The Lessons of the Mosque Assault

The recent insanity in Jerusalem has given the Arab world another excuse to indulge in an orgy of self-serving hypocrisy. Accusations of the Israeli government's complicity in the mosque shooting spree resound from almost every corner of the Arab world, and echo in the chambers of the United Nations. Egypt is the one noble exception.

What happened is now tragic history. A mentally ill Allan Goodman forced his way into the Dame of the Rock mosque, and opened fire indiscriminately on the Muslim worshippers within. All hell broke loose. Word of the shooting quickly spread to all quarters of the city, and the residents of East Jerusalem poured into the streets and surged towards the mosque in fury.

Police attempting to seize the gunman were greeted with a barrage of stones, and fired tear gas in order to reach the mosque. Goodman was dragged out of the building, and thrown into a nearby jail to await trial. Rioting spilled into the already tense West Bank and Gaza strip, claiming a number of casualties on both sides.

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin immediately issued a statement expressing sorrow "over the terrible sacrilege and loss of life." And Israel's two chief rabbis proclaimed that Goodman had "cut himself off from the Jewish people."

Israel has shown a sensitivity unique in the Middle East to the concerns of minority religious communities. Since the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, Muslim control of the city mosques has been diligently respected. Had there been Israeli sentries at the entrance of the Dome of the Rock perhaps the tragedy could have been averted. Pilgrims from all over the Muslim world, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan-nations at war with Israel-are offered unlimited access to their holy places. And the Israeli government has even denied Jews the right to pray near the holy Temple Mount-which lies beneath the Dome of the Rock-in order to avoid confrontation.

Contrast this to Jordan's behavior when it occupied the Old City between 1948 and 1967. Not only were Jews excluded from their holy sites, but the Jordanians dynamited several synagogues, and used Jewish and Christian tombstones in the construction of latrines and roadways.

In spite of its record, the Arab world quickly seized the opportunity of the mosque attack to indict Israel for Goodman's desecration. Arab leaders called for a one-day general strike, and introduced a condemnation of Israel into the United Nations Security Council.

One of the loudest voices was that of the Syrian government, which has the unique distinction of being the only regime in recent history to level its fifth largest city (Hama)--mosques and all--and in the process massacre thousands of its civilian inhabitants.

Then there was Islamic Iran, a bastion of the Middle Ages in the twentieth century. Among its more notable achievements to date has been the virtual destruction of the Bahai community, by shooting its members and destroying their temples.

Others who are more sophisticated stopped short of directly accusing the Israeli government of countenancing the assualt, but pointed to it as evidence that Israel does not possess the capability of safeguarding the holy sites. True, Goodman did slip by but one incident in over fifteen years in a system of open access-is not a bad record.

And where were these critics when hundreds of armed religious fanatics walked into the Grand Mosque of Mecca and occupied it for two weeks of bloody fighting back in 1979.

These Arab governments never allow such contradictions to interfere in their relentless propaganda assaults on the Jewish state. One lesson we can learn from the mosque attack and the subsequent reaction is that political expediency takes precedence over honesty in the Arab world.

But the tragedy in Jerusalem obscures more than it reveals. It has unfortunately distracted the world's attention from the most significant event in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Yesterday, peace born its fruit for Egypt. Israel completed here withdrawal from the Sinai under the terms of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, returning all of the territory to Egypt. Both countries had taken a gamble, and both had won. Egypt gambled her political stature for land: Israel, her security for peace.

Egypt achieved through discussion what she could not accomplish by war. As the peace takes root, and normal relations between the countries develop, their joint effort will serve as testimony to the wisdom of face-to-face negotiation in solving disputes. Since its creation Israel has repeatedly offered to negotiate with any of its Arab neighbors. We can only pray that Egypt's sister states learn from her example that inflamed rhetoric and hostility are poor substitutes for peace.

Jesse M. Fried is the co-chairman of the Harvard-Radcliffe Zionist Alliance.