The Temple-Project

The Center-Piece of a
Sustainable Solution to the Middle East Conflict (2008_11_26)

Since the beginnings
of the Zionist immigration movement in the 19th century, the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem has come repeatedly to the attention of the world as
a major source of conflict between Muslims and Jews; on account of the
deep religious feelings attached to this place on both sides it has even
become the emotional center and, consequently, the flashpoint of the vast new
conflict which we call “the Middle East conflict”.

The Middle East
conflict has, of course, become very complex – with its religious
dimension being largely overlooked in the face of its overwhelming material
dimension, and too often additionally treated as taboo for ideological reasons.

But there are a series
of factors which a true observer cannot overlook:

To
orthodox Jews the site of the Holy of Holies of their ancient Temple is still
so sacred today – nearly 2000 years after the Romans destroyed it –
that most of them are not allowed to enter any of the area of the Temple Mount,
lest they desecrate the Holy ground by inadvertently stepping on it.

Muslims hardly know about that. To them the entire area is a mosque,
“Haram ash-Sharif” – after Mecca
and Medina the third most holy place in the world, because from there their
Prophet Mohammed ascended to the Heavens. Jews are
excluded; they therefore have no way of
exploring the site or of determining the exact location of their
ancient Holy of Holies – not to speak of a
reconstruction of their Temple.

This exclusion is not only frustrating to religious Jews,
it necessarily makes Muslims fear for their sanctuaries. And even in the
event of successful peace negotiations this place will again and again
give rise to serious flare-ups in tension unless there is a solution to it.

Hence this
proposal:

In a surprising way it
turns the conflict-laden idea of a Third Temple into a means of peace able to
reconcile the three Abrahamic religions.

How?

As we have seen, the Muslims, not
the Jews, hold the main key to peace: real and lasting peace can
only be brought about if the Muslims make an offer to the Jews, providing them
with the space for an eventual Third Temple. The sanctuary of the Muslims, of
course, and that is the entire surface of Haram
ash-Sharif, must remain untouched. But, according to Jewish Halacha, the space for a New Temple depends upon the
location of the Holy of Holies of the previous Temples; it is therefore tied to
the Temple Mount. How can a solution be found to this seemingly irresolvable
conflict?

The space needed will
have to be provided on a platform very high above the location of the Holy of
Holies of the Temple destroyed by the Romans – which certainly will not
be above the Dome of the Rock, and not above the Al Aqsa
mosque, as it may seem from the very crude diagram you will also find on
this website.

For Muslims to be able
to agree to such a construction, a common basis is needed – and it is
already there, even twofold: the shared father Abraham will lay the
foundation to that common project and the shared law-giver Moses will provide
its legal protection. However, an Abrahamic-Mosaic
solution calls for one more party: the Christians. Only by taking them in and
creating a common sanctuary with separate levels for each of the three faiths
can the new structure become the universally recognized symbol needed to
generate lasting peace.

As a result the underlying spiritual unity will become
clear again, symbolized by the oneness of this
new sanctuary, which will be able to claim the loyalty of the devotees of all
three faiths and thus guarantee the resulting peace. – Thereby something
like a bigger “tribe” will be created – most important for
people who often rely on proven tribal strategies in their methods of conflict
resolution.

This vision has been
born in the aftermath of 9/11. It has been discussed extensively on German TV,
and it has won worldwide approval from competent parties. Since both the Saudi
Ambassador to Germany, Professor Osama Shobokshi, and
Rabbi David Rosen, the Chairman of the International Jewish
Committee which represents World Jewry, like the idea very much, it can be
only a matter of time until this vision becomes a reality.

If you wish to
visualize its realization, you are invited to travel on a mental journey to a
time when Jews, Christians, and Muslims will live together peacefully in mutual
respect. In that future time you will find this pan-Abrahamic
sanctuary, as the spiritual center of the peace that has been achieved with
such difficulty. [To help you on your way in this mental journey you
may wish to follow the paper I presented in 2006 to a Middle East conference at
the Royal Jordanian Institute for Interfaith Studies: http://www.temple-project.de/Paper%20for%20wocmes2%20Amman%202006.htm.]

More information you
will find at www.temple-project.de.