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Gershom Gorenberg urges Condoleezza Rice to keep in mind the lessons of disputes and compromises over Mid-East holy sites as she prepares for the Annapolis peace summit. He explains the conflict over the Temple Mount, a.k.a. Haram al-Sharif:
When Muslims engage in construction and renovation at the Mount, both Israeli rightists and archaeologists will inevitably insist that historical remains are being destroyed. Whatever the actual damage, the anxiety is that memory itself is being suppressed. When Israelis dig for ruins near the Haram, Palestinians and other Muslims reflexively claim that the Jews seek to undermine Al-Aqsa. The unspoken anxiety is that ruins confirm memory and thereby undermine the Muslim claim to the site. Every action is symbolic; the subterranean overlaps the subconscious.Read the rest (and comment) here.--The Editors
