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An Inter-Religious Vision of Peace for
Israel/Palestine
Preliminary remark : This vision of peace is not intended as a blueprint tobe implemented literally, just as it stands. By projecting the image of a
possible solution I hope to stimulate new thinking and a complete
reappraisal of the situation, because the imagination and feelings of
people on both sides need to get unstuck if the present deadlock is to
loosen up. Only once that has happened will the parties be able to find a
solution that suits both sides.
By establishing a Jewish state within traditional Islamic territory a conflict
was started that has resisted all attempts to find a solution and has even
escalated into something close to a new East-West-conflict.
After decades of involvement with the religions of the Middle East I came
to the conviction that political attempts alone will never heal the conflict,
because in its innermost core this conflict is not political. It is a conflict of
identities, which encompass the entire history of peoples, along with the
accompanying narratives; and thus it runs far deeper than any ideology
ever could. It is far more of a religious issue than people
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The holy district in Jerusalem between the Temple Mount / Haram ash-
Sharif and the Holy Sepulcher
think – something to consider, especially for those who see themselves as
nonreligious. Lastly, it is an internecine conflict between competing
religious filiations of the children of Abraham, the common father of
Muslims, Jews and Christians.
This strife within the family of Abraham finds its focal point in the
ownership dispute over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which seems to
be the symbolic heart of the entire Middle East conflict. As it is tied to the
identities of hundreds of millions of people, the explosive fuel in this locus
of conflict is virtually inexhaustible. And, in my eyes, as long as thisdispute is not settled the entire Middle East will not find rest.
Starting from these insights, I found a solution that takes the value of the
Temple Mount / Haram ash-Sharif for Jewish and Muslim identities into
consideration: it involves a pan-Abrahamic sanctuary which includes a
new Temple for the Jews.
Some Jews may say: we don’t need a New Temple, we don’t even want
one, to which I would reply that it is not the Jews who need a new Jewish
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Temple, it is the Muslims. Ever since the Jews returned to their Biblical
homeland, Muslims have feared for their sanctuaries at Haram ash-
Sharif / the Temple Mount. They know that Jews pray every day for a new
Temple and that even many non-religious Jews want a New Temple now.
So Muslims fear, it may be only a matter of time until their sanctuaries
are taken away from them.
A New Temple could free them of that fear.
My vision of peace points to a way in which the longing of the Jews for a
New Temple could be fulfilled without taking anything away from the
Muslims. Thus all three Abrahamic religions can emerge victorious from
the conflict.
And the world can breathe freely again, because what the “war against
terror” could not accomplish can in this way be achieved: easing of tension and peace.
How?
The first prerequisite is that the Jews need to make clear to themselves
how they can under the circumstances facing them, fulfill their calling to
be “God’s Chosen People”. A truly chosen people will seek to heal the
world – and this task is indeed enjoined by the Jewish tradition.
In the process of striving to become healers, Jews will perceive and
acknowledge that Muslims are zealously laboring to meet the aim of their
father Abraham and to accomplish peace by surrendering to God. With
that realization, they will recognize that Muslims are their genuine
brothers and sisters.
With Christians they will encounter a similar experience, for they too
strive to follow God’s calling. They too are the Jews’ authentic brothers
and sisters.
These deep insights will lay a new task upon “God’s Chosen People”: they
will want to bring together all the children of Abraham.
And that opening will lead to a total transformation of their vision of a
New Temple. Since their task will now be to mediate between the children
of Abraham, they will see a new location for their Temple: it will not be
the Temple Mount, as for the previous Temples. Their New Temple will
now need to act as a physical bridge between the sanctuaries of the
Muslims at Haram ash-Sharif and the ancient Christian sanctuary, the
Holy Sepulcher.
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And once the Jews recognize the Muslims as their true spiritual kinsmen,
they will even hand over the Temple Mount as a gift to their brothers and
sisters.
The Muslims will perhaps be moved by this great gesture on the part of
the Jews. This will lead them to review their relationship with them and
start to review their old Sharia law, which requires members of otherreligions to subordinate themselves to Islam. They will look to the Qur’an
and therein they will see that it urges a competition in virtue between the
members of the religions of the book, and welcomes the God-given
diversity of three Abrahamic religions – even within traditional Islamic
territory. And that opens up a new prospect: lasting peace with Israel will
become a true option.
And God only knows what other peaceful ideas Muslims will come up with
once they see this great gesture of Jewish generosity.
The generosity of this gesture will also be seen in this: In order to restore
the New Temple in its main function, namely to have the capacity to
house the Shechinah, the Divine Presence, it needs to be linked to the
previous Temples. To accomplish that the (huge) foundation stone, which
marks a certain spot under the Holy of Holies, needs to be excavated
from the Temple Mount, and precisely inserted at the new location. – And
with that the world will see that the new location of the New Temple isnow permanent and that the sanctuaries of the Muslims are secure once
and for all.
But the turning point will already have been reached with the decision of
the Jews to become healers. That decision will for all members of the
Abrahamic religions be a cause for rejoicing and celebration. Since the
new Temple will serve as a bridge between the children of Abraham
peace will be at hand. Its construction will create a great pan-Abrahamicsanctuary, thereby confirming the spiritual unity of the three religions and
simultaneously demonstrating their wonderful diversity.
But what about the nonreligious members of the three cultures?
Our time has only added to the historical record of how calamitous, even
murderous religiously defined identities can become, when they regard
themselves alone as valid.
But Abraham, the forefather of all three cultures can dispel this danger:
he left his family, his country and his entire tradition to set out,
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completely on his own, in search of the truth about life in foreign territory
and under utterly hazardous circumstances. Non-religious members of
the three cultures show a similar skepticism and trust in their inner
guidance. They too have lost confidence in their tradition because they
too have suffered from its deformations, and they too are searching for
the truth on their own. In this respect, they too are true to the example of
the father of the three traditions. – Of course, the non-religious are no
saints, and many of them will also build dangerous identities. But the non-
religious do play an important role in showing that this new sanctuary
must be a place of awareness, not only a place for consolidating a
tradition. The new pan-Abrahamic sanctuary will surely be such a place of
awareness, for it will bring together the different traditions of Jews,
Christians and Muslims – and will even find a place for those who have
departed from these traditions in order to discover truth on their own.
This great sanctuary will thus be a place of being fundamentally human
and a source of true salvation.
In other words, it will correct those who come to it in the same way as a
good doctor corrects his patients – by healing them.
At present each one of the Abrahamic traditions is in danger of becoming
a narrow self-centered way and those who follow these paths are in
danger of merely indulging their pain and their pride, blaming themembers of other traditions for their own shortcomings. But at the place
where all these pathways meet, at the great new pan-Abrahamic
sanctuary, all will see their common origin and thus the way to live
together in peace.
GOTTFRIED HUTTER, Theologian, Historian, Munich Tel. +49-89-4471 8971
Email: [email protected]
More information: www.Temple-Project.de
Tax-deductable donations to
“Temple-Project Association” [Account No. 1001241031, BLZ 70150000]
IBAN: 93 7015 0000 1001 2410 31, SWIFT-BIC: SSKMDEMM
