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In December 2000, The Jewish Peace Lobby helped organize and publicize a rabbinic statement on the current violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories: A Rabbinic Response to Events in the Middle East.
The core of the Rabbis' statement deals with the Temple Mount. At Camp David, Israel sought Palestinian agreement to Israeli sovereignty over the Mount, with Palestinians having custodianship. This was one of the key issues over which the negotiations broke down. With Ariel Sharon's visit to the Mount, designed to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty, we had the outbreak of the Al-Aksa Intifadah.
This statement came at a time when others were pulling back from the Jerusalem issues. Prime Minister Barak, at the time, had proposed an interim agreement that would put off negotiations on the Temple Mount (as well as other Jerusalem related issues).
The rabbis took the position that "Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over this site." Indeed, the rabbis went further, citing a passage from Isaiah affirming the Temple Mount as the "house of prayer for all nations," they see the Islamic holy places on the Mount as partial fulfillment of Isaiah's vision. They sought to allay Muslim fears by reiterating the long-standing rabbinic view that Jews are not permitted to visit the Mount in pre-messianic times. The rabbis did not propose a specific solution to the Temple Mount issue; they sought to demonstrate that WITHIN JEWISH TRADITION THERE IS A NON-EXCLUSIVIST PERSPECTIVE WHICH WOULD ALLOW FOR CREATIVE SOLUTIONS.
The statement was drafted and initiated by Rabbi Arthur Green (Philip Lown Professor of Jewish Thought at Brandeis University) and Rabbi Rolando Matalon (B'nei Jeshurun Synagogue in New York City). Rabbi Green is a member of the Reconstructionist movement, and Rabbi Matalon of the Conservative movement. The 100 rabbis who signed the statement are from the reform, Reconstructionist and conservative movements. No systematic efforts were made to collect signatures - most of the names were gathered by Rabbis Green and Matalon.
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The Statement
AP & Washington Post Coverage
Jerusalem Post Coverage
New York Times Coverage
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