...The photograph of Rabbi Goren blowing the shofar (the traditional ram-horn used in Jewish new-year celebrations) at the Western Wall has been etched deeply into the consciousness of all Israelis and most diaspora Jews. Many saw this as the onset of the messianic age, and Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount is, for them, a nonnegotiable religious truth.
Sovereignty over the Holy Basin and the Temple Mount has acquired the type of mythical power that only religious dogma can generate, and there is no way in which it can be resolved within the confines of monotheistic discourse.
The only solution for the Holy Basin is, as Bill Clinton proposed in the 1990s, internationalising it, thus avoiding a "victory" of one religion over another...
But how will Israeli Jews accept the internationalisation of the Holy Basin? Obviously the messianic orthodoxy will not accept it but, according to all polls, this is a small minority. History shows that the willingness of the majority of Israelis to compromise on Jerusalem depends on the extent to which they believe that such compromise will lead to peace and lasting security for Israel. As recent polls show, 70% of Israelis continue to favour the two-state solution, but the same proportion believe that this solution is not attainable in the foreseeable future.
Well, thanks for noting the problem with polls indicating peace-desiring Israelis: while we all want peace, we are pessimistic it can be achieved,
But that "messianic orthodoxy"? It is not that small. And moreover, there is a very strong identification with the Temple Mount among 'regular' Israelis as a site of major historical, cultural and political symbolism. I know for it's in a MA seminar paper I did.
But Haaretz and its employees always know better (cough, cough).
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UPDATE
Just found his Haaretz version and I excerpt this:
...[Mount Moriah is] a piece of real estate as laden with symbolic significance as these few square kilometers in Jerusalem; and there is no piece of land that is more prone to generating insoluble conflict and interminable bloodshed. To understand the depth of this symbolism, and the weight it carries, it is important to remember that the unconscious [the conscious, sir] of the Middle East is formed by Biblical Myths.
Both Judaism and Islam assume that the Temple Mount (called 'Mount Moriah' in the book of Genesis) was the sight [sic! site] of one of the most problematic scenes in Biblical theology. According to the Biblical text, God requested of Abraham to take his son, Isaac, and to sacrifice him on Mount Moriah.
Abraham did as told, and only when he was about to slaughter his son, God intervened and told Abraham to sacrifice a ram caught in the bushes instead.
In the Muslim tradition, Ishmael was really the son that Abraham almost sacrificed on the Temple Mount. Paradoxically, Judaism and Islam compete with each other which of the two sons was subjected to this traumatic ordeal - obviously seeing great value in this act.
Well, since Jews do not practice suicide bombing, I guess the Muslim interprerative version is wrong.
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