Usurpation!

The New York Times cover page on 6 December to me tells it all. Below the main picture referring to Donald Trump’s recogition of Jewrusalem as the capital of Israel sits a smaller cameo-style photo of the al-Aqsa Mosque with its golden dome — Jerusalem’s most photographed monument,, built during the Dark Ages.

There are many other Islamic mouments in the Holy Land. They far outnumber Jewish and Christian ones.

This is the biggest land-grab of all in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although the Jews were rhe first settlers in the Holy Land, their presence rhere was minimal until the 20th Century.

There is much to admire in .:the Jewish tradition: the intellectualism and the study of the arts and sciences, the attachment to the principle of justice, etc. Why, in oder to follow Trump an,d Netanyahou, the most responsible people in the United States and Israel, are called upon to embrace a patent falsehood.

Jerusalem belongs to three religions — Muslim, Jewish and Christian — and we can only hope that someday, a way will be found to divide their attributes fairly in Jerusalem.