrage
is conspicuously missing.
The Los Angeles-based Simon
Wiesenthal Center has partnered with the Israeli government to build
a new "Museum of Tolerance" in Jerusalem. According to former
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meron Benvenisti, the museum site encompasses
a Muslim cemetery seized by Israel in 1948 and long-since paved over.
What does a shrine to tolerance mean when it is constructed -- literally
-- over the dead bodies of a Palestinian population that was expelled
from its homeland.
In the heart of Jerusalem's
Old City, Israeli archaeological excavations threaten the foundation
of the compound that houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest
shrine, and the Dome of the Rock, whose golden dome is the most striking
feature of the Jerusalem skyline. For Muslims worldwide, these mosques
hold enormous religious significance. Muslims, in fact, first faced
Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in prayer, only later facing Mecca.
My own parents, born in a
Palestinian village a mere 12 miles from Jerusalem, spoke often of their
trips to Jerusalem to pray at Al-Aqsa. In 1948 when Israel was established,
my family was expelled and their village was destroyed. They fled to
a refugee camp in Jordan where I was born and raised. Less than an hour's
drive from Jerusalem, I could only dream of praying in Al-Aqsa. The
religious freedom denied me in my own homeland was granted to me as
an American "tourist." I traveled to Jerusalem for the first
and only time as a young man in 1991. My prayers at the magnificent
Al-Aqsa Mosque are perhaps the most emotionally overwhelming and fulfilling
experiences of my life.
Since occupying Jerusalem
in 1967, Israel has striven to solidify Jewish dominance over this city
that is sacred to three faiths. Al-Aqsa stands as perhaps the most visible
obstacle. In 1967, the Israeli army's chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren, urged
Israeli forces commander Uzi Narkis, to use 100 kilograms of explosives
to "get rid of" Al-Aqsa "once and for all." Narkis,
as quoted by Israeli historian Avi Shlaim in "The Iron Wall: Israel
and the Arab World," (W.W. Norton &Company, 2001) had the wisdom
to refuse the rabbi's request.
Al-Aqsa has been set on fire,
Jewish terrorists have entered the mosque and fired on worshipers, explosives
have been planted and several plots to blow up the mosque have been
foiled. In parallel with these unofficial acts, Israeli government excavations
and construction projects continue to chip away at the mosque's foundation.
In 2004, what is believed to be an ancient Muslim prayer room was discovered
at the excavation site. For three years, Israel hid this spectacular
finding from the world. Does this show respect for Jerusalem's Muslim
heritage?
Muslim communities around
the world feel the same pain and anxiety that Catholics would experience
if the Vatican were being violated -- or Americans would feel if the
Statue of Liberty were being systematically desecrated.
Here in the United States,
American Muslims are gathering. They are asking how it is that -- after
centuries of religious tolerance for all three great faiths -- respect
for Islamic holy places in Jerusalem is now threatened. The Palestinians
of Jerusalem, Christians and Muslims, are a living reminder that Jerusalem
is a city that belongs to all.
Israel is the largest recipient
of American foreign aid, yet she is violating American principles of
equality for all religions. American leaders must insist that Israel's
respect for Jewish religious sites extend equally to Muslim and Christian
sites in Jerusalem, a city holy to billions of people around the globe.
Omar Ahmad is the founder
and chairman emeritus of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
He is the CEO of a Silicon Valley technology company.
This article appeared on
page B - 9 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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