100 Years of Middle East Conflict - Honorable Peace: How Can Lasting Peace Be Secured Between the Muslim World and Israel

By Gottfried Hutter

Only mutual compassion can bring reconciliation and lasting peace to the Middle East. This conflict is about far more than just land. The honor of Muslims was grossly violated when Israel was implanted next to one of the holiest sites of Islam, al Haram ash Sharif in Jerusalem – which, in turn, occupies the site of the former Jewish Temple.

For thirteen hundred years Jews had been able to live mostly in peace in the Muslim world, because they subordinated themselves under the rule of Islam. They could even attain high positions serving Caliphs. With a State of their own this was no longer an option.

Under such changed conditions, how could there be an honorable peace? Only if Muslims recollect Surat 5:48 in the holy Koran, which commands a competition in virtue among the religions of the book.

Jews can contribute by showing awareness of how shocking their sudden takeover of part of the land must have felt for the community of all Muslims, and concurrently by pleading for understanding of the deadly threat that left Jewish survivors no choice when, in 1947, the UN declared the partition of Palestine. Even more important, the very name “Israel” itself sprang up in the solution of an archetypal biblical conflict between brothers, one pregnant with meaning for today.

Christians too have their share. They must contribute by helping restore one of the most fundamental values of all three religions descending from Abraham, namely peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Feb 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781480872448

Gottfried Hutter

The author, a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, studied Catholic theology, history and political science in Salzburg, Austria. Insights in San Francisco enabled him to meet an enlightened Sufi Master. One year with him in Egypt confirmed his understanding of the basic unity of all religions. He became a psychotherapist. Today he mentors severely traumatized Muslim refugees from the Middle East. 9/11 provided the idea and impetus to write this book.

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Copyright © 2019 Gottfried Hutter.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7243-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7242-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7244-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932411

Archway Publishing rev. date: 01/07/2020

List of Images

Cover Photo, the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall, taken by the author

103 The Holy District of Jerusalem. Jerusalem Old City aerial from north, tb010703223, used by permission of the photographer, Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com, granted on April 18, 2018, www.bibleplaces.com

111 Anwar al Sadat, Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, 1979, celebrating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, The National Archive, nlc10017.36.jpg. March 26, 1979, on the North Grounds of the White House, Presidents Carter and Sadat and Prime Minister Begin joined hands in celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Peace Between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel. https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/research/twenty_five_photographs_after_twenty_five_years

112 Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, Yasser Arafat, 1993, in the White House - photo: Reuters / Gary Hershorn, permit by pa-picture alliance, granted May 15, 2018

113 Eitan Haber announcing the death of Rabin - AP Photo: Eyal Warshavsky, permit by pa-picture alliance, granted May 15, 2018

114 Sharon on the Temple Mount - Photo credit: Flash 90, permit of May 13, 2018

115 Graffiti in Bethlehem, photo taken by the author, June 23, 2006.

116 The West Bank Wall, map by PASSIA, Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, http://www.passia.org, used by permission of PASSIA, granted May 22, 2018

118 The Holy District of Jerusalem. Jerusalem Old City aerial from north, tb010703223, used by permission of the photographer, Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com, granted on April 18, 2018, www.bibleplaces.com

137 Muslims celebrating Eid Al Adha in the Cathedral of Cologne, © Kölner Express / February 4,1965, used by permission of the magazine, granted on May 15, 2018

138 The Holy District of Jerusalem. Jerusalem Old City aerial from north, tb010703223, used by permission of the photographer, Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com, granted on April 18, 2018, www.bibleplaces.com

Contents

Acknowledgments

FOREWORDS AND REMARKS

Arun Gandhi

Franz Alt

Andrew White

Maroun Lahham

Rasson Arussi

Tilman Nagel

David Rosen

Horst Teltschik

THE RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Preface

The Contributions of the Three Abrahamic Religions to the Conflict in the Holy Land

Good News about Peace in the Holy Land

Why Palestinian Politicians May Not Be Entitled to Make Peace

Islamic Compassion—The Way to Overcome IS and to Make Peace with Israel

Why Did the Grand Imam of

Al Azhar Visit the Pope?

Naqba—A New Interpretation of Facts Could Turn Both Sides into Winners

To Understand Jacob’s Fight Means to See Peace Coming

THE POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

Small Steps Both Sides Could Take toward Reconciliation

The Settlements—an Opportunity for Peace

Empathy—the Way to Peace in the Holy Land

Today’s Refugee Crisis and the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

How a Changed American Middle East Policy Could Become the Key to Future World Peace

Outline of Ideas to Solve the Middle East Conflict

Trump’s Declaration about Jerusalem Being Israel’s Capital

The Dead of Gaza and the Palestinian Option for Peace

The Dream: The Name Israel Itself Contains the Program for Making Peace

Honorable Peace - and what brought up the idea?

APPENDIXES

Appendix A: How this Peace Initiative Came About

Appendix B: The Heart of the Matter

Appendix C: A Projected Part Two: My Experiences in the Region

Appendix D: Brief Vita

Appendix E: Timetable of this Interreligious Peace Initiative

Appendix F: Timetable of Some of the Most Significant Events Regarding al Haram ash Sharif and the Temple Mount

Bibliography

List of Images

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Acknowledgments

First I would like to thank all those who have radically questioned me and my way of getting to the bottom of things during the course of my life, because they prompted me to examine everything over and over again, to correct my direction, and to learn to distinguish between groupthink and overarching human values.

The basics of this practice of discrimination I owe to years of training in educating my conscience, first under professional Catholic direction, followed by observing the guidance of masters of different schools of thought. I am seriously indebted to the Japanese shiatsu master and Shinto priest, the late Akinobu Kishi and his art of sei-ki, which balances ki in order to maintain and restore physical and mental health. I came to know this practice deeply, especially during about a year of sharing my life with him.

As regards this book, my thanks to those friends and acquaintances who have again and again proved willing to delve into my singular view of events in the Middle East. Over and over they would remind me of what one is supposed to think or what other groups are thinking. These reminders have proved to be of inestimable value. They have enabled me to take into consideration even quite minimally differentiated aspects of the conflict.

My special thanks go to those who have accompanied me with words and deeds—those with whom I could discuss everything—especially Dr. Peter Strizek, sociologist; Professor Matthias Varga von Kibéd, founder of the Institute for Systemic Structural Constellation Work (SySt); Dr. Thomas Hoelscher, art historian; Dr. Michael Kahan, medical doctor and psychotherapist; and Manfred Killer, artistic director of a Munich theater.

I owe very special thanks to the subject-specific advisers who read many of my drafts: Father Samir Khalil Samir S. J., historian of Christian Arabia; Professor Reinhold Wagnleitner, contemporary historian; Professor Helmut Reinalter, historian and philosopher; Professor Michael Schaefer, philosopher and political scientist; Professor Ludwig Moedl, Catholic Theologian; Dr. Shmuel Bahagon, media adviser and Israeli author; and the late laureate of the alternative Nobel Prize, Ashgar Ali Engineer, together with whom I founded in 2005 the International Initiative for Peace between the Religions (www.iiipeace.org).

For my view of Islam, I am deeply indebted to Sheikh Mohammed Osman from Khartoum, who, unfortunately, has also departed this world. Through him and in his Burhani Sufi order, I was able for a full year, mainly in Cairo, to learn firsthand about the essence of the different aspects of the religion of Islam.

For opportunities to test my insights on site in Israel and Palestine, and for their repeated encouragement, I am most grateful to Rabbi David Rosen, international director for interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee; Professor Manuel Hassassian, ambassador of Palestine in London; Professor Sari Nusseibeh, president of the Al Quds University, Rabbi Rasson Arussi, chief rabbi of Kiryat Ono; Professor Osama Abdulmajeed Shobokshi, ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Berlin; Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa O.F.M., apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem; Father George Ayoub, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate; His Beatitude, Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; Anglican Canon Andrew White (now in London); the late Naqshbandi Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari, Jerusalem; Mustafa Efendi Ceric´, former mufti of Bosnia; and Catholic Father Raed Abusahlia.

For conveying intimate knowledge about Judaism, I am grateful to the Haredi Rabbi Pinhas Ben Avraham, who shared my Munich apartment for about a year.

As far as public awareness is concerned, my first thanks go, already in 2002, to the Friends of Abraham, who invited me to report on my first journey to Israel. In 2003, the producers of Weltzeit broadcasted a first three-minute TV report about my peace initiative on Bavarian TV. In 2005, the same station, in Denkzeit, featured a ninety-minute TV discussion between leading representatives of the three Abrahamic faiths in Germany about peace at the temple mount. In 2004, the Universal Peace Federation awarded me the title Ambassador of Peace and from then on has invited me to conferences at important places. In 2006, the organizers of WOCMES invited me to give a lecture in Amman: Interreligious Peace in Israel and Palestine—Source of Peace Worldwide. In 2011, at a conference of the Munich Hanns Seidel Foundation, I presented the therapeutic aspect of my concept: Two Traumatized Parties and One Possible Therapy. Within the context of World Ethos, I was invited in 2013 to give a speech titled Empathy, the Way to Reach Peace in the Holy Land. And in 2017, at the UN Center in Vienna, I was able to suggest the seemingly counterintuitive idea that the Israeli prime minister should—before Muslim leaders—reenact the Biblical scene behind the origin of the name Israel. And all of this finally led to my inauguration as a new member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Very special thanks I owe to my friend Peter Burnett. He helped correct the grammar of the texts that make up this book, from the first drafts to the final versions, which were the result of the manifold feedback I received.

Many other persons have been most helpful, and I must ask them to forgive me for not mentioning them by name.

And now it only remains for me to hope that the politicians directly concerned will find the suggestions provided in these pages useful in their attempts to attain lasting peace.

In this second edition I added one chapter with a surprising new element to sum up the preconditions to true peace. In some instances throughout the book I changed wordings, mainly to describe the role of the international community more accurately.

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Forewords and Remarks

You may wonder why not all the forewords that follow are positive. If all those who wrote them agreed with me 100 percent, the conflict would have been resolved long ago. The variety of these comments may give you an inkling of how the texts that make up this book came about—as the product of intensive dialogues with high-ranking members of all parties to the conflict over the past eighteen years.

I also asked various prominent Muslims to write a short foreword; unfortunately, they all declined.

I hope this book will in the end help Muslims to see that they, even more than the State of Israel, have what it takes to make peace and to bring an end to a conflict that has dragged on for far too long.

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Arun Gandhi

Many problems in this world have remained mired in politics for decades and have been churned into a muddy consistency so that most people believe they are intractable.

The most vexing of these problems are the conflicts between India and Pakistan, and Israel and Palestine. Both have their origins in the arbitrary division of a country, and both date back to the 1940s. Both of these issues became a problem because the authorities at the time applied a political solution to what is an emotional problem.

Politics is cold-blooded. There is no room in politics for compassion, understanding, or respect, and certainly no room for honor or an honorable solution. Politicians approach problems the only way they know—with hammer and tongs! They tend to hammer out deals, which is not always conducive to peace and stability.

It is therefore refreshing to read this book, written by Gottfried Hutter—a theologian well versed in the religions and history of Israel and Palestine, and an experienced trauma therapist—who has outlined an honorable solution. If this problem is to be solved the only way this can be achieved is through compassion, understanding, and respect for the sentiments of people on both sides. It has to be a nonpolitical solution, and who better to develop this than someone experienced in trauma therapy?

November 9, 2017

Arun Gandhi [Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi], Peace Farmer

Let’s be the change we wish to see in the world

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Franz Alt

Peace between Palestine and Israel is possible

Peace between Palestine and Israel—is it really possible?

For the past one hundred years, the religions of the Middle East have been contributing to war rather than to peace, each afraid of being overpowered by the others. Yet history teaches us that fear and mistrust cannot be overcome by war and violence. That said, what contributions to peace in the Middle East could come from the religions?

The central virtue of each of the three Abrahamic religions is compassion. A huge peace potential lies in them, untapped. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—each of these religions is based on one and the same principle: understanding instead of condemning, conciliation instead of annihilation, love instead of hate. Empathy is their way to peace.

In his new book, Gottfried Hutter—psychotherapist, theologian, and connoisseur of the Middle East, who has spent decades in contact with important political figures as well as dignitaries and scholars of all three religions of the Middle East—presents a surprising and, at first glance, utopian peace proposal: he sees the controversial Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank as an opportunity for peace!

Utopian, unrealistic, crazy? For now, it is surely a vision.

Yet right after World War II, German–French friendship also appeared utopian. Today it is reality. The EU, too, seemed impossible, yet today it is reality.

So why could Israel and Palestine not live side by side in peace—Israel with its Palestinian minority next to Palestine with the Jewish minority of today’s settlers?

It is precisely that controversial Jewish settler minority on the West Bank that could open up a realistic opportunity to transform the entire West Bank, with its Jewish settlements and Gaza, into a new Palestinian state. Then, at long last, there would be a political balance between Israel and Palestine, and a chance of prosperity for all.

How did things develop in Europe after 1945? Peace guaranteed by prosperity was the basic idea behind the peace negotiations. This goal was to be attained by economic and political cooperation. That was the incentive. Similarly, Palestine and Israel, together with their respective minorities, could cooperate economically and invite other Arab countries to build with them a Middle East cooperative, a Middle East union, with the goal of fostering peace and prosperity. Following the example set by the EU, and in cooperation with the EU, this could spark off an economic miracle. Initially it would need the kind of confidence-building measures that were necessary a few decades ago in order to move beyond the Cold War in Europe. The goal must be reconciliation and peace, for a transitional period, enforced by UN troops.

The three Abrahamic religions would have to shoulder a central role. After all, all three of them are based on the values of love, peace, and compassion!

Furthermore, this vision, representing a goal long yearned for by millions throughout the Middle East, would have to be represented and sustained credibly and effectively by a politically and spiritually strong personality—perhaps a woman like Angela Merkel, who thinks in terms of peace, not war; or a man like Mikhail Gorbachev, who, thirty years ago, had the courage to take the first unilateral step toward disarmament.