Friday, April 5, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS SIR JAMES RENO CHRISTINE MERCEDES AND ADRIENNE S UR REY CLASS ICS MI CH ELL E L A BE N ORIGI NAL GIVANCHY DEBBIE SHUCHAT /BRODKIN OUTLANDER bruce m. wens BACKGROUND Jewelers DESIGNER FASHIONS g FOR THE LARGER WOMAN m• GRAND OPENING MONDAY, MARCH 18 37 CHATHAM ST. E MARY ROSE ILIA OF MIAMI 93 M 93 13d II Ny 38 4o0/0 Orgl.wers. DOWNTOWN WINDSOR 252-2020 JALOUZY SiRel SYL GRO INTIA1C OF CALIFORNIA BASHA FLORENTINE GRAND 26325 Twelve Mile Rd. S outheast corner Northwestern Behind Gabe's Fruits In The Mayfair Shops Mon.-Sat. 10-5:30 Thurs. 10-8:30 353-1424 OPENING Sweat for less. 5 classes only $10 • Exercise and aerobics. • Babysitting on premises. • Showers and changing rooms for men and women. := 1 W ELIT. IH O P Drake Summit Shopping Center 5526 Drake Road West 6 B16 00ff5 ielc i ipm 9 I 4 48033 Offer expires 6/1/85 HANSEL & CRETE NOW OPEN IN we BLOOMFIELD ! featuring Jumping•Jacks Tt vv HAPPY HOLIDAY! JEROME AWERBUCH WILL BE IN OUR W BLOOMFIELD STORE THURSDAYS 11-larise1 `Wt;reteli Shcope 6211 Orchard Lake Road West Bloomfield 855 5444 - WITH kenneth 855-588.5 Orchard Lk. Rd., Just North of Maple. Jerusalem 'Ownership' BY CARL ALPERT Special to The Jewish News Haifa — All the assumptions and inferences as to how much territory Israel should surrender to the Arabs, and how far the Arabs are really willing to go in return for a genuine peace in the Middle East, will founder on one small geographic point. The fun- damental question is not the Golan Heights, nor Gaza, nor some dozens of square kilometers in Judea and Samaria, but Jerusalem. While the problem mcy be brushed aside for the time being, the Arabs have made it unmis- takably clear that there will be no real peace or accomodation with Israel until the holy city of Jerusalem is returned to Islamic control. This is the battle cry in Teheran and in the entire Arab world. It is well that Israel, and optimistic Jews everywhere, nur- ture no illusions on the subject nor are quick to make broad conces- sions on other fronts. Hence, the Israel Academic Committee on the Middle East renders a distinct service when it disseminates the highly enlightening exposure by Prof. Moshe Sharon with regard to the place which Jerusalem really plays in Moslem tradition. "No one will contest the absolute holi- ness of Mecca and Medina to Is- lam," Prof. Sharon points out, but there is nothing to substantiate any similar role for Jerusalem. No mention is made of Jerusalem in the Koran. But when political exigency required, in ancient times as in the 20th Century, the city is suddenly and artificially projected as if it were associated with basic tenets of the faith. The Moslem claim to Jerusalem is disingenuous, char- acterized by dialectic reasoning which would do justice to Marxist logicians or Talmudic pilpulists. It has its roots in the nature of the Islamic religion. To the devout Moslem, his reli- gion is not simply another faith, but the only faith. It is exclusive. In such case, how does one explain away the existence of Judaism and Christianity? Very simple! These two are in essence early stages of Islam, and when Mohammed led the faithful to their new sanctities, they laid claim to these two early roots of spiritual development. Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon, all of whom appear in the Koran, are true Moslem prophets. Any other claimants to these per- sonalities are in effect seeking to subvert Islam and deny its histor- ical beginnings. phasizes, "Being the only pure religion, (Islam) regards itself as the sole heir to the religions which preceded it, including their holy places; this inheritance is re- garded as both final and exclu- sive." Whenever the city was safely in Moslem hands, it was seldom mentioned. "Religiously speak- ing, it fell into oblivion." Insofar as Islamic "holiness" is concerned, Jerusalem is in reality no more important than any other large city with a Moslem population — until political expediency dictates stressing of the "holy" angel. "Strong Jewish and Christian arguments subsequently forced the Islamic establishment to base their claim on a pure Moslem sanctity to the city," rather than on"inherited" Jewish tradition. Thus the story was promoted that Masjid al-Aqsa, to which When political exigency requires, Jerusalem is suddenly and artificially projected as if it were associated with basic tenets of Islam. Mohammed apparently journeyed one night, was in reality Jerusalem. On this basis the Is- lamic claim to the city as a holy site was finally and firmly estab- lished in their eyes. There are undisputed historical grounds for Christianity's asso- ciation with Jerusalem. The cen- trality of Jerusalem to Judaism and to the Jewish people is likewise beyond question. Yet only Islam, whose claim is based on the flimsiest of evidence, seeks to make Jerusalem exclusively its own. Jews have already had their experience of what such exclusiv- ity meant during the years of Jor- dan rule. And Christians will know from observation of what is going on in Teheran what Moslem exclusiveness means. Nobel Nominee Bonn (JTA) — Eli Wiesel, the Jewish writer whose best known Abraham is one of the key fig- works have been on Holocaust ures. He was an ancestor of themes, has been nominated for Mohammed. Tradition has it that the Nobel Peace Prize by several he built the Ka'ba, the most ven- members of the Bundestag faction erated sanctuary of Islam in of the ruling Christian Demo- Mecca. And since it was Abraham cratic Union (CDU) and its coali- who sanctified the Moriah hill in tion partner, the Free Democratic Jerusalem where he offered to, Party (FDP). sacrifice his son, Isaac, the Mos- ■ The German politicians wrote lem claim to the city is thus "con- to the Norwegian Prize Commit- firmed." Furthermore, David and tee proposing Wiesel for his con- Solomon, also recognized as tributions to promoting under- Koranic prophets, were also asso- standing and conciliation in the ciated with Jerusalem, and this post-war world. Wiesel, born in further strengthened Islamic Hungary in 1928, is a Survivor of "rights." the Auschwitz and Buchenwald In short, as Prof. Sharon em- concentration camps.