It might be surprising to some to learn that at the heart of this conflict is neither Jewish nor Muslim religious ideology, but rather foreign, European secular ideas that somehow infiltrated into the thought process of the people of the Middle East. That idea is Western nationalism. European nationalism and modern notions of what a nation-state requires, is what is really getting in the way of reconciliation between Muslims and Jews.
Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, and much before any notion of Palestinian nationalism, Jews and Muslims lived peacefully (for the most part) in the Land of Israel. In the Second Temple era, under Roman rule and even prior to the advent of Islam, Jews and gentiles lived in the same land peacefully, while essentially living in too separate states. The Talmud often speaks of laws that applied to Jews, enforced by Jewish courts, and laws that applied to non-Jews, enforced by gentile courts. Some times non-Jews would be tried in Jewish courts, in cases of Jewish victims, etc., and vice-versa.
The Land of Israel is affectionately called the Land of the Deer, because just as the skin of the deer stretches significantly to be able to envelop the deer's entire body, so too the land of Israel stretches miraculously to accomodate all of its inhabitants. If we can all just stretch our way of thinking a bit, get back to our roots, we could wake up to a different world...
No comments:
Post a Comment