Transcript
Perhaps the best-known poem in English about Jerusalem is William Blake’s remarkable poem, which is simply called Jerusalem, and which is often sung to a memorable melody. So let me just read you in this last of the podcasts on Jerusalem. The poem of the visionary William Blake.
And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the Holy Lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance divine shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here among these dark satanic mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold. Bring me my arrows of desire. Bring me my spear. Oh, clouds unfold. Bring me my chariot of fire. I will not cease from mental fight. Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand. Till we have built Jerusalem. In England’s green and pleasant land.
The poet’s vision is a vision of Jerusalem, a new Jerusalem. As we saw in the last podcast. A new Jerusalem built in England. There was an old myth that Jesus had, in fact visited the British Isles, well, Blake here builds upon that vision or that myth. To speak of the New Jerusalem. Even in the midst of the dark satanic mills, as he refers to them.
And that this building of Jerusalem will require mental fight. A sword in the hand. Arrows of desire, a bow of burning gold and a chariot of fire. So, it seems for Blake that the New Jerusalem is only built with blood, sweat and tears.
Now, if you look at Jerusalem now, Jerusalem has been built in the most remarkable ways. Not in England, but in the Holy Land. And this, in a sense, looks back to 1967. When we had the Six-Day War. And as a result of the Six-Day War, and this is not the time or place to go into the detail of that extraordinary conflict. But the result of the military conflict was that for the first time since the year 70 AD, Jerusalem became a Jewish city again. This was an extraordinary moment, which in many ways changed everything.
Because until 1967, Jordan had had control of Jerusalem. But after the Israeli victory in the War of 67, Israel acquired control of the city. And that, as I say, in a sense, has changed everything. Not just for the Jewish people, who were, of course, jubilant. All Jews in all parts of the world had a sense of exhilaration at this extraordinary victory that led to the resumption of Jewish control of Jerusalem. But it changed everything for the Palestinian people too. That wasn’t obvious at first, but it has become clearer since. But also, for the Christians who have been such a long-standing presence in Jerusalem.
So, for everyone, in different ways, everything was changed by what happened in 1967. For the Jewish people, it meant that they had, they could worship in the Holy City. Freely for the first time in a very, very long time. And they had access to the temple. Not so much to the temple, but to the Temple Mount.
Certainly, access to the Western Wall, which is the last remaining element of Herod’s Temple. And in Jewish understanding, the sense is, and this is poetry, but it’s powerful. That if the glory of God, if there is, if there are sparks of God’s glory, still left somewhere. It would be in the stones of the Western Wall, which was the platform upon which the temple building stood. And these are the original stones, and they were extraordinary stones to see, of course.
So, for the first time, Jewish people had full access to the Western Wall. And there began, again, a quite remarkable process of rebuilding the city. Much of which had been destroyed by conflict. Certainly, the Jewish quarter had been. So that the whole area around the Western Wall was cleared. It was an extraordinarily cluttered space. So, the clutter was removed. And what you see now, the wonderful open esplanade that leads to the Western Wall is something quite new and recent. But what it does is it gives unlimited access to those who wish to pray at the wall.
The Temple Mount itself, the noble sanctuary, as it’s called in Arabic, the Haram al-Sharif. There was, thank God, I have to say, there was a very wise compromise reached with regard to the Temple Mount. And that was that control of the Temple Mount would remain with Jordan and therefore in Muslim hands. Others can have access to the Temple Mount. But it is restricted. And the Jews are expected not to go onto the Temple Mount. However much they may want to.
At times there have been aggressive attempts of Jewish individuals or leaders and groups to enter the Temple Mount, and this has caused a great deal of tension and even violence at times. So that compromise remains, that the Temple Mount itself remains in Jordanian control. But the Western Wall is the responsibility of the city of Jerusalem and the Israeli government.
For a very long time, the mayor of Jerusalem was a man named Teddy Kollek, who was an extraordinary character. He was the mayor of Jerusalem for twenty something years. And he was extraordinarily good at holding the different communities and interests together in some kind of uneasy peace. And through his time, Jerusalem not only became bigger, but it became, a wonderfully refurbished city.
The Jerusalem, the Jewish quarter rather, was rebuilt. And when you walk through the Jewish quarter now, you have to say that it’s a marvel. Given what it was and what it’s become. So architecturally, Jerusalem has never been quite as it is now, nor has it been as large. Even from the point of view of, scientific work, I think particularly of archaeology.
Under Israeli control, the archaeological investigation of Jerusalem has flourished in the most remarkable way. And, as one who was trained in biblical studies, archaeology was part of my brief. And when I was in Jerusalem, I saw some of the archaeological work that is being done and it is quite extraordinary. Because the Jewish archaeologists are among the best in the world, and certainly, when it comes to the extraordinary archaeology of Jerusalem.
Because you see the Western Wall and you see the Temple Mount, but beneath both there is this labyrinth of tunnels and all kinds of things. So, there’s a Jerusalem you don’t see, but which tells its own story and has its own fascination.
So, in one sense, you’d have to say that the city is bigger and in better shape than it has been for a very long time. That’s only part of the story, however. Because there have been since 67. There have been endless, and I have to say, fruitless peace negotiations. That have, led to little or nothing in part, and I have to say, in large part because of intransigence on both sides.
People have spoken about a two-state solution and a shared capital. So, everyone knows what that might look like and what it might require. It would certainly require a quality of compromise on both sides. And that’s the thing that has been missing from all of these negotiations. Another complicating factor is, of course, the interference, shall we say, of the great powers, to use the language of another time. I mean, the USA, I mean the European Union, I mean Russia, and I mean Iran.
If you look at what’s happening now in Gaza, but particularly Lebanon. It’s really a war between two very powerful nations, Israel and Iran. But it’s a battle being fought out on other soil, the soil of Lebanon, and in some ways, the soil of Gaza.
But that’s not going to change, and it hasn’t changed down through history. So, in a sense, what’s new? The great powers that I’ve named are not going to step back. In part because they see Jerusalem as somehow their city. This is something Teddy Kollek, that mayor of Jerusalem I mentioned, something he said long ago in an interview is, everybody has two cities, his own and Jerusalem.
How true that is. And I say that as one who spent a bit of time there. That sense of it being my place is somehow in the DNA of just about all of us. So that all of these great powers regard Jerusalem as, in some sense, their place. But that doesn’t always help.
If you look at the current conflict, with all its tragic aspect. You have to say that it makes some kind of compromise or even peace more distant than ever. Because there is a sense that what is going on at the moment in the Middle East is not just another violent episode in an ongoing conflict, it has another aspect about it, a sense of being the end game.
And it seems to represent, total rejection of the two-state solution. Now, I’ve got no illusions about a two-state solution. Partly because the land itself is so small. I mean, you’re dealing with a parcel of land that’s about a seventh the size of Tasmania. And one of the difficult things for Israeli warplanes is for them to stay in their own airspace.
So that has to be a question, and it has been long a question. Is there just enough land for a two-state solution? And the idea of a shared capital, again seems a very, very distant prospect because not surprisingly, Israel insists upon Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish state. And similarly, the Arab states claim their stake in Jerusalem.
See and one of the difficulties is that in all of this, both sides, to use that language, have strong claims. It’s not as if it’s a strong claim against a weak claim. They both have strong claims historically. They both have strong arguments in favour of their position. Whatever about their tactics or strategies. Because sometimes you get noble words and treacherous and violent action.
So, where you have strong claims and strong arguments, and passion, because again, Jerusalem stirs passions in a way that no other city does. Certainly not Athens or Rome or whatever historically reaches as deep into the human heart and even the human soul as Jerusalem. But where you get these strong claims and arguments and no compromise, there seems to be an endlessness to it.
So, when you survey the scene now, we seem as far from reconciliation of some kind. Certainly, a two-state solution and a shared capital. Which, by the way, has always been the position of the Holy See within this conflict. That there should be, compromise, dialogue. And that that should lead to a Palestinian state and a Jewish state side by side, each with safe borders.
And that Jerusalem itself should be a kind of an open city, with the old city at the heart of Jerusalem, almost like a kind of Vatican. Policed by, an independent force, perhaps like the Swiss Guard. I’m not saying the Swiss Guard, but that sort of force rather than either being a force of the Arab states or the Jewish state.
So, that’s the Holy See’s position. But it looks to be, a pipe dream at this time. So that as you stand and look at where we have come to, you have to acknowledge the extraordinary achievements of, Israel in its management, as it were, of Jerusalem and what it has done.
But at the same time, the injustices that are there on both sides. And this is another crucial point, that both sides not only have strong claims and strong arguments, but both can point to grave injustices. And blood has been shed on both sides. And that’s the sort of thing that’s never forgotten. And this is a part of the world where nothing is ever forgotten.
So that’s why I say the prospect at the moment is as, disheartening as it’s been for a very long time. And there doesn’t seem to be any resolution in sight. Except a total military victory. And one wonders, inevitably, what kind of a resolution that is, or whether it’s a resolution of any kind.
So, the story of Jerusalem, which reaches back across thousands of years, it began in a violent seizure of a mountain fortress. And it continues as violence, not so much in Jerusalem itself. If you go there now, you wouldn’t see it as a violent place. And yet it’s deceptive, because I have found living there for a longer time, that it’s corrosive. Even if there is not violence on the streets of Jerusalem, there can be occasionally with tear gas and so on. And there’s certainly the emblems of violence are everywhere. The soldiers with guns, and so on. So, you see it all.
And that has a kind of, it eats into you. It has a corrosive effect. So that, it’s a war zone without always seeming to be a war zone. It’s a bit like Tel Aviv. If you walk down the main street of Tel Aviv on a nice day, you’d swear you’re in some peaceful, prosperous part of the world. In fact, you’re in a war zone still. But it’s, there’s an illusion of, calm and peace and prosperity. And I can understand that if you’re living in the midst of it.
I found it difficult enough living in the midst of it for a shorter time. But when you think of the Israeli people living with this day in, day out, and indeed the Palestinian people, what it does to them is hard to measure. But absolutely impossible to deny. To be living in that sort of, atmosphere of violence and distrust and, where the other is the enemy all the time. This does something to the human heart, but it also does something to the human soul.
And yet, in the midst of all of that. There is still the vision of what might be. The violence never ceases, but the hope never dies. And that is why there is something strangely addictive about Jerusalem. Each time I have left Jerusalem, I have said, certainly to myself and probably to others, good riddance. I’m happy to be leaving and to go to a more peaceful and settled place.
But each time I have returned, I have said, it is wonderful to be back. And how do you explain that? I think partly it’s because Jerusalem embodies, in quite a small space, the best and the worst of the human being. And that sense that this is where heaven and earth meet, is undeniable in some sense. And the embodiment of a hope. Again, I come back to seventeen times destroyed, eighteen times rebuilt. And that vision of the New Jerusalem. The Jerusalem that is my city and your city, all of that.
So, let me leave you with some words taken from a very fine book on Jerusalem I read not long ago called Jerusalem: The Biography written by Simon Sebag Montefiore, who’s an historian of Jewish background.
And this is a rather large book. I don’t read many very large books these days, but I have read this one with, enormous interest, really. And, he has some marvellous, quotations. So, I’ll just leave you with some of these quotations from his big and rather fine book.
The reconciliation of the celestial, national and emotional in Jerusalem is a puzzle within a labyrinth. And that’s about right. A puzzle within a labyrinth. He goes on, during the twentieth century, there were over forty plans for Jerusalem, which all failed. And today there are at least thirteen different models just for sharing the Temple Mount.
Further on he has this, Jerusalem so lovable in many ways, so hate filled in others. Always bristling with the hallowed and the brash, the preposterously vulgar and the aesthetically exquisite. Seems to live more intensely than anywhere else. Everything stays the same, yet nothing stays still. Spot on, that.
And he includes, at one point, words of a poem written by an Arab poet, Nizar Qabbani, called Jerusalem. So, I’ll leave you with the words of a Palestinian poet.
O Jerusalem. Fragrant with prophets. The shortest path between heaven and earth. A beautiful child with burned fingers and downcast eyes. O Jerusalem, city of sorrow. A tear lingering in your eye. Who will wash your bloody walls? O Jerusalem, my beloved. Tomorrow the lemon trees will blossom. The olive trees rejoice. Your eyes will dance. And the doves fly back to your sacred towers.