Akiva Eldar Adopts Israel Harel's Idea

Here is from Eldar's column this past week:

How can Israel change Muslim extremists' attitude toward Israel?

...Pinchas Leiser, a veteran activist for the Oz Veshalom movement for Zionism, Judaism and peace...drew my attention to the commentary in the Sabbath leaflet he has been editing for the past 13 years, Shabbat Shalom, on the Vayikra Torah portion (Leviticus 1:1-5:26 ). It was read in synagogues earlier this month.

Leiser cites Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn (1857-1935 ), who wrote that the Temple belongs to all nations because no statues or symbols there are particular to just one nation. Hirschensohn also sees the Temple as the seat of international law and the center of justice among nations.  Shabbat Shalom notes that God's Temple in Jerusalem is not in any way a national temple and its entire essence is to represent all mankind and man's humanity. Leiser emphasizes that his leaflet is funded with the help of private donations and foundations, not the government.  There is also an enlightened side in Islam's attitude toward Judaism. This is presented in a new book edited by Prof. Moshe Ma'oz, "Muslim Attitudes to Jews and Israel: Ambivalences of Rejection, Antagonism, Tolerance and Cooperation."

The book, which brings together studies by Muslim and Jewish researchers and clerics, calls into question the common perception that Islam is anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli. Ma'oz says most scholars of Islam point out that alongside periods of humiliations, persecutions and political discrimination, Jewish communities in Muslim countries enjoyed long periods of coexistence and tolerance.

...In Ma'oz's assessment, if Israel shows a willingness to resolve the Palestinian issue, and especially the controversy regarding the places scared to Islam in Jerusalem, this will have a conclusive effect on the attitude toward Israel in the Arab and Muslim world. It will block extremists' anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli tendencies.

However, the Hebrew original has as its title this:-          הר הבית המשותף

Here:

That translates as The Shared Temple Mount.

That does not appear in the English translation. Could that be because it might anger Eldar's radical extremist Islamic friends?

There has been some talk about sharing.

Israel Harel wrote about it.

Here's a story about it (and here's the web site).

Non-Orthodox Rabbis want to share (so long as Israeli doesn't have sovereignty).

Ehud Barak yielded on the issue, saying no shared sovereignty.


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