Despite its blunder in the Suez Crisis of 1956, Israel maintained the upper hand when dealing with Arabic-speaking countries in the following decade. Things were once again brought to a head in 1967 when Egypt’s president, Nasser, announced that Egypt would be closing off the straits of Tiran (and therewith the Gulf of Aqaba) to Israeli-flag vessels and other vessels that were carrying strategically important cargo, such as oil, to Israel. He then mobilized the Egyptian armed forces along Egypt’s border with Israel and ordered the withdrawal of the UN peace-keeping forces separating Egyptian and Israeli troops since 1956. It was then that Israel decided to attack. The war with Egypt and its Syrian and Jordanian allies lasted only six days. Israel won what became known as the Six-Day War. As a result, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai fell into Israeli hands. The Palestinians had earlier squandered a unique opportunity to establish their own state when Tunisia’s president, Al-Habib Bourguiba, delivered a brave speech in Jericho in 1965 in which he urged all Palestinians to recognize Israel’s right to exist in exchange for a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza. However, most Palestinians, having by then succumbed to Nasser’s demagogic rhetoric, refused to do so. In 1973, Egypt and Syria tried to recover some of the lands occupied by Israel in 1967. This became known as the Yom Kippur War (the October- or Ramadan- War in Arabic-speaking countries). Despite impressive successes at the beginning, both countries finally lost the war, largely because of a gap that developed between the Egyptian Second Army and Third Army (known in Arabic as thaghrit iddafr swar, or The Dafr Swar Gap), through which Israeli forces advanced and cut off the Egyptian Third Army. This caused Egypt to seek a ceasefire. Israel subsequently signed a peace agreement with Egypt in the late 1970s. Nevertheless, more conflicts with other parties were to follow for Israel: The bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osirak in 1981, the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 as a result of Palestinian bombardment of Israel from southern Lebanon, and again in 2006 as a result of Hezbollah’s fighters doing the same thing. In spite of some internationally supported attempts, notably the Oslo Accords of 1993, peace has not been established for long between Arabic-speaking states and Israel. More recently, things began to look brighter for the Israelis as more Arabic-speaking countries started opening up to Israel. In addition to countries that already had open diplomatic relations with it- such as Egypt and Jordan- Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have all established full diplomatic relations with Israel, while some other countries like the Sultanate of Oman and Saudi Arabia have gradually been developing closer relations with the Israelis. Yet some other states have remained openly hostile to Israel, most notably Iran and Syria, in addition to Islamist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

The latest surprise attack by Hamas against Israel, named by Hamas Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, was motivated by a long history of conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians, but the most important reason for the attack was reportedly concerns about what Hamas considered infringement by Israelis, especially Jewish settlers, on what it regards as the holy premises of Al-Aqsa Mosque. According to most Muslim accounts, Islam’s prophet Muhammad travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem on a winged creature called Al-Buraq, supposedly a cross between a donkey and a mule. He landed on the ground where Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands. This journey became known as Al-Isra’ (The Night Journey). Some Muslim accounts claim that Muhammad was then taken up to the heavens to meet with various prophets and speak with God, although other Muslim accounts claim that this occurred on another occasion. The latter became known as Al-Mi’raj (The Ascension). As a result, the dispute over who is entitled to that particular piece of land widened to include not just the Palestinians, but Muslims as a whole, since Al-Aqsa Mosque was seen as sacred to all Muslims.

Part of the problem surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque relates to the fact that it was first partly built during the days of the caliphate of Omar Bin Al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph (successor to Muhammad), following the death of Muhammad and Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq (the first caliph). It was built on a hill most sacred to Jews called Temple Mount where the First Temple and the Second Temple are believed to have stood before they were destroyed, the former by the Babylonians and the latter by the Romans. The construction of Al-Aqsa Mosque was completed during the reign of the Umayyads. So, what did the Quran then mean when it referred to Al-Aqsa Mosque (“Al-Aqsa” is the Arabic for “The Farthest”) in one of its verses, “Glory be to Him Who carried His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque.” (Al-Isra’ 1)? Was it referring to the Jewish Temple? Muslim exegetes seem to think so. However, that would be puzzling, considering the fact that the Second Temple had not been rebuilt, following its destruction by the Romans six centuries earlier. Was the Quran referring to the actual land upon which the Jewish Temple had been built, rather than to the building itself? If true, then that piece of land was a particularly Jewish area, rather than a Muslim one, for the allegation that Muhammad visited it does not in any way mean that that area became Muslim.

In fact, there have been suggestions indicating that the story of the Night Journey to Jerusalem was a fabrication. Proponents of this viewpoint maintain that Al-Aqsa Mosque mentioned in the Quran was actually situated in a place near Mecca called Al-Ju’ranah, not in Jerusalem, and they base their claim on some notable scholarly Muslim sources, such as those of Al-Waqidi, Al-Fakihi, Al-Azraqi, and Al-Sharwani. The advocates of this position point out that in their political rivalry with Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubayr who controlled Mecca, the Umayyads- who were based in Damascus and controlled Jerusalem- wanted to enhance their political prestige by making pilgrimage to Jerusalem as good as pilgrimage to Mecca, thereby diverting numerous Muslims from the latter where Al-Zubayr held sway. The supporters of such a view assert that it is no coincidence that most of the famous scholars who provided exegesis of the Quran, the collection of hadith (Muhammad’s sayings), and accounts of Muhammad’s life lived under the Umayyads and were to a significant extent manipulated by them. They explain that that was how the story of the Night Journey entered Muslim literature as a journey to Jerusalem, rather than one to Al-Ju’ranah. This is an analysis that has been highly controversial among Muslims. The matter is made even more complex by the astounding fact that instead of devoting a whole sura (Quranic chapter) to give a full account of the two mindboggling miracles of Al-Isra’ and Al-Mi’raj, the Quran lightly mentions them in merely eight verses (Al-Isra’ 1, 60; An-Najm 13-18). Yet, tens of Quranic verses cover miracles by other prophets and, even more surprisingly, no fewer than ten verses deal with an incredibly minuscule incident by comparison in which Muhammad did not react kindly to a blind man, Abdullah bin Umm Maktoom who was trying to seek guidance from him, because Muhammad was too busy trying to win over some notables from his tribe, Quraish (‘Abasa 1-10).

Notwithstanding Muslim beliefs, the Quran itself does mention that God had given the Holy Land to the Israelites. In one of its chapters, Moses says to the Israelites, “O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has ordained for you and do not turn back in flight, or you will end up as losers.” (Al-Ma’idah 21). In another, the Quran says, “And after him (the Egyptian Pharaoh), We said to the Children of Israel, ‘Dwell in the land, but when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you gathered in mixed company.’ ” (Al-Isra’ 104). Are those two verses not valid anymore? Admittedly, there have been instances in the Quran where some verses were abrogated by others e.g., Muhammad was initially told to pray in the direction of Jerusalem before the Quran told him to pray in the direction of Mecca (Al-Baqarah 143-144). Another example relates to the drinking of wine: To begin with, Muslims were allowed to drink, but they were later forbidden from praying while intoxicated (An-Nissa’ 43) before they were commanded to shun drinking wine altogether (Al-Ma’idah 90). The Quran does acknowledge the existence of such abrogation: In one of the verses, it states that, “Whatever verse We abrogate, or We make you forget, We bring in its place a better one or the like of it. Do you not know that God has power over all things?” (Al-Baqarah 106). Yet, the said verses which ordained the Holy Land for the Israelites were never abrogated in the Quran.

It is sad when nations kill one another over unsubstantiated “divine” claims, and even sadder when today’s Islamists show willingness to kill and be killed on the basis of an assertion- “The Holy Land belongs to Muslims”- for which there is no corroborating evidence in the Quran.

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Husam Dughman is a Libyan Canadian political scientist, religious thinker, linguist, and an expert on immigrants and refugees. He received his formal education in Libya and the UK. Mr. Dughman later worked as a university professor of political science in Libya. Due to confrontations with the Qaddafi regime, he resigned from his university position and subsequently worked in legal translation. Mr. Dughman has been working with new immigrant and refugee services in both Canada and the US since 2006.

Husam Dughman has published a book entitled Tête-à-tête with Muhammad. He has also written numerous articles on politics and religion. He has just completed the full manuscript of a book which he hopes to have published in the near future. The new book is an in-depth examination of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and the non-religious school of thought.