Muslim, Jewish leaders share sadness over fighting

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- Area leaders of Jewish and Muslim congregations are

divided over assigning blame in the current Mideast fighting, but they

say they share the same sadness over the lives lost there during the past

week.

“Whoever we are -- whether it be Muslim, Christian, Jewish -- I remind

our congregation to focus on the issue,” said Sadullah Khan, imam of the

Islamic Center of Irvine. “How just and fair are we? What do we believe

the god of humanity would be pleased with?”

Khan said he has focused on the importance of social justice as a way

of achieving peace.

“Just asking for peace in a vacuum is not practical in the absence of

the framework of justice,” Khan said.

Khan said that neither the suicide bombing attacks by Palestinians nor

the Israeli retaliation is justified. The essential question, he said, is

who is occupying whose land? The Palestinians claim Israel is occupying

their land, while the Israelis say they won possession of the land after

the 1967 war.

The United Nations should send an international peacekeeping force to

the region to try to negotiate a settlement with the cooperation of both

sides, Khan recommended.

Rabbi Mark S. Miller of Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach, on the other

hand, said Israel’s use of force in retaliating is justified.

“Israel responds as would any government whose first obligation is to

protect its citizens,” Miller said. “Israel responds as America is

responding to a terrorist attack on its soil by invading a country and

hitting the enemy in a very punishing manner.”

Miller also argues that the flash points of the war -- especially the

West Bank -- are not “occupied” territories, but “disputed” territories

since Israel conquered them during an Arab-initiated war.

Miller contends that the violence will abate only when the

Palestinians cease the suicide bombings.

“It is only when the Palestinians stop calling murderers martyrs and

realize that they cannot destroy Israel in this way or wear Israel down

that the lines of communication will then be open,” Miller said. “And

Israel, as it has always been, will discuss the very difficult issues

that must be addressed in order that there be not peace, but an end to

war and a lack of terror.”

Miller equated the situation to the decades-long conflict in Northern

Ireland over English rule of the area and emphasized that there has to be

a cooling-off period that lasts for a significant amount of time to

create trust between the two sides.