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Imagine Abraham, a refugee from UR traveling North and West for a long period of time looking for Jerusalem, home of his future descendants!
What will he say about Jerusalem today? That is the real question? Will he be proud of all his progenies? Moses, Jeshua, David and King Solomon made his dream a reality beyond his expectations. The current ones in Jerusalem, I have my dought that they understand the Mission of Abraham- a refugee from UR, Bagdad, Iraq, Babylonia, etc.
What about the concept of holy city? Was that his dream? Did he want a refuge for his descendants or a city that is too holy that is dangerous for his progenies? and even the rest of the world. Keep it simple a place of refugee and peace!
I wonder what will come of it, Jerusalem needs to be a place of refuge and peace for all of us, but here is an interesting story. Please read and add your perspectives!
Did Abraham Imagine that his progenies will have such a huge God complex? Where one group owns all the Prophets of God, the other ones manages to have God born into their family and yet another group manages to have the final and only prophet in their family. It is so funny even to comprehend it. This guys pray, no talk down to God and tell him what to do! I just wonder what Abraham will think of the current Mullahs, High Priests and Bishops and Pops and the new set of Mujahedins like the Salafi and the base! the new series or Bins and Ladins and Sheik alSheiks, etc
It is amazing the God Complex is killing Abraham's children for nothing!
Abraham will say, Listen children, I was only seeking refuge and had to talk to God where to take refuge. All this theology is beyond me, remember God controls the whole universe be it the expanding, contracting or parallel. The earth and the middle East, especially little Jerusalem is just a refuge for people like me an my descendants.
Get over it is what I hear from Abraham, but the current progenies have other plans, like the Only Undivided Capital City of Jews, Muslims, Christians and the World.
Wow, that will be such a crowded place, Abraham would have started another pilgrimage, another religion; and will say
Abraham believed and so it happened in another universe!
Wow, that will be another competition for our Jerusalem
Descendant of Abraham, David, Solomon and Queen of Sheba! Seeking for an alternative Jerusalem, will you join me?
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
www.GlobalBelaiJesus.com
(CBS News)
This story was first published Oct. 17, 2010. It was updated on June 5, 2011.
Jerusalem is one of the holiest cities on Earth, for Jews, Muslims and Christians. It is also one of the most contentious issues between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Back in 2000, then-President Clinton came up with a formula for dividing the city: areas populated mostly by Jews would remain Israeli; those populated mostly by Arabs would become the new Palestinian capital. That meant that for the most part East Jerusalem would go to the Arabs.
But since then more and more Israeli settlers have moved into the Arab-populated areas. As we first told you last October, one place where it has gotten volatile is the Arab neighborhood called Silwan, because of an Israeli archeological dig called the "City of David."
Go to Jerusalem today and you'll likely visit the City of David, one of the world's great archeological wonders, where diggers are sifting back through time: scores of workers, filling hundreds of buckets, unearthing thousands of years.
"This tunnel is 3800 and 50 years old," Doron Spielman, the site's international director of development, told correspondent Lesley Stahl as he led her through an ancient tunnel.
According to Spielman, the tunnel is exactly as it was when it was built. "Look at these stones, you can see the chisel marks on the walls," he pointed out.
He then took her to another area aboveground. "This is the original flooring. These are more ritual baths or water cisterns," he pointed out.
Spielman led us down to an ancient waterway carved out of the hard stone. "The whole beginning of life in ancient Jerusalem happened from this little spring which is nestled in this little cave," he explained.
We were taken down excavated tunnels no human eye has seen for two millennia and shown the process of removing the layers of history - sandbag by sandbag - from when the city was sacked by the Romans, and before them the Babylonians.
"So this structure was here when Abraham was here?" Stahl asked.
"That's right. He saw it with his own eyes," Spielman said.
That's a bit of a stretch: archeologists tell us that no one has found any evidence that Abraham was ever there. It's controversial that the City of David uses discoveries to try to confirm what's in the Bible, particularly from the time of David, the king who made Jerusalem his capital.
"People believe that when King David captured the city, he snuck underground through this tunnel which led him underneath the city wall, up into the city," Spielman said.
Half a million tourists visit the site every year, with guides who try to bring King David to life. There's an implicit message: that because David conquered the city for the Jews back then, Jerusalem belongs to the Jews today.
"Today, I've seen scores and scores of soldiers coming through," Stahl remarked.
"It's part of their cultural day to try to learn about what they're fighting for. And when we bring them here they understand that they're not just fighting for today, they actually represent the return of the Jewish people to Israel after thousands of years," Spielman said.
"So archeology is being used as a political tool. I mean, I hate to use the word, but indoctrination almost," Stahl replied.
"I wouldn't call it indoctrination. I would call it giving meaning to life, giving meaning to why we're here," he replied.
But for all the talk of King David, one thing is glaringly missing here at the City of David.
"There's actually no evidence of David, right?" Stahl asked.
"There's no doubt that this is the City of David from the Bible. There's no doubt that the Bible took place here. Proof of David himself, until we find the actual name, we can't say," Spielman acknowledged.
Another problem is an inconvenient truth: that biblical Jerusalem is not located in the western half of the city. It's right under the densely populated Arab neighborhood of Silwan. And according to the Clinton parameters, Silwan should be part of a Palestinian state.
To remedy that, organizations that move Jewish settlers into Arab areas have infiltrated Silwan.
For example, a group of settlers live in a seven-story building under heavy security. They've barricaded themselves in and refuse to leave. With some 450 Jews living among tens of thousands of Arabs, Silwan is now at the center of the battle to keep all of Jerusalem under Israeli control.
© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
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