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The
identity of Jerusalem has been in the center of controversy between
Arabs and Jews
since the occupation of the Holy City in 1967. the Palestinian
uprising presents clear
evidence of the Arab affinity to the Holy City challenging Jewish
claims.
Historians still dispute the chronological past of Jerusalem. Many,
however, commonly
accept that the city’s existence dates back more than 4000 years.
Experts believe the history of Jerusalem is part of the history of
ancient Palestine, being first
inhabited by the Canaanites. They also agree that the Jewish
presence in Palestine was
part of the Canaanite civilization, which hints to the fact that all
ancient Jews were originally
Arabs.
"
Excavations prove Jewish claims regarding their presence in
Palestine are only nostalgic
interpretations," said Dr. Walid Mustafa, Professor of Humanities
at the West Bank
University of Bethlehem. It shows Jewish scripture is not accurate
and cannot be taken as
historical fact, he pointed out.
Even Israeli archeologists have become more convinced that Jewish
history in Palestine
cannot be taken for undeniable truth.
Mustafa stressed religious books must be weighed on their
sacredness, not taken as the
basis of historical developments.
Dr.
Michel Prior, a minister and reader in Biblical studies at St.
Mary's College in England,
agrees. "With respect to Palestine, what is going on there now is a
fundamental mistake.
" It
is a very anti religious approach, “ Prior told the Star.
“It
is evil to kill people under any pretext in the name of God”.
Similar to Mustafa’s view, archeologists and historians in the West
have failed so far to
support insistence of some Jews that they rebuild the temple of
David in Jerusalem.
Dr.
Philip Davies, from Sheffield University in England, detected the
real history of Zionism
through comprehensive readings of the Dead Sea scrolls, discovered
in Qumran caves in
the West Bank in 1947.
In a
symposium titled “Jerusalem in History and Traditions”, held last
week, Davies noted
the
scrolls have failed to prove Jewish claims about the temple. The
symposium was
organized jointly between the Amman-based Al Manara foundation and
the East-West
Nexus Group (Pruta) in Boston and London.
Dr. Salma Khadra Al Jayyousi, principal chief of Al Manara, emphasizes
the timing of the
seminar coincides with the current political deteriorations in the
Palestinian territories. She
noted the Palestinians are fighting relentlessly to
prove their homeland in peace and justice.
"We
need to disclose the difference between the real history of
Palestine and the traditions
that were inherited over ancient times, Al Jayyousi, a well known
academic, told the Star. She
pointed out “no one can prove what has really happened in the past
unless we all
understand well the intellectual and sentimental background of the
Jewish people today.
” We
have to understand their ideology before deciding their claims to
Jerusalem are false, ”
she said.
Prior presented a moral reading of the Bible, in which he emphasized
the implications for a
public nature of the discipline of Biblical studies which stresses
public responsibility and
ethical accountability. Prior believes his studies in the Holy Land
were influenced by the
enormity of the tragedy in the region.
“What is the most distressing from a moral and religious
perspective, is the major
ideologists support for Zionist imperialism and the principal
obstacle to treating the
indigenous people [ Palestinians] with respect, coming from
religious circles for whom the
Biblical narratives of land is understood in a
literalist fashion, “he said.
Nevertheless, prior noted his studies in the Bible in the Holy Land
introduced him to the fa
the Jewish biblical narrative is considered an
instrument of oppression.
"It
is disappointing that in an age in which apologizing for misdeeds
and omissions is part
of
the landscape. There is little evidence of perturbation concerning
the profusion of evils
arising from particular understandings of the
biblical text."
The
reverend added he has researched the use of the Bible as a
legitimization of the
oppression of people, something which he has never
accepted.
Other discussions in the symposium focused on the topographic and
demographic aspects
of the history of Jerusalem.
Dr.
Ingrid Hjelm, from Copenhagen University, and Lester Grabbe from
Hull University in
England each spoke about the human history of the early peoples who
lived in Palestine
before the birth of Jesus Christ. Hjelm disputed the traditional
accounts that show Jews
were chosen by God, while Grabbe questioned the real ancestors of
ethnic groups in
Jerusalem.
But
Thomas Thompson’s “The cleansing of Jerusalem” analyzes the Book of
Ezra, which
was
reputedly written in the 5th century BC. The book is not
a history of salvation. It is part
of
theological discourse, said professor Thompson, from Copenhagen
University. He
disputed Ezra’s perspective of ethnic cleansing of the non Jews in
ancient Palestine.
Religion is misused to identify the conflict between
Jews and Arabs, Thompson stressed.
Today in Israel, the principles of democracy contradict the
principles of Judaism, where you
grant citizens their rights but deny them to other
citizens.
Thompson, whose support of Palestinian demands and his disapproval
of Jewish claims
cost him his career in the US. He concludes by saying Israel’s
political strategies often rely
on
the information in the Jewish Scripture to manipulate and exclude
the Palestinians from
their homeland. It is more like bringing the snake
within the courts of scholarship.
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