By Dr. Aaron Lerner
November 9, 2007
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Over forty years ago the State of Israel, flush with the victory of the Six Day War, made the greatest concession ever made by a sovereign state in the history of the world.
Again: we are not even talking about a concession made by a defeated nation, nor one made in the face of the threat of annihilation.
This is a concession of cosmic proportions made solely at Israel's own initiative.
Any other nation would have acted differently.
One would have expected Israeli officials at the time -- and since then -- to emphasize this concession at every opportunity in order to get at least some kind of "pay-back" for the concession.
It isn't a concession that takes hours to explain. And its profound magnitude is intuitive.
And yet, for reasons that may have more to do with psychology than statecraft and diplomacy, this incredible concession by the Jewish State is treated as if it does not exist.
The Dome of the Rock was built at the location of the Holy of Holies of the Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Jewish law holds that, even in the absence of the Temple structure, human beings are not to enter the area of the Holy of Holies -- a place only visited once a year by the High Priest at the apex of the Yom Kippur services.
In 1967 any other nation facing a similar opportunity would have permanently cordoned off the Dome of the Rock, barring access to all human beings to the site of the Holy of Holies.
Instead, Israel opted to permit continued gross violation of the sanctity of its most holy place by the ongoing presence of human beings (both Moslem worshipers and tourists of all faiths).
For forty years Israel hasn't shown this "card", let alone play it.
But with final status talks ostensibly about to begin, its time to insist on reciprocity.
In return for this tremendous Jewish concession the Moslems are expected to accept that Jews can pray (that's pray -- not just come as tourists) at locations on the Temple Mount where, according to some Rabbinical authorities, access is permitted to human beings. (It is noteworthy that even during some periods of Moslem control that a synagogue operated on the Temple Mount).
But that's hardly sufficient compensation.
Even continued Israeli sovereignty doesn't come close to offsetting this concession.
But it's a nice start.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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