Jerusalem יְרוּשָׁלַיִם القُدس

While walking on King George street in Jerusalem, just outside of the Old City, I noticed a banner on the side of an apartment building with a picture of a Native American Chief that read, “Ask me about land for peace.” This is a particularly loaded statement and so I’ll do my best to interpret it from several angles. But I’ll get back to that in a moment and first go into my experience touring through Jerusalem.

The first thing that I noticed, as a Marketing student, was that upon arrival to Jerusalem there were very few non-invasive advertisements that you would generally find in most large cities around the world. There were many hills throughout Jerusalem but none of the buildings perched on them managed to eclipse the skyline. In other words, the integrity and sanctity of the city is in large part preserved to this day, even with the aggressive pervasiveness of western capitalism. Which is stunning considering that Jerusalem is old; I mean, really old. King David identified it as the Holy City 3,000 years ago in the Torah/Old Testament. The Christians identified it as the site of Jesus death and resurrection in 30 C.E. The Muslims identified it as the city where Muhammad ascended to heaven in the 7th century. Three of the worlds major religions intersect in a city that spans one square kilometer, the implications of which involve sovereignty. We’ll get to more on that in a bit.

יְרוּשָׁלַיִם

The Old City of Jerusalem is split into 4 respective quarters; Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian. For the sake of brevity I’ll omit discussion on the Armenian quarter and begin with the Jewish quarter. It was rather interesting to see the Tomb of David and revisit the many biblical accounts on his life. The most notable area was the Western Wall where Jews (Ultra Orthodox, Orthodox and Secular) come from all over to worship and pray. The Dome of the Rock now houses the area where the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem once stood. The Western Wall is the closest area in proximity to the former Temple and is now the sacred destination for Jewish worship. The wall is partioned off by gender and people typically read the book of Psalms, write a prayer on a piece of paper and place it in the wall for consideration. There is a great deal of joy involved in their worship since there is both song and dance, but I couldn’t help but notice there were clear divisions between the “types” of Jews within the Western Wall. For example, the Ultra Orthodox Jews wouldn’t even acknowledge anyone else at the site. Regardless, I was overwhelmed by the intensity of the scene that I witnessed, to the point that I was brought to tears. God and Religion have been a glaring void in my life for nearly ten years and I remembered the dedication and zeal that I once had. It is truly a site to witness in person.

القُدس

A group of us attempted to visit the Golden Dome of the Rock in the Muslim Quarter on a Saturday morning. The women had their scarves and modest clothing. I had my passport ready to help bypass security (what once hurt me upon entering into Israel should help me in Muslim circles, right?). My childhood friend who speaks Arabic was on hand to help translate. The last set of visitors were allowed in no later than 11am and it was already 10. We began to power walk, which evolved into a light jog at one point. We were weaving through crowds excited about our possible photo prospects of a lifetime. The final stretch approached as we were flanked by street vendors and a set of stairs. I felt like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark when he seemingly achieved success by replacing the Gold artifact with a bag of sand…only to get denied. The guards said it was closed to non-muslims and when my friend told them in Arabic that I had a “Muslim” name (actually, it’s a Persian name, non-islamic) they entertained me entering until they realized that I didn’t know a word of the prayer. It was quite deflating to say the least but the mere glimpse of it was breathtaking. The rest of the Muslim quarter, which is the largest, seems to overlap the Christian quarter and is bustling with a generous mix of historic religious sites and street merchants and stores. The demographic of people are different from the rest of Israel and include women in burkas. The military presence in the Muslim quarter is difficult to ignore as it is quite common to see groups of soldiers with automatic rifles in clear view.

Jerusalem

There is a certain charm to the Old City of Jerusalem. The streets and buildings are lined with stone, ecompassed by the majestic city walls. If you stop to listen carefully, you will hear hints of conversation in arabic and hebrew, children running and laughing through the streets and pigeons cooing and flapping their wings. Peace is maintained, for the most part and it’s quite refreshing to experience. The Christian quarter was highlighted by the Holy Sepulchre, which is widely believed to be the site of Jesus crucifiction. Next to it is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a very colorful medley of green and red hues, with clerics reading the bible in quiet serenity. Once we passed through the Ethiopian church we came to the Holy Sepulchre (one of two sites that historians claim could be the site of Jesus crucifiction, the other is in East Jerusalem at the Garden of the Tomb…the side of the mount is said to be Golgotha, which has the look of a skull). Inside of the Sepulchre were several rooms and at least two floors where young clerics were led in singing holy hymns. All the while there was another who swung incense on a pendulum. You could tell that there was a great deal of money that went into this site as you could certainly feel the commercial presence of it all. The Aedicule was riddled with precious metals and stones. As I stood there amongst it all, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is truly how Jesus would have wanted to be remembered?

Implications of Jerusalem’s History on the Present Day Conflict

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. These events have been precipitated in large part due to religious sovereignty over the city. The Jewish people claim a longstanding relationship with Jerusalem, as do the Christians and Muslims. The United States of America has only been in existence for a little over two centuries and so we have no way of truly understanding the cultural and religious implications of having ties to a region of the world for thousands of years. Furthermore, the age of technology that we live in encourages us to make hasty judgements (for better or for worse). But in the grand scheme of things, we all live in a world with limited resources, and with greed and selfish, self serving guidelines; a world that has been conquered, and will be conquered again. It’s prudent to consider that the U.S. at one point, with the ideology of Manifest Destiny, massacred the Native American in the name of civilization (hardly a noble cause, depending on who you talk to). This was the idea behind the banner that was hanging on King George street in Jerusalem. In other words they are saying, we (the Jews) have a cause that we are passionate about and will attempt to maintain sovereignty over this Holy Land at all costs; don’t be so quick to judge us when it was you who destroyed Native American tribes and enslaved African people in the name of your cause.

The Jewish recently celebrated a holiday of victory, which is known to the Arab world as Humiliation Day. There is a great deal of hatred and resentment for the Jews from the Arabs (specifically the Palestinians who are occupied by Israeli soldiers and live in abject poverty). The Palestian population is growing at a tremendous rate and with support from the rest of the Ummah, including the Iranians, there is no telling what the future holds for the Jewish state of Israel. It is for that reason that people are absolutely glued to the news and concerned with the turn of events, regardless of scale.

A Jewish Professor and Diplomat during the peace talks by the name of Reuven, spoke to us in length about the conflict, convinced that peace was hardly within reach since “the Palestinians refuse to acknowledge our right to exist.” He also said that many of Israel’s positioning is strictly for military purposes although “it’s only a matter of time…before we lose a war.” He cites possible economic incentives for neighbors of Israel, but he also made it clear, that if you felt you knew what the solution was, you were sadly mistaken. In the U.S., we live in a culture of winning and losing highlighted by the fact that none of our sports generally end in a Tie; we want a winner and loser…a decisive victory and victor. Throughout the rest of the world, this is simply not the case. Soccer and Cricket matches end in ties and people think nothing of it other than that was the outcome. Perhaps we should think of this conflict a bit differently: A sad and unfortunate territorial divide spurred by a fervent and unwavering dedication to one’s religion, tradition and culture; a conflict born centuries ago of which will never see a clear and decisive victor.