c. 1999 Religion News Service
JERUSALEM _ A mosque and a millennial pilgrims’ plaza are to be constructed side-by-side on a strategic piece of vacant land in front of Nazareth’s Basilica of the Annunciation, an Israeli government panel decided Wednesday (Oct. 13).
But rather than becoming a hoped-for symbol of Christian-Muslim friendship, the construction plan could inflame new Muslim-Christian tensions in the Holy Land and trigger a diplomatic crisis between Israel and the Vatican on the eve of the millennium.
The government plan unveiled Wednesday calls for the construction of a 700-square-meter mosque on the site alongside a 1,300-square-meter millennial pilgrims’ plaza. Construction of both structures would begin Nov. 8, following the evacuation of a makeshift tent mosque that has occupied the disputed land for the past two years.
In announcing the government offer, Israeli Minister of the Interior Shlomo Ben Ami said that the proposal would”honor the desire of Muslims to create a mosque and also the desire of the city of Nazareth for a millennial plaza.” But neither side to the conflict seemed satisfied with the government offer.”The church position so far has been that this proposal is not acceptable. But beyond that, I think that we will have to wait until the patriarchs meet and talk things over,”said the Rev. Robert Fortin, secretary general of the Catholic Jubilee committee preparing for the millennium here.
An interdenominational meeting of Orthodox, Armenian and Latin (Catholic) patriarchs is to convene Thursday to formulate a unified response to the government plan.
Vatican officials have repeatedly expressed stiff opposition to the planned mosque, which they believe would erode the Christian identity of the areas around the Basilica.
In the past, Christian leaders have hinted they may opt to shut the doors of church sites over upcoming holidays in a protest move, or even to cancel a planned visit of the pope to Nazareth in March 2000.”The Christian lion has awakened, and now we’ll wait for the charge,”noted one Israeli observer.
Meanwhile Muslim leaders, who had initially offered to accept the compromise, said they, too, were unhappy with the final shape of the government offer because it would require them to evacuate their makeshift tent encampment after the cornerstone for a permanent mosque was laid Nov. 8.
The Muslims fear that following the evacuation of the tent camp, the construction of the mosque will be delayed.”The site won’t be evacuated _ only over our bodies,”said Ahmed Zuabi, a Muslim leader of the group, in an interview on Israel Television.
Earlier in the week, Zuabi had told RNS his group would accept the government compromise”in order to find a solution to the problem.” The government decision comes after a two-year interlude. Many analysts blame the nature of the escalating crisis on Israel’s procrastination beginning during the tenure of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and extending into the current term of Ehud Barak.”The Netanyahu government cast the stone and Barak’s government is drowning in the murky waters,”said top political commentator Akiva Eldar in a recent op-ed piece in the Hebrew language daily Ha’aretz.
He noted both prime ministers entered into complex negotiations with local Muslims who occupied the site and claimed it was part of a historic Muslim trust, or wakf, including the shrine of a medieval Islamic warrior.
When a Nazareth district court belatedly ruled the land was in fact state-owned, the government was already entangled in offers of compromise to the squatters.
Israel’s foot-dragging could provoke violence if the Muslim tent camp is dismantled by force on the Nov. 8 deadline, set by the government Wednesday.”It would be a clash which will turn the millennium celebrations into a financial and public relations disaster,”warned Eldar.
On the other hand, if the mosque is constructed, Pope John Paul II could opt to skip his planned pilgrimage to Nazareth next March, visiting only Bethlehem within the bounds of the Palestinian Authority.
An exclusive papal visit to Bethlehem would enrage Israelis and provide Palestinian President Yasser Arafat with a major diplomatic coup. It would showcase the recent millennial renovations undertaken in the city where Jesus was born, and enhance Arafat’s image as a protector of the Holy Land’s Christian community.
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