RAMALLAH - 19 APRIL , 2010 Elie Wiesel’s letter on Jerusalem
A Jewish Writer and author who earned his reputation through his writings on the Holocaust became famous in Europe and the United States. But unfortunately he didn’t learn anything from his writings on the massacres of European Jewry.
In a new article about biblical Jerusalem he writes as a Jewish dreamer regardless of the developments of the post Bible ages and the emergence of another two major religions: Christianity and Islam who actually make more than two third of humanity. Both successive religions venerate Jerusalem as a sacred place for all Christians and Muslims around the world.
In addition to being a focal point and spiritual attraction for three monotheistic religions Jerusalem incorporates the national aspirations for Muslim and Christian Palestinians. Palestinians who have been living in Jerusalem for ages are existentially threatened by the totalitarian and unilateral rule of the Israelis who represent only one pillar in the structure of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In control of the land of Palestine Israel practices nowadays ethnic cleansing measures against Palestinian citizens of the old city, robbing their land properties, expelling them from their houses which go back long before the creation of the State of Israel 62 years ago. The freedom of worship is not guaranteed for either Muslims or Christians and Israel prevents Palestinian Muslims and Christians from freely practicing their religions in their Holy Shrines.
Definitely, Mr. Wiesel is not that ignorant about the plight of the Palestinians and their daily sufferings in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in Jerusalem as well. Yet this gap can be filled through an inspection tour in the Palestinian territories to enable him to see on the ground what is going on in this part of the world.
As a man of conscience and a Nobel Peace Laureate Mr. Wiesel who sympathizes with the Jewish victims of the Nazi-Holocaust six or seven decades ago, is requested to pay some attention to other victims of wars and conflicts irrespective of their belief and race.
What is more dangerous in Wiesel’s misleading letter is that he has aligned himself with the rightist leading camp in Israel advocating similar ideas about postponing the issue of Jerusalem to later stages, while the policy of bulldozers and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian citizens in the Old city of Jerusalem and its Palestinian suburbs is going on in full speed.
As a scholar and a Holocaust survivor it is not a shame to know a little about the agony of the Palestinians, but it is shameful to continue to ignore the sufferings of the Palestinians for shortsighted political purposes.
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