Negotiating Jerusalem
US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has set the foreign policymaking world on edge with his and his team’s repeated insistence that as the president he will move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The goal: support Israel’s claim to the city as its “undivided, eternal capital”. By nominating David Friedman who agrees with that position – to be ambassador to Israel, Trump apparently emphasises this commitment.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resisted resolution for decades. But Trump has insisted that “a deal is a deal” and that because he is “a negotiator”, he will be successful where others were not. But it is not that simple. The “let’s make a deal” approach assumes that each negotiating party has a series of material things that can be traded off. In this approach, both sides understand they will be better off with more than they currently have.
Jerusalem’s layered history is so important to both Jewish and Muslim religious practice as immovable “sacred spaces” that even when Israeli and Palestinian leaders hold similar attachments, they can’t decide its disposition alone.
Jerusalem is the site of both some of the greatest moments in their religious and national history and the place where Judaism was consolidated in a single structure, the Temple. Jewish religious traditions say that Abraham bound and nearly sacrificed his son Isaac on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Other biblical events took place there as well.
Mount Moriah became the site of the Temple Mount, where both temples were built. These were the centre of Jewish political and religious life until the Second Temple was destroyed around AD 70. The Western Wall is what’s left of that structure.
During prayer services outside Jerusalem, Jewish congre- gations face towards Jerusalem. The city itself is mentioned during several liturgies. Many Jews end the Seder by saying “Next year in Jerusalem!”
In secular history, Jerusalem is where David established the capital of his Jewish kingdom. His son Solomon maintained the city and built the First Temple.
Much like religious Jews, religious Muslims often see territory as infused with religious meaning. That means the holy sites in the city exist as an Islamic trust that belong to God.
Because Islam sees itself as the culmination of the monotheism in Judaism and Christianity, Jewish historical sites matter to Islamic history as well. But Jerusalem matters in other, more specifically Islamic ways. The first qibla, the direction that Muslims face during prayer, was Jerusalem; only later did Muslims turn toward Mecca.
To Muslims, the area that Jews call the Temple Mount is the Noble Sanctuary. Muhammad journeyed there one night to lead a prayer service with other prophets, a service which the al-Aqsa Mosque was built to commemorate. From there, Muhammad was carried to heaven. The Dome of the Rock mosque, which sits above the Western Wall, was built where Muhammad ascended. These sites and rituals have made Jerusalem the third-holiest city in Islam.
Islamic rulers held Jerusalem between 638 and 1917, except briefly, when it was captured and controlled by the mediaeval Crusaders. This long rule cemented the city’s importance as part of Islamic community identity.
Most Palestinians are Muslim. But they consider Jerusalem significant for reasons beyond the religious ones. Muawwiyah, the first Umayyad caliph, took that title in Jerusalem as a way of tying his political-religious leadership to Muhammad.
When Palestinian nationalism emerged as a political movement in the 19th century, the city was part of its symbol of identity. The more the Zionist leadership in Mandatory Palestine treated Jerusalem as significant to their movement, the more important it became to Palestinians as a symbol of their own nationhood.
The 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence, for example, explicitly refers to Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine. For Palestinians, then, Israeli control of Jerusalem is a daily reminder of the occupation and a barrier to their own self-determination.