Israel-Muslim conflict
In his letter on Nov. 17, 1999, titled Israel destroys mosques, Mr. Darul Aqsha made several errors and omissions which should be corrected. First, the unfortunate arson attempt at the Al Aqsha Mosque was not the work of a "Zionist zealot" hoping "to build a Jewish temple on the site". Rather, it was the action of a crazed fundamentalist Christian from Australia who hoped he would spur the return of Jesus Christ by burning the mosque.
Mr. Darul also claims that Israel has destroyed mosques, schools and homes in the Old City of Jerusalem. In reality, Israel should be commended for keeping the Old City relatively intact and for allowing unimpeded access for people of all faiths to all sites in the Old City. This is in marked contrast to Jordan's policies from 1948 to 1967 when it controlled the Old City. During this era, the Jewish Quarter was largely destroyed and Israelis were not allowed to pray at the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews. Visitors to the Old City will notice a discrepancy between the modern architecture of the Jewish Quarter, mostly built after 1967, and the buildings in the rest of the Old City, which are centuries old and are well protected by Israel's current policies.
Mr. Darul also mentions several incidents, nearly 20 years old, where Palestinians were killed by Jews. He forgets, however, that much more recently hundreds of Israelis have been killed by Palestinian terrorists on Israeli soil.
While neither Israelis nor Palestinians are free from guilt in their long standing conflict, both sides should be lauded for moving forward with the peace process, in spite of both Israeli and Palestinian extremists who are attempting to derail the process.
Mr. Darul's prejudiced and one-sided letter does nothing to promote the cause of peace and belongs to an era that has already passed. Mr. Darul (and probably many Indonesian Muslims in the community) does not seem to realize that Israel has already been diplomatically recognized by Egypt, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Why is Indonesia seemingly continuing the Jewish-Muslim conflict when its "Muslim brothers" are making peace with Israel?
KEVIN PRICE
Bandung