...There is no desire for any kind of discrimination. We ask that the three religions should have their sacred places carefully protected, that they should have free access to them, that their members should have complete freedom of worship and belief, and that Jerusalem and its immediate neighbourhood should be put under international control.
This plea for the special treatment of Jerusalem is of course due to the fact that Jerusalem is a City of three great religions. It is the City of the Jews, which for 460 years was the capital of their independent State. For over a thousand years the Temple stood in it. It is the City of David, of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The Jews, dispersed in all parts of the world, have always carried with them a deep affection for the City of their forefathers and a great longing that it may be restored to them. The Psalms of David express this feeling in: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning." To the Moslems it is also a sacred City, the third most sacred city of the Mohammedan religion. In fact, at one time Mohammed regarded it as so sacred that he ordered all his followers to turn towards Jerusalem when they worshipped, though later he substituted another direction for that. It is the City from which Mohammed made his nocturnal ascent to the Heavens. It is the City to which Mohammedans believe all people will be gathered at the Judgment Day. And it is the City to which their pilgrims come with great devotion, year after year.
Answer;
9491 '1 әunɾ
'ʞɹoʎ ɟo doႡs!qႡɔɹɐ pɹoႨ әႡʇ
Oh, and he went on there, saying:
The second proposal is that both Old Jerusalem and New Jerusalem should be put under the authority of the Jews. That would cause the greatest sorrow to millions of Christians; it would be bitterly opposed by many of them, and certainly bitterly and fiercely opposed by the Moslems. I noticed the other day that Professor Weizmann, in speaking about this—I saw only an abbreviated report of his speech—said that the fullest guarantees would be given for the protection of the Holy Places and access to them. Professor Weizmann is held in universal respect, and I have no doubt at all that that would be his wish. I would go further and say that I believe that is the wish of the existing Government of the State of Israel. But I am bound to ask the question which concerns those interested in this matter: Will the present Government of Israel be strong enough to control their more fanatical followers? I do not wish to rake up past troubles, but I cannot help remembering that Professor Weizmann and many of those who are now in the Government of Israel denounced terrorism, but they were not able by their denunciations to stop 150 women and children from being massacred in a village not far from Jerusalem; nor were they able to save Count Bernadotte from being treacherously murdered. Whatever their good intentions may be—and I am sure they are good—we cannot help wondering whether their Government will have the strength to control some of their more fanatical followers. That is a matter which undoubtedly causes us great anxiety.
Moreover it would be very difficult for the Jews in authority over Jerusalem to deal with some of the controversial matters which arise from time to time in regard to the sacred places. I am not thinking for the moment of the disputes between Christians. They have been deplorable, of course; but I was told when I was in Jerusalem some three years ago that those disputes in their more extreme form had completely died away; certainly, it has been a great many years since there was bloodshed in connection with those disputes. But that is not the case with the Wall of Wailing—that Wall belonging to the Moslems, to which the Jews for centuries have had right of access. The disputes which have arisen over that Wall have been most dangerous in nature. Some twenty years ago a dispute meant not only rioting in Jerusalem but the massacre of many Jews in various parts of Palestine. It would be difficult indeed for a Jewish Government to deal impartially with a dispute which arose between the Jews and Moslems in connection with the Wall of Wailing, and the repercussions of such a dispute might affect: the whole peace of the world.
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