Response to: Your Bias is Showing
Reader comment on item: [Is Israel] Winning by retreating?

Submitted by "An American-Israeli" (Israel), May 27, 2002 at 05:32

Dear Mr. Siddiqui,

Apparently you have a misunderstanding of Jerusalem's history. I suggest you check up on Mr. Pipes' excellent article "If I forget thee Jerusalem" and check the facts for yourself". Heck, check out any general book on Jerusalem. If Jerusalem is so important, then how come:

1) Jerusalem was never a capital of any Muslim regime.

2) The Jewish population outnumbered the Muslim population in the 1850's already, and that majority has not been broken since.

3) Jerusalem is the most sacred city to Judaism. It is to Judaism what Mecca is to Islam. It was and is the spiritual center of Judaism, both during times of sovereignty and occupation by other countries. By contrast, Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran, and its importance was so low that only politics caused its importance to increase:

3a) The Dome of the Rock was built to outshine the Holy Sepulchre and to divert attention from the Holy places in Arabia, where a rival ruler reigned.

3b) So low was its importance, indeed, that Saladin's grandson gave it away to the Christians. Can you even fathom him doing so to Mecca or Medina?

Any way you cut it, the Muslim connection to Jerusalem pales a thousand fold in comparison to the Jewish one on every level-spiritual, religious and emotional. Dr. Pipes is right on the money. Face facts.

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