Passions that shape life in Jerusalem

By Phil Pegum
Radio 4's Portraits of Jerusalem

The Middle East conflict cannot be solved without resolving the issue of Jerusalem, but how does this intense political and religious climate affect the lives of the people who live in the city?

Politically and spiritually, Jerusalem is unique. Holy to three great faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Old City is also perhaps one of the most fought over square kilometres on earth.

At its heart is the platform that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call the Haram-al-Sharif. The area is dominated by the famous golden roof of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most important site in Islam.

The Mount was also originally home to the Temple of Solomon, which the Bible records as the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

A few hundred metres away is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally said to have been founded by Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine who converted Rome to Christianity.

As well as religious sites, they are potent symbols of the rich layers of history and peoples running through the city.

Jerusalem from the air Enlarge Image

The issues of land and ownership are hugely sensitive to Arabs and Jews. They lie at the heart of the Middle East conflict, particularly in Jerusalem and nowhere more so than in the areas around the holy sites.

In recent years, a building in the Old City owned by the Orthodox Church was leased to Jewish interests and is now home to 10 Jewish families. The purchase was hugely controversial, and protests even reached the United Nations.

Daniel Lourier is executive director of Ateret Cohanim, the Jewish Reclamation Project, which helps buy properties for Jews so that they can settle in the Old City.

There is no compulsion he explains. "We don't go door-knocking, we don't promote, we don't push."

"There is no shortage of Arabs who are ready to sell to Jews," he says. "They approach us, either directly or indirectly and we buy."

There is no shortage of Arabs who are ready to sell to Jews Daniel Lourier, Jewish Reclamation Project Struggle for Jerusalem

Ateret Cohanin has brought around 80 properties since it started 28 years ago and their acquisitions are focused around the Temple Mount.

Mr Lourier sees Jerusalem as a Jewish city and believes Israel should stop being apologetic about it. "We should not be afraid to say to the world that it belongs to us," he says.

"There's a battle going on for Jerusalem. Our work is of paramount importance for those that want to keep Jerusalem in Jewish hands."

Click here to see Jerusalem's changing shape

But just as many Israelis see Jerusalem as their city, so do the Arab Muslims and Christians who have lived there for many centuries.

The Old City is one of the most fought over square kilometres on earth

Mohammed was born in the city. He has lived in the United States and the UK but has now returned. He believes his return is an act of political defiance. He has had difficulties maintaining his right of residence and believes the Israelis are trying to force Arabs like himself out of the city.

"I don't believe in violence but I believe being here is a real fight for me," he says. "To exist in my town is a real fight. That is enough fighting. It's better than resisting by force, just staying here and trying to make my living and daily life."

'Redemption'

Mohammed is not religious but he still feels a close bond with the city where he was brought up. It's the bustle and excitement of the Old City that makes him feel at home - something he missed when he was abroad.

"Here you can talk, you can joke, you can sit down, have a cup of tea," the jeweller says. "You can even go as far as smoking a cigarette with the customer, and talk politics and so on."

For Mr Lourier, settling more Jews in Jerusalem is part of a process of redemption for the city and for the Jewish people. "We're moving forward, there is a greater Jewish presence, more Jewish life and a greater adherence to Jewish tradition," he says.

"This has to remain a united Jerusalem under Israeli Jewish sovereignty. But any Arab who wants to live here in peace should be allowed to live here in peace."

The Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City

The culmination of that process would be the restoration of the Temple of Solomon on Temple Mount. But he sees that as a very long-term goal. He says it couldn't happen while there was an Arab majority in East Jerusalem or until there was peace in the Middle East.

"Most, if not all, religious Jews, believing and wanting the Temple and knowing that it will be rebuilt, also recognise that the redemption process may take 100 years or 200 years," he says.

But he also recognises the site's significance to others. "One has to respect that the Dome of the Rock has existed for 1300 years and it is there. I understand and respect that al-Aqsa exists and the Dome of the Rock. It's a tragedy that the Arab world doesn't respect where I'm coming from."

Christian decline

For Mohammed, religion is part of the problem not the solution for Jerusalem. Religion, he believes, is the cause of misery between the peoples of the Middle East, making people feel that they are right and everybody else is wrong.

"If you are not religious, you can respect everyone and hear their opinion," he says.

"The non-religious Jews are willing to negotiate and to live in peace. But the very religious Jew is not willing at all and it's the same with the Muslims as well.

"We can never come to a proper solution in this land if we leave the minority religious people to rule. The worse the situation gets, the more fundamentalist people become."

As the conflict polarises into a battle between Islam and Judaism, the mostly Arab Christian community is declining. At the time of the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 there were 29,000 Christians living in Jerusalem - now that figure is less than 10,000.

Christians fear that no matter who wins they'll end up as a tiny second-class minority

In Israel and the Occupied Territories as a whole, 25% of the population was Christian in the 1950s. Today the proportion is just 2%.

Father Jerome Murphy O'Connor is professor of New Testament at Jerusalem's Ecole Biblique. He has lived in the city for 43 years and has seen the steady decline of the Christian population at first hand.

"We serve a large area and we would get 300 local Arab Christians for Mass on a Sunday. Now there are fewer than 10," he says.

"Christians fear that no matter who wins they'll end up as a tiny second-class minority. They can't win. That fear has been driving emigration and anyone who can get a visa leaves, for the future of their children."

There are schemes to try to halt the decline by building new houses for the Christian community. But land is scarce and because of the sensitivity over the land, planning permission is hard to get.

A recent scheme for 68 apartments just outside Jerusalem took nine years to get approval.

Father Murphy O'Connor believes the Christian community around the world hasn't woken up to the implications. He says that in a few decades time there could be no local Christians in the birthplace of their religion.

"The average Christian in the pew will expect to find a priest in Jerusalem looking exactly like a priest at home. That's why there is no pressure to save the Palestinian Christians. We feel isolated. People like me are going to end up as guardians of churches that are no more than museums."

The Radio 4 series, Portraits of Jerusalem is on Radio 4 on Fri 8, Sat 9, Sun 10 June at 1600 BST (repeated 2300 BST Fri/Sun, 2330 Sat)

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