Between a Rock and a Holy Site
Muslims have increased efforts to take control of Holy Land sties revered by Jews and Christians.
Clarence H. Wagner Jr | posted 2/05/2001 12:00AM
In any aggravated debate, "what is truth—indeed 'gospel' truth—for one party is more often than not viewed as blatant falsehood by the other." So writes Daniel Rossing, an orthodox Jewish educator and interfaith activist in Jerusalem who served for 14 years as the director of the Department for Christian Communities in the Israel Ministry for Religious Affairs. His insight certainly applies to tensions in the land that is holy to three faiths.
In order for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to reconcile, they would do well to listen to one another's stories. In the January issue of Christianity Today, a Palestinian Christian lawyer explained what he thought were the reasons for the breakdown of the peace process. In this issue, we hear from Clarence H. Wagner Jr., who heads Bridges for Peace, an evangelical Christian ministry that aims to build support for the people and land of Israel. The peace process as such is not his subject. Instead, he describes what he sees from his apartment window near Jerusalem, especially regarding recent Muslim encroachments on Jewish and Christian holy sites.
For the first time in 24 years of living in Jerusalem, I am worried. I can see clearly that the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is threatening all the good work that has been accomplished over the past decades to bring faith communities together.
There are many reasons why this current conflict has erupted, from political to economic. Nevertheless, Muslims are using this conflict to make strategic moves to put Israel on the public-relations defensive and to prevent free and full access to Jewish and Christian holy sites.
Bullets from Beit Jallah
One such move affects my neighborhood of Gilo, situated on the southern edge of Jerusalem and adjacent to the predominantly Christian, PNA-governed town of Beit Jallah. Since 1967, these two communities have lived side by side in harmony. These days, machine-gun fire from Beit Jallah sprays Gilo almost daily. This is the work of the Tanzim militia, whose tactic is to take over a home or factory and to fire into the residences of Gilo, trying to get Israel to fire back. Palestinians use large-caliber machine guns with armor-piercing bullets that can penetrate the walls of the apartments in Gilo and thus provoke the Israelis to return fire. Israel is forced to defend her citizens.
Additionally, the Tanzim have chosen positions near churches in Beit Jallah (most notably the Church of St. Nicholas), hoping that Israel's return fire will hit a church. Then the Christian West would read in newspapers that Israel is targeting churches. As it is, even without the Israeli bullets hitting a church, the news cameras almost always show St. Nicholas, delivering a subliminal message that Jews are firing at Christians.
We saw the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) use this tactic in Lebanon in 1982. The PLO would place an anti-aircraft gun on the roof of a hospital or position a tank next to a residential block. Then, when Israel struck the gun or tank with return fire, it would damage the hospital or apartment building, and the PLO would claim that Israel was attacking hospitals and defenseless civilians. For this reason, the Israel Defense Force picks its targets in Beit Jallah very carefully.
Meanwhile, residents of Beit Jallah and Gilo are subjected to almost daily violence because of some outsiders who are victimizing both communities and driving a wedge of resentment between Christians and Jews—not only locally, but also internationally. My Jewish neighbors and I often compare verbal notes about the situation in Gilo and ask about mutual friends who live in Beit Jallah, checking to see if they are all right. In our opinion, no one wants this conflict except Arafat and the Tanzim fighters.
February 5 2001, Vol. 45, No. 2
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