Jerusalem – ‘The City of Peace?’

Yesterday we all heard the disastrous news that the Trump administration took a unilateral decision to proclaim Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Of course, we, as Muslims, reject this unwise and disturbing political act and its inevitable consequences. We can only hope that other more fair-minded people and sensible politicians and countries, with a more stable and valid world overview, will also oppose this biased decision.

Democracy is a political system that claims to guarantee human rights and personal freedom for all peoples. Sadly, it also allows people to enter into political decisions that don’t contain the values of these democratic rights. Mr Trump is clearly a politically biased, prejudiced and ill informed Islamophobic president.  America has devalued its core values by electing such a person to its highest office.

Mr Trump serves three political constituencies; the extreme right, the American evangelical Christians who are the fervent supporters of Israel on the basis of Biblical belief and international Jewry. This has never, right from the beginning of his term in office, boded well for Muslims or for any Muslim cause. Muslims have, of course, never expected any fair or favourable treatment from a person whose anti-Muslim stance has been well known from the moment he stood for election. Banning Muslims from certain countries for a limited period would have never made America safe from extremists, but it was an indicator of his continuing anti-Muslim mindset.

Mr Trump cannot be regarded as a religious person nor is he of Jewish heritage, but the support of the above three political constituencies, during his presidential campaign, has provided him with what he regards as enough reasons for him to take the decision that he has taken. In addition, his vice-president comes from an evangelical background who would similarly ensure that the ‘right course’ of action is taken.

The BBC says that it is a ‘Christian thing’ and the highlighting of the face of Mike Pence, beaming over Mr Trump's shoulder during the announcement, said it all. The vice-president was an influential voice in convincing Mr Trump to follow through on his campaign promise, and this illustrates the political power of hardline Christian evangelicals who fervently support Israel.

That was not lost on Palestinian legislator and Christian Hanan Ashrawi.

"My god did not tell me what his god tells him," she spat out in an interview with the BBC. "We are the original Christians, we are the owners of the land, we are the people who've been here for centuries. How dare they come here and give me biblical treatises and absolutist positions!"

“Supporting Israel is not a political issue ... it is a bible issue,” pastor John Hagee, the founder and national chairman of Christians United for Israel, said in a speech.

Evangelical Christians make up the biggest pro-Israel bloc in the US. Support for Israel is stronger among American evangelicals than it is even among American Jews. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre, 82 percent of white evangelicals think God gave Israel to the Jewish people. Less than half as many Jewish Americans or Catholic Americans agree, and according to a Bloomberg poll, almost 60 percent of evangelicals say the US should support Israel even if its interests diverge from American interests.

Why do so many Evangelicals so strongly support Israel? The answer is that a significant majority of American Evangelicals believe that the Abrahamic Covenant is still in force. The Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3) says, amongst other things, that God promised the land of Canaan to the Jews forever. A significant majority of American Evangelicals believe that God is a keeper of His promises and that the "Promised Land" belongs to the Jews, in belief and unbelief, in obedience and in disobedience, forever. (It is an unconditional promise, with no time limits or conditions.)

Bearing in mind the political constituencies supporting Mr Trump and his Islamophobic stance and mindset, the values of human rights, which also include the right of nations for a dignified co-existence and the value of personal freedom and self-determination, will become ever harder to retain.

Europe and Canada seem to possess greater political wisdom than some politicians on the other side of the Atlantic. They appear to adhere to their political values and take a longer term world view in their political approach.

Mr Trump continues to devalue America’s role in the minds of many fair-minded people. UK and Europe have already made their stance clear and will not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. East Jerusalem is Palestinian by UN directive, surrounded by occupied territory and the Palestinians want to make it the capital of any future Palestinian state. Stealing that land from them, as has been done elsewhere, serves only to degrade the Biblical values of God’s teachings or Commands.

Peace in the Middle East now seems to be even farther away and more elusive than ever before. The world continues to expect the Palestinians to make sacrifices, even though their lands are being taken away from them inch by inch. Justice must be implemented, otherwise religious values will lose their divine perspective and evangelical Christianity will come to be seen only as an ungodly group of political extremists.

Jerusalem has become a more contentious issue now than ever before. No American president should be allowed to determine the fate of a people or ignore their desire for self-determination. There are many driving forces behind this conflict; Israelis, American, Europe, Palestinians and of course the Muslim and Arab world. How will the geo-politics of this conflict drive the world’s politicians and who will gain what?  Will the people’s will, the politicians’ will or God’s will prevail?