Open letter
To the Representatives at the Middle East Peace Conference presently scheduled for November:
1) Mr George Bush, President of the USA
2) King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia
3) Mr Ehud Olmert, Acting Prime Minister of Israel
4) Mr Tony Blair, Middle East Envoy
Respectable Sirs,
We, the undersigned, approach you to elevate that crucial meeting from the level of political and temporary conveniences – and of showy handshakes and hugs – to the level of establishing true and lasting peace based upon our respective Holy Scriptures: They were not given for the sake of strive and war but rather for brotherhood and welfare of all mankind in honoring the Name of the Creator of all of us.
Hence, we the undersigned, approach each of you specifically with the request to consider the following:
a) Respectable President of the USA, you suggested several years ago the "Road Map" as a directive for establishing peace in the Middle East. Not only that it did not work, it has caused even more problems, quite naturally so. What lead you – as a Christian believer in the truth of the Bible - to suggest the division of the Land of Israel, and even of Jerusalem? Is that Land your fiefdom of which you can dispose at will? In case you claim that you were guided by the desire for doing justice to the Arab/Palestinian peoples, then, please, tell the Arab nations that they should not (mis)use them as spearhead in their unjustified –and even anti-Koran- war against Israel. Besides, consider Prophet Zechariah 12:3!
b) Respectable King of Saudi Arabia, by taking up guardianship over Mecca, you assumed a role which goes beyond taking care for Saudi and/or local Arab interests based upon willful interpretations of the Koran. You know very well that the latter is in line with the (Hebrew) Bible; stresses the eternal validity of the latter; and even repeats the Divine Promises for the People of Israel to return to its ancient homeland after the Roman exile. As Muslim, you had even been obliged to give shelter to the Jews persecuted by the Nazis, and receive them back into their ancient homeland (as demonstrated e.g. by the King Feisal / Weizman Agreement of 1919) – but instead your dynasty (and the Arab League) adhered to the anti-Jewish slogans of Mufti Amin el-Husseini who even lined up with the Nazis and charged from their Radio Berlin "Jihad" against the Jews [[that is, he did so even before the establishment of the State of Israel!]]. Thus, hatred against Jews and Israel became the core of contemporary Islamic extremism; and threw both Jews and Palestinian Arabs into the abyss of terrible sufferings - handed out as pleasing Allah!
In contrast to that attitude, the Koran stresses
*) The God of Israel and the God of Ishmael is ONE GOD (Sura The Spider, 45; Counsel 14; et al);
*) The words of the Prophets –including the return of Israel-- shall truly be established (Sura Bani Israel, 108; Greeks, 5; Hobbling 31; Believers, 78; et al);
*) Allah wants to be honored by forgiveness and love (Sura The Table, 15-17). – More details in the "Attachment" below.
It is foremost in your hands to lead the Arab/Moslem peoples into that Divine Truth, and consequently to brotherhood, peace, and welfare – or else to throw mankind (incl. the Arab nations) into more wars, and unprecedented suffering. –
May we mention that such required re-thinking would neutralize also the Mullahs of Persia.
c) Respectable Mr. Olmert, Acting Prime Minister of Israel. You received both of us, the undersigned, in your office of the Municipality of Jerusalem when you were its town mayor: you heard our arguments in regard of "Jihadism", and of counteracting that evil device. We stressed already then that there cannot be peace worthy that name as long as the Arab/Muslim peoples are indoctrinated with "Jihad against Israel". Did we talk to you in vain? Do you really think that compromising with "Jihadists" (in whatever garb they appear) will be conducive to establishing trustworthy peace? Jihadists, like any kind of extremists, see compromises and good-will gestures as God-given stimuli to further pursue their goal. If you say you are under the pressure from the Europeans and the USA – please, tell them in plain words that "Palestine" is merely an assault party in the hands of the "Jihadists"; and tell them that we are not willing to play guinea-pig for testing the veracity of illusions (that, in case you are not up to stand for the Words of the Prophets). As the Land of Israel is not President Bush's fiefdom, so it is not given to us to dispose of parts thereof - and even such essential ones as Samaria, Yehudah, and the Golan Heights.
d) Respectable Mr Tony Blair, as the previous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and now as the EC-Envoy to the MidEast, you are in a position were you can rectify the fateful decision of your country in 1919 to install that Jew-hating Mufti Amin el-Husseini as the "Mufti of Jerusalem"; and let him as self-styled "Grand-Mufti of Palestine" saw his seeds of hatred against Jews. All that in negligence, if not defiance, of the King Feisal/Weizman Agreement (mentioned above) which could have paved the way for peace and brotherhood in the Middle East, and thus in the world. Or, did your country then take to the ancient –Roman- dictum of "Divide and rule"? Whatever the case, fate put you into a position to do your part in rectifying that decision of then; and by doing so being instrumental in paving the way toward true brotherhood and peace.
May our appeal not be in vain.
Jerusalem, Oct.7, 2007 Rome, Oct.7, 2007
Sincerely,
Dr. Asher Eder Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi
Jewish Co-Chairman Moslem Co-Chairman
Islam-Israel Fellowship, Yerushalayim / Israel
Arieh Gallin
President, Root and Branch Assoc. Ltd, Yerushalyim/Israel
Attachment:
PEACE IS POSSIBLE BETWEEN ISHMAEL AND ISRAEL
ACCORDING TO THE TANAKH AND THE KORAN
(Summary of the essay)
Dr. Asher Eder
The ruling wing of Islam has severed its original ties with the "Book" (the Tanakh, Hebrew Bible) and the "People of the Book," Israel. It plays out the idea of Jihad, and the quest of Jerusalem.
In Islamic view, a Jihad can end only with a complete victory - or else with an unreserved admittance that engaging in it was wrong from the start.
The Koran itself suggests this change of attitude, and can help pave the way to mutual understanding and co-operation:
1. it stresses the continued validity of the "Book" – Jonah 38; Table 52; Cow 172;
Believers 56; Bee 45-47; and others;
2. it recognizes the teachings of the Prophets, even of the rabbis - Table 48,
(notwithstanding Repentance 30-35);
3. it recognizes the peculiarity of Israel and the unparalleled gifts to its people (incl. the
Land) – Hobbling 15; Cow 44, 116; Smoke 30;
4. the Holy Land prescribed for Israel - Table 23;
5. it was Allah who settled the Children of Israel there – Jonah 93;
6. Israel admonished to stand firmly on the Torah – Table 73, et al;
7. Israel rebuked for not fighting for her land - Cow 60, 247;
8. David's kingdom [Zion], and Psalms, confirmed, and David being acknowledged as a
Divine viceroy and judge on earth – Zad 19, 25; Cow 252 [cf. Is. 28:16];
9. the Psalms and the Prophets speak of Israel's return to the land and to Jerusalem, and
so does the Koran – Bani Israel 8, 105;
10. Israel often harshly rebuked in the Koran, but there is no cancellation of the
Covenant or of the Promises;
11. on the contrary, the words of the Prophets shall surely be established – Greeks 5;
Hobbling 31; Believers 76;
12. Muslim should have given refuge to persecuted believers – The Spoils 76;
13. Abraham is called a truly faithful, i.e. Moslem- Imram 60; Pilgrimage 77; Cattle 62;
likewise the Prophets – Table 48, notwithstanding their keeping Shabbat and their
direction of prayer toward Jerusalem;
14. Abraham established
a) Mount Moriah in Jerusalem for Israel - Gen. 22:2; 2.Chron.3:1,
b) the Kaaba in Mecca for Ishmael - Cow 119, 123
(yet 1.Kings 8:41-53; also Cow 171!);
15. Quiblah (direction of prayer) for Muslims to Mecca, and for Jews to Jerusalem
(Cow 140,143), yet see also Cow 171 - and 1.Kings 8:41-53;
16. Koran admits different religious rites, and urges us to emulate in good works
(Cow 143; Table 53; Pilgrimage 66);
17. ONE GOD for Ishmael and Israel (The Spider, 45; Counsel, 14);
18. Allah wants to be honored by forgiveness and love - Table 15-17,
Woman Tested 7; Counsel 14.
19. Rassul Mohammed as the "Seal of the Prophets" (Conf.40), confirms them!
It is the words of the Prophets which provide the base for true peace
Democracy, being merely a form of government but not its soul,
should be guided by them.
A B R A H A M ' S P R A Y E R
When told by the Lord that in spite of his advanced age he would have a son also from Sarah, Abraham prayed (Gen. 17:18):
"O that Ishmael might live before thee".
Abraham loved both his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, therefore he had to be told:
"Take now thy son, thine only one whom you have loved, even Isaac..."
(Gen. 22:2).
The specification "even Isaac," was to tell him which one of the two beloved sons he should bring to Mt. Moriah.
Abraham did not merely pray "that Ishmael might live." He was not concerned that Ishmael would be threatened by Isaac, and would need a special prayer for protection from him.
Abraham was concerned that Ishmael, born from Hagar and biologically the firstborn, might try to bring the whole heritage unto himself, depriving Isaac of God's promise1).
Abraham's prayer that Ishmael might live before the Lord was meant to encourage and guide him to let the spiritual − Abrahamic − inheritance get the upper hand, so that he would be alive in the Divine spirit, and consequently recognize also Isaac's call.
The two brothers and their descendants should not fight over the inheritance rather "compete in good works" as the Koran, Ishmael's guide book, says so aptly2).
Prophet Maleachi (2:19) confronts us with the question:
"Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the Covenant our Fathers?"
Hence, in the spirit of our Father Abraham, let us pray:
O h t h a t b o t h o f u s
I s h m a e l a n d I s r a e l
m i g h t l i v e b e f o r e T h e e "
1) Ishmael, Abraham's son from Hagar, is the ancestor of the Arab (Muslim) nations;
Isaac is one of the three Patriarchs of Israel.
2) Sura "The Table" 53; also "The Cow" 143; "Pilgrimage" 66.
Dr. Asher Eder
e-mail: avrason@netvision.net.il
